Cloud Storage Changes

Over the last few years, major cloud service providers have all phased out unlimited storage; this includes the three licensed by UMBC: Google, Box, and Microsoft. With unlimited storage, there was no reason to limit usage, now with limits, universities across the country are implementing quotas, including UMBC. With new storage limits for Google, we are implementing storage quotas for all users.

Please note that every effort is being made to ensure existing users in our campus community are not adversely affected by the storage quotas. Your data is important. Existing users with a staff, faculty, or student affiliation have been provided additional space based on their current Google storage use. New UMBC accounts will be given the default quotas below to ensure we remain under our storage limits. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through this change.

 

Timeline For Alumni Accounts: We aim to help all alumni accounts get below 5GB by the summer of 2025. Over 75% of our alumni accounts are within the 5GB storage limit. We are developing an outreach and communication program to help those above the 5GB quota reduce their data within the limit provided.

Alumni with Google storage above the 5GB allowed have been granted a temporary increased quota to accommodate their current usage. Starting in January 2025, DoIT will reach out to alumni with storage over 5GB to provide tips and assistance for migrating and managing your Google storage. If we do not hear back by June 1, 2025, we will begin to take steps to deactivate your alumni account if you are above the limit of 5GB. We are committed to working with the Alumni Association to support our alumni in this transition.

 

Storage Quotas:

  • Existing users have a quota that allows them 5GB+ headroom:
    • If you are a student with less than 3GB, you are in the 5GB quota group. Faculty and staff are provided a minimum of 25GB.
    • If you currently have 3 – 15GB, you are in a 25GB quota group.
    • If you have 15 – 90GB, you are in a 100GB quota group.
    • If you have 90 – 900GB, you are in a 100TB quota group.
      If you are a member of the 100TB group, you may be contacted by DoIT to determine if Google Drive is the most appropriate place for your data.
  • New Users:
    • New faculty and staff members will receive 25GB of storage.
    • New students will receive 5GB of storage.
  • Alumni:
    • Alumni receive 5GB of storage.
    • Alumni with Google storage above the 5GB allowed have been granted a temporary increased quota to accommodate their current usage.
      We aim to help all alumni accounts get below 5GB by the summer of 2025. Please stay tuned for tips and resources coming in early 2025 from DoIT.

Please Note: Quotas and Amounts are subject to change based on our Google storage as a university.

Check your Storage

To see how much storage you’re using, click here:

Check my Google Storage Usage

Where does my storage number come from?

  • Storage is comprised of data in Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. This includes items in your Spam and Trash!
  • Google Photos is being deprecated for all UMBC accounts. If you have photos stored here, please migrate them as soon as possible. Please stay alert for future communications from DoIT regarding Google Photos.

How can I reduce my storage?

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Frequently Asked Questions

I am both a UMBC alumnus and a current staff/faculty/student. How does my storage allocation work?
If you have an active affiliation with UMBC as a staff, faculty, or student, your storage allocation follows your active faculty, staff, or student guidelines first, before it follows your alumni affiliation. Your access and storage will align with active policies. You will receive notifications about changes to your account, but these policies may shift once you retire, separate, or graduate UMBC.

I am an alumnus. How much university provided storage will I have?
Alumni will be provided 5GB of space as a default. Alumni with additional data in Google Services prior to September 2024 have been given sufficient quota to continue account access. Please take some time to remove any content you would like to keep. Alumni with over 5GB will be contacted by DoIT in early 2025 with additional information on reducing your Google storage usage to 5GB.

If I am an alumnus, will I keep my UMBC email after this change?
Access to your UMBC email address has not changed, however, the Google storage allotted by the university will be limited.

How do I know if I have an alumni account?
UMBC Alumni may have retained access to their UMBC email and Google Drive storage as part of their alumni benefits. If you do not know your password, reset your password here.
If your account has been deactivated due to lack of access, you can request reactivation here.

If I am returning for a graduate degree from UMBC after completing my undergraduate degree, will my cloud data be deleted?
No, however, if there is a gap period between your undergraduate and graduate studies that extends beyond the following semester, your data will be subject to removal. It is always a good idea to back up your data. Read more here: How long will my account remain active after leaving UMBC?

Can I pay the university to continue to save my data and allow me to access it once I become an alumni?
UMBC is not currently planning to allow alumni to purchase additional storage. If the current 5GB quota does not meet your needs, we recommend exploring private cloud storage solutions. While we continue to support alumni accounts, we cannot allow alumni to have large amounts of storage in their UMBC account, as our first focus is to meet the needs of active faculty, staff, and current students. Please note that storage limits are subject to change, and updates will be communicated as needed.

What other storage services does the University recommend that I transfer my data to if I wish to keep it?
We do not endorse a specific service, but we recommend that when evaluating services, you ensure your data is stored securely and that the service provides enough space to house all the data you wish to move from UMBC services. A free personal Google account comes with 15GB of storage with options to purchase additional storage.

I deleted emails, files, or photos but my storage use has not decreased. Am I doing something wrong?
When you first delete an email, file, or photo it will be moved to the trash. Gmail, Drive, and Photos all have their own trash, which still counts against your storage use. Storage in use by items in trash will be reclaimed once the items are permanently deleted. Items in trash are automatically and permanently deleted after 30 days. While in your trash, items can be recovered before the 30-day time window. You can also choose to manually and permanently delete items in your trash at any time by navigating to the “trash” folder and clicking either “Empty Trash” to remove all items in trash or by selecting individual items and selecting “Delete Forever”.

Please note that emails, files, and photos that are permanently deleted from trash are irrecoverable. This applies whether they were manually deleted from the trash or automatically deleted after the 30-day time window. If you choose to manually delete emails, files, or photos from trash, please be absolutely certain that you no longer need them. If you delete, restore, or permanently delete a large number of files or folders at once, it might take time for the changes to be processed.

Does Shared Drive storage count against my individual storage quota?
No, Shared Drives have their own storage quota of 10GB and storage used by a Shared Drive does not count towards an individual’s storage quota. Storage used by Shared Drives does, however, count towards our Google domain’s total pooled storage limit.

What happens if I exceed my quota?
If you exceed your quota, you will still be able to sign in, send and receive emails with attachments smaller than 25MB, and view and download files stored on Google Drive or Google Photos.
You will not be able to edit or upload new files to Google Drive, including Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms. Until you reduce your storage usage, you will not be able to edit or copy affected files or submit forms. You will not be able to record new meetings in Google Meet. Once you have downloaded and deleted content from Google services, you will regain full access to Google services. How do I clean up my trash, spam, and large documents in Google Drive?

Who do I talk to for any questions about this migration?
Our Technology Support Center representatives are happy to receive your calls and direct you to the appropriate resources to answer your questions. Please refer to this link for more information.