Google Storage Changes: Frequently Asked Questions

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 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?

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.

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.

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.

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 Google storage 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?

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”.