Data Storage Policies & Update
Information about upcoming changes to storage and services, email, and calendaring at Virginia Tech.
Both Google and Microsoft have changed the storage policies from "free unlimited" data to a new fee-based system. For years, the College of Business has been utilizing this free service and with free unlimited have become loose on data storage, data retention, and data sharing policies.
With the change of the contracts with Google and Microsoft, some services will no longer be offers. Please see Action Items for assistance on backing up data and removed it before it these get turned off.
Storage Changes
Starting in March 2024, quotas will be applied to all users of Individual Google Drive and Google Shared Drives. By July 2024, the college and departments will need to purchase the overall quotas for Google. By September 2025, the same will be implemented on the Microsoft side. There is now a specific price for storage.
As of September 2023, the college and departments plan to purchase storage. There is no immediate need to migrate data from Google to Microsoft or other outside tools. However, we are encouraging users to clean up unneeded or archival storage.
Quotas are assigned from approximately 40 buckets ranging from 1 GB - 25 TB.
Storage Usage Amounts & Quotas
Action Items
Understand what data you have storaged on Google Drive, Shared Drives, Microsoft OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams.
- Remove any Personal Data from University Cloud Storage1.
This data can be moved to a personal storage option. If you place these files into a folder, we can help you setup a personal account and move your data. - Remove Unneeded Files.
Overtime, unneeded files are backuped and saved. These make be taking up large quantities of storage. Delete unneeded backups. In addition, please look for old installer files and multimedia. - Organize "Archival" data into a folder.
If you have archival data, we are working on a solution that would be more cost effective, but still store your data. Archival data is data you do not access on any regular timeframe, but want to keep for the future. - Google Shared Drive - MOST INFORMATION COMING
If you have any questions or need assistance, please put in a ticket at http://pamplin.help.
Email & Calendaring Changes
All employees and students will be moving to Microsoft Exchange as the ONLY email/calendaring option. Prior to this point, Virginia Tech had two mail services 1. Gmail and 2. Microsoft Exchange.
The university will be leading this move with some automated tools from November 2023-April 2024. There are no specifics on when the College of Business be switched over. Many of our employees are already using Microsoft Exchange and will see no significant changes.
DO NOT Attempt to migrate yourself at this time. If interested, please reach out and have a consultation with Pamplin IT.
Action Items - Current Gmail Users
- Remove any unneeded Emails
Cleaning up your email should be part of your regular routines. Cleaning up now will make your migration to Exchange a little cleaner. - Understand Gmail Tags vs Exchange Folders.
The largest change between Gmail and Exhcange is the tag vs folder structure. If you are a heavy users of multiple Gmail tags on emails, especially multiple tags on one email, please reach out so we can consult with how those are going to change. - GAE Accounts (department emails through Google)
Schedule an appointment with Pamplin IT and we will discuss the move as it will be slightly different.
If you have any questions or need assistance, please put in a ticket at http://pamplin.help.
Other Services
Google Photos - DISCONTINUING
This service will no longer be available to Virginia Tech. It will be turned off January 16, 2024. Any multimedia left in this service will be "phantom" data and continue to count against your quota.
You can see what is in Google Photos - https://photos.google.com/
Action Items - Google Photos
- Export ALL Photots from your Google Photos
Move your photos to your personal account or back up.
Help Articles: Transferring Photos from your VT to Personal Account - Delete ALL Photos from your Google Photos
All photos must be deleted, so they do not count against your future quotas. Anything left after January 16, 2023 will count towards your quota. - Turn off any syncing with your Phone
Many phones provided automatic syncing if you had the Google Photos app installed. Make sure you turn that off to prevent photos from being uploaded.
If you have any questions or need assistance, please put in a ticket at http://pamplin.help.
Google Forms
No changes. You can continue to use this service. The very small files will be used as portion of your Google Storage Quota.
Google Docs, Sheets, Slides
No changes. You can continue to use this service. The very small files will be used as portion of your Google Storage Quota.