GST provides deletion timeline for Shared Drives, files without active manager or owner

In 2020, Google announced the end of unlimited storage for all educational institutions. As a result, NC State needs your help to meet its storage goals for campus Workspace accounts.

What’s happening

Shared Drives and files without an active manager or owner consume valuable storage in the university’s domain. The Google Service Team (GST) will delete content that has no active manager or owner on the following dates:

Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023

• Unattended Shared Drives (have no active NC State members) and their contents.
• Users will have until Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, to request restoration.

Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024

• Unmanaged Shared Drives (have no active NC State managers) and their contents.
• Users will have until Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, to request restoration.

Monday, March 4, 2024

• All labeled files and folders that are still owned by suspended alumni and vaulted former employee (VFE) accounts that have been inactive for more than two years.

The GST recently marked these Drives and files as view-only to help you identify content that will be deleted if an active manager/owner is not appointed.

What you can do now

Ensure your Shared Drives have an active manager:

• Visit drive.google.com and select Shared Drives.
• On each Shared Drive, click on the More actions (three vertical dots) menu and choose View members.
• Scroll through the members list to make sure an active employee, group or generic account is listed as the manager.
• If there is no active manager and you wish to keep the Drive, contact the NC State Help Desk via the NC State IT Service Portal to request assistance to add a new manager.
• Check with your local IT support staff to see if they recommend adding a generic account as a manager for business continuity.

Use Drive Labels to identify files that are shared with you and still owned by suspended alumni and VFE accounts. If you need to retain any of these files, move them to a Shared Drive.

Help and Resources

Review the following resources for additional storage information:

• Shared Drives best practices
• End User Storage Tools & Resources
• Research Storage
• Google Workspace Storage Quotas
• Google Workspace and storage changes
• Generic Accounts
• Subscribe to OIT News for regular updates

If you have any questions, contact your local IT support staff or the NC State Help Desk via the NC State IT Service Portal.