Google shared drive storage

Google shared drives are shared spaces on Google Drive that allow groups to create files and folders that are accessible to a group of collaborators and are not assigned to a specific owner. Instead, ownership remains with the shared drive itself and is managed by the shared drive creator. This allows collaborators to retain continuous file access, even in the event that the person who created the files leaves the university. Shared drives should only be used for academic and work purposes and should not include personal files.

Please note that shared drives are separate from the regular My Drive folders you can create and share with contacts in Google Drive. You can determine which shared drives you’re a member of by selecting Shared drives in the left navigation menu in Google Drive.

TMU offers Google shared drives with capacities of 5 GB, 1 TB, 5 TB, 10 TB, 25 TB and 50 TB. If you require more than 50 TB of storage, please contact the CCS Help Desk as we may be able to suggest alternate storage solutions.

For shared drives with more than 5 GB of space, an annual cost applies that is charged on a monthly basis

Shared drives that existed before May 8, 2024 have a 1 TB quota and are exempt from charges at this time. However, CCS may revisit this policy in the future as we assess the total storage usage for the university.

1. Open Google Drive and select Shared drives from the left hand navigation
2. Open a Shared drive you’re a member of
3. Select the View details button (a circle with the letter “i”) in the top right corner of Google Drive
4. From the right side panel that opens, scroll down to the Drive details section to see the shared drive’s storage usage

Note that the files stored in a shared drive will not count against your personal storage quota on your TMU Google account.

Shared drives can be created by active TMU employees only. Students, alumni and retirees cannot create shared drives but as an alternative, folders can be created in Google Drive and shared with collaborators.

Shared drives that existed before May 2023 and are used by active employees and students will remain available to all shared drive members. However, CCS will revisit this decision in the future as we continue assessing how shared drives are being used.

TMU offers Google shared drives with capacities of 5 GB, 1 TB, 5 TB, 10 TB, 25 TB and 50 TB.

Drives with 5 GB of space may be sufficient for many departments and teams that are not storing large files such as video, larger images and other media files. For reference, over 99 percent of all shared drives at TMU fall under 5 GB of storage use.

If pricing is a factor in your decision, you may also wish to review details on the cost of shared drives.

Once you’ve determined how much storage you’ll need and the cost of shared drives, you can submit a request to create a new shared drive. To do so, please:

1. Log in to the my.torontomu portal with your username and password.
2. In the Self Service box, select Courses and Organizations.
3. Under the Requests section, select Manage Google Shared Drives. There, you’ll find the option to Request a new Google shared drive.

There is no cost for 5 GB shared drives. As such, without the need for a cost centre and approval process,  5 GB drives are automatically created shortly after your request is submitted. 

For shared drives with more than 5 GB of space, an annual charge applies and you will be asked to provide a cost centre in your shared drive request form. Before the drive is created, your cost centre approver will be notified of your request via email, along with instructions on how to approve the request.

Please note, shared drives with more than 5 GB of space require a minimum commitment of one year. Your cost centre will be charged monthly for a minimum period of one year from the time of your shared drive’s creation, even if the drive is deleted before the full year has lapsed. After one year, payment will continue monthly.

Google shared drive pricing

In 2021, Google announced that it would no longer provide free unlimited storage to educational institutions using Google Workspace. As a result, TMU has been working with Google to analyze and develop strategies to reduce the university’s storage usage and align its practices with other post-secondary institutions.

As part of this exercise, storage quotas have been put in place for shared drives that house files related to current TMU studies, employment or other activities linked to university operations. Likewise, restrictions have been applied to shared drives that are deemed non-essential for the operational needs of the university.

Charges for shared drives larger than 5 GB have been introduced to recuperate costs that are being charged by Google for storage. As the charges are administered on a purely cost-recovery model, the university does not earn revenue from shared drive services.

All shared drives exceeding their allotted storage limit will prevent members from:

• creating new Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings and Forms files in the shared drive;
• uploading new files or images to the shared drive;
• editing files in the shared drive; and
• receiving submissions from Google Forms owned by the shared drive.

If your department’s shared drive exceeds its storage limit, consider:

• Reducing storage usage by consulting the university’s Record Retention Schedule (RRS) to identify and remove files no longer in use or needed.
• Creating multiple shared drives with 5 GB of capacity for individual teams or projects, where possible. The small 5 GB capacity shared drive is a free tier with no annual cost associated with it.
• Purchasing more storage once you’ve determined how much storage you’ll need along with the cost of shared drives. Storage increases can be arranged by contacting the CCS Help Desk.

While students, alumni and generic account owners cannot create their own shared drives, they can be added as collaborators on shared drives created by active university employees. 

Shared drives that do not include active TMU employees or students will no longer be retained by the university. Those impacted have been notified with instructions for downloading files and timelines for the deletion of their shared drives.

In some cases, such as for older projects or archived videos, you may no longer need a shared drive but wish to retain the files. To retain files without taking up space in your shared drive, you can download the shared drive’s contents directly to the hard drive on your TMU-issued computer.

Please note that some files may contain private or confidential information. Prior to downloading or transferring these files, it is recommended that you check university policies and guidelines, including the Information Protection Policy and Information Classification Standard and Handling Guidelines. 

To download the contents of a shared drive:

1. Select one or more files.
2. Right-click and select download.

When downloading files in a Google format like Docs, Sheets or Slides, these will automatically be converted to their Microsoft equivalent, such as Word, Excel or PowerPoint. If you’re downloading multiple files at once, your files will download as a compressed ZIP file.

Yes. As active employees, faculty and contract lecturers can create shared drives for their courses and add students as members.

Before deleting a shared drive, all files stored within the shared drive will need to be moved or deleted. Please note that moving or deleting files may also remove access for other shared drive members. Deletion of a shared drive is permanent and cannot be reversed by the manager of the shared drive.

Once files have been removed from a shared drive, please take the following steps to delete the drive:

1. Open Google Drive and navigate to the Shared drives tab.
2. Select the shared drive you’d like to delete.
3. Right-click the name of the shared drive and select Delete shared drive.

Tips:

• You will be unable to delete the shared drive if files from the shared drive remain in your trash folder.
• Deleted files are automatically retained in your trash folder for 30 days. 
• You can determine if files from your shared drive are still in your trash folder by right-clicking the name of your shared drive and selecting View trash. 

Note about paid shared drives: As there is a one-year minimum commitment for any larger-capacity shared drives with a cost associated with it, you must contact the CCS Help Desk to request deletion of your shared drive. At that time, the Help Desk will also confirm an end to your drive’s billing cycle. Please note that manually deleting a shared drive will not cease the monthly charges billed to your cost centre.

If you need to assign a new manager to a department’s shared drive when there is no other shared drive manager to grant access, please contact the CCS Help Desk. To process the request, email approval will be required from the leader of the former employee before final permissions are obtained.

Once a new manager has been appointed to your shared drive, we recommend also granting manager-level access to your department’s dean, chair and/or director.