Body
The recent changes related to Google Storage have brought to light a challenging issue: Do you know where your data is being stored?
Since quotas have been enabled, Harding users have been left thinking about how best to store their data, and where to keep it. When Google offered unlimited storage, you did not have to give much thought to data management. Backing up your personal phone and pictures to the cloud was easy to do to your Harding account. Sharing a file from Google Drive with others in your department became easy. However, as storage platforms change, so does our understanding of how and where to keep data.
Within the Harding context, using Google Drive for file storage has two main aspects: individual data and departmental data (Google Shared Drives).
Individual Data
Since each Harding user has a set quota (typically 100GB), it is important to keep only work-related files in your Google Drive. It is good practice to only keep content and data that you personally use in the classrooms, as part of your daily job and information that is not generally shared with or by others.
For backing your phone up to a cloud account, it is recommended to use a personal email account as that can persist beyond a job change. Harding accounts are removed after 9 months from the last class taken or last date of employment.
Shared Drives
Shared drives are a great location for data that needs to be accessed by more than one person, such as a department, a committee or other collaborative groups. It is also the best location for data that needs to be maintained beyond the employment of a specific individual. People may change positions, but this data needs to stay within the department and is easier to keep track of in the long run.
Shared drives also have quotas enabled on them, but IS&T does have strategies for providing storage for large digital repositories and archives.
Since Google’s storage policy has changed and there is now a direct cost associated with the total storage consumption, we all have to be good stewards of our data. IS&T appreciates everyone’s help in managing our digital footprint.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to IS&T.
- Eric Bond