Body
Overview
Given the mounting financial and ecological costs associated with digital data maintenance, Williams will need to do its part to limit growth by decluttering our digital lives through data and records management, stewardship, and reducing our footprint.
This Q&A will help you determine your current storage usage and take steps to minimize your campus digital footprint.
Questions
How do I see my current data use and start managing it?
To view your total Google Drive storage, visit https://drive.google.com/settings/storage. To start deleting or moving data, it may be helpful to see your files listed from largest to smallest.
- If you start deleting files, DO NOT remove any files displaying the Shared Drive icon circled below. Shared Drive files are files you have permission to access, but you may not be their primary caretaker. These files do not count towards your storage quota, so it's best to avoid trying to move or delete them.
This icon indicates the file is in a Shared Drive - you do not own it.
This icon indicates the file is in your Drive, which means you are its owner, but it is shared with someone.
- With files that you are sharing, consider whether other users may need them. You could ask users to download or make a copy before deleting files.
- Move the files you don't want, or are not required to keep, to your Trash, then free up storage space by permanently deleting them. Within 24 hours, deleted items will reflect available space in your Google Drive account.
- If you have personal files that shouldn't stay with the college, consider downloading them to your computer, or uploading them to your personal cloud storage account or an external hard drive.
- If you end up moving files to a personal Gmail account, be aware of storage tiers and plans: Plans & Pricing - Google One. Dropbox, Box, Apple iCloud and Microsoft OneDrive also offer free and paid tiers for storing digital data.
What are the current Google account quotas set to?
Faculty and staff: 150 GB by default.
Students: 15 GB by default.
What about Shared Drives?
Shared Drives created by faculty and staff will have a 15 GB limit by default.
Student accounts are unable to create Shared Drives, but registered Student Organizations can use this form to request a Google Shared Drive as long as the ROS information is current with the Office of Campus Life. It is recommended to create a Shared Drive if there are files or data you would like to preserve year-after-year.
If you are part of a student group and think you may have records of historical value, the Records Manager can help you organize your digital files for long term retention and sharing.
How will I know if I am approaching my storage limit?
When you go to Google Drive or your quota page, you will see a low storage warning displayed. Keep in mind that the warning will appear when you are at 80% capacity, so you will still have storage available to add files.
If you feel you will need more space, please contact OIT at itsupport@williams.edu for a consult to assess if an increase is warranted. We can also assist with offloading data (either deleting or migrating to another storage source).
For inactive digital files that are vital records of the college, please reach out to the Records Manager to discuss digital preservation plans.
Since old accounts are being deleted, how do I identify shared files I want to save?
Suspended accounts will have their shared files set to read-only. Accounts which are candidates for deletion will have "(PENDING DELETION - CONTACT OIT)" added to file names for easy identification. If this file is a record or needed for use (either active or inactive use), we recommend you copy the file to your Drive.
You can also look in the Shared With Me section of your Drive and take note of files owned by former students or employees. On the right, sort by "opened by me" to determine if they are files you used. Keep in mind, files in Shared Drives do not have an owner, so they are not deleted when accounts are deleted. If you come across files you need saved, see the next section for what to do.
How do I save those shared files?
You can easily see who owns files in your Google Drive and in the Shared With Me section. If there are files whose owner is no longer at Williams, but the files are actively used or could be considered records that should be kept:
- You can "Make a Copy" of a file. You will be owner of the copy, which means it won't be removed if the account that owned the original is deleted.
- If it is shared with several people, you may not want to make a copy, as that new version will not retain the same sharing permissions. Please contact OIT at itsupport@williams.edu and we can assist with transferring the ownership, or move it to a Shared Drive.
To see files shared to you by a former employee or student, type "owner:username@williams.edu" into the search field in Drive.
For example, if you wanted to search for files that abc1@williams.edu is sharing with you, you would type:
If you have questions about determining what to keep and what to dispose of, or would like to update your office or department’s records retention schedule, the Records Manager is happy to meet with you!
Helpful Links & Tutorials
Records Management Program at Williams
Tutorial on Email Management, Retention, and Disposition
Academic Departments: what to keep and what to throw away
How to Transfer Digital Files to the Records Manager Using Google Drive
General information from Google about storage and management strategies