Reducing Our Digital Footprint: Review Your Google Storage

As Stony Brook University continues to grow each year, the number of files and data stored in our Google Cloud has continued to increase. Unfortunately Google no longer offers free, unlimited storage to higher education customers like Stony Brook, which means we must all take a second look at our digital footprints. 

We are asking all Seawolves to:

• Find and manage your Google storage: Check your existing Google Drive storage and review best practices on how to organize your files.
• Delete: If you’re not using it, delete it (here’s a helpful article for deleting Google Drive files, and here’s one for Google Photos/Video).
• Let’s talk: Consult with DoIT if you have large files, or to find better options for your needs.

What is our current situation?

As of today, our collective storage on Google is approximately 3 times higher than the free storage allotted for higher education institutions such as Stony Brook. The reality is that we’ve been fortunate, like many other educational institutions, to have operated in an environment where all documents can be easily stored on our Google Drives, in Gmail and across other Google-based services without a second thought. And while convenient, this has resulted in an environment where we all must now exercise better practices for our collective data storage and management. 

If you have questions, our team is available to discuss alternative solutions for storage. Please submit a request for a consultation.