Google has made some changes regarding storage that will affect Michigan Tech alumni. On January 1, 2023, Michigan Tech alumni will no longer have access to Google Drive and Google Photos. Starting January 1, 2023, any files stored in Drive or Photos under your @mtu.edu account will be marked for deletion.
This does not affect your @mtu.edu email address. Your email account will continue to work as it does today.
Below are frequently asked questions about this change.
- Why is this happening?
- When will I lose access to my Drive and Photos?
- What happens if I am an alumni and adjunct/emeriti/faculty? What happens if I am an alumni and external contractor/researcher?
- I am an alumni, and also a current employee. Will I lose my Google Drive and Photos? I am a current employee. Will I lose my Google Drive and Photos? I am an employee. Will I lose Google Drive and Photos when I leave the university? What happens to staff who are taking classes and graduating?
- I am an undergraduate student, but will be attending graduate school. Will I be able to keep my Google Drive and Photos?
- I am a master's student, but will be continuing to get my PhD. Will I be able to keep my Google Drive and Photos?
- Can I purchase storage space to keep my Drive and Photos on my Michigan Tech account?
- Is all storage for alumni going away, or will it be limited?
- What happens with email? What happens with email attachments?
- Will I lose access to Google Sites I have created?
- Will I lose access to other Google services such as Password Manager, Calendar, Contacts, or Google Keep?
- How does this affect Google Sheets, Docs, and Slides?
- What happens to digital movies I have purchased via Google Play/YouTube that are associated with my MTU account?
- Will the face recognition and metadata be maintained when I download my Photos?
- Will alumni still have access to Shared Drives (formerly Team Drives)?
- What happens to Drive files and photos that I have placed into a Shared Drive (formerly Team Drives)?
- What happens to the Drive and Photos that I have shared out to other people from My Drive?
- Can I still open Drive and Photos that others share with me?
- What happens to alumni who are working/volunteering for the University and have shared files?
- How can I keep or transfer ownership of my Drive and Photos files?
- After I transfer my Drive and Photos to another account, will the sharing settings be retained?
- Can you help me transfer my files?
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is this happening?
Google recently announced a storage model that provides Michigan Tech with a baseline of 100 TB of pooled storage (including email and drive) across all students, faculty, staff, and alumni. When we started looking at this change, Michigan Tech was using 16 times this amount of storage.
While we are purchasing additional storage above and beyond the 100 TB provided, and do not intend to restrict usage within alumni email accounts, we are enacting the change to Alumni drive to adhere with new storage limits. We asked, but Google would not provide an option for Alumni to direct pay for storage under the mtu.edu domain. Additional information about this change can be found here: Overview of Google Workspace for Education storage.
When will I lose access to my Drive and Photos?
On January 1, 2023, Michigan Tech alumni will no longer have access to Google Drive and Google Photos. Starting January 1, 2023, any files stored in Drive or Photos under your @mtu.edu account will be marked for deletion.
What happens if I am an alumni and adjunct/emeriti/faculty?
What happens if I am an alumni and external contractor/researcher?
Emeriti and adjunct faculty, as well as current external contractors and researchers will not lose access to files stored in their Google Drive or Photos.
I am an alumni, and also a current employee. Will I lose my Google Drive and Photos?
I am a current employee. Will I lose my Google Drive and Photos?
I am an employee. Will I lose Google Drive and Photos when I leave the university?
What happens to staff who are taking classes and graduating?
Current employees, regardless of whether or not they are alumni, will not lose access to files stored in their Google Drive or Photos. At this time, former employees will retain access to files stored in their Google Drive and photos.
I am an undergraduate student, but will be attending graduate school. Will I be able to keep my Google Drive and Photos?
Undergraduate students who apply to become graduate students, while they’re an active applicant and as long as they are accepted into the graduate school, will not lose access to files stored in their Google Drive or Photos. This assumes an immediate continuation of going from undergraduate to graduate student. If you leave for a year or more and then apply, your Google Drive and Photos will have been deleted.
I am a master's student, but will be continuing to get my PhD. Will I be able to keep my Google Drive and Photos?
PhD candidates will not lose access to files stored in their Google Drive or Photos.
Can I purchase storage space to keep my Drive and Photos on my Michigan Tech account?
No. We asked, but Google would not provide an option for alumni to direct pay for storage under the mtu.edu domain.
Is all storage for alumni going away, or will it be limited?
All storage for files stored in Google Drive and Photos will be going away for alumni.
What happens with email? What happens with email attachments?
We do not plan to restrict email usage on alumni email accounts; Google Drive and Photos are the only services which will be affected.
Will I lose access to Google Sites I have created?
Yes, Google Sites are stored in Google Drive, which is being disabled for Alumni. Before you lose access to Drive, it is recommended that you download or export any Sites you have in My Drive, so that you can re-create them elsewhere, then un-publish the Site. There may be a period of time after your Drive is disabled and before the files are deleted; if a site is left published, it will still be visible on the web until the files are deleted, but no edits can be made to it.
Will I lose access to other Google services such as Password Manager, Calendar, Contacts, or Google Keep?
Google Drive and Photos are the only services that will be affected.
Update 1/5/2023: We originally stated that Google Keep would not be affected but this has changed and we can no longer provide access to Google Keep. Google Keep will be impacted by this change, along with Google Drive and Photos services. Other services will not be affected.
How does this affect Google Sheets, Docs, and Slides?
Docs and Sheets are part of Google Drive. To ensure you keep these files, you should move them by January 1, 2022.
What happens to digital movies I have purchased via Google Play/YouTube that are associated with my MTU account?
This change only affects Google Drive and Google Photos, which are separate services from Google Play and YouTube, so they will be unaffected. If you copied any of them to your Drive or Photos, those copies will be deleted.
Will the face recognition and metadata be maintained when I download my Photos?
If you use Google Takeout to download the albums in your Google Photos, the archive will contain metadata files for each photo, but face recognition occurs on Google’s servers, and is not part of that metadata.
Will alumni still have access to Shared Drives (formerly Team Drives)?
No, alumni will no longer have access to Shared Drives.
What happens to Drive files and photos that I have placed into a Shared Drive (formerly Team Drives)?
When you placed them into the Shared Drive, the ownership of the files changed to the Shared Drive itself. Thus, nothing will happen to those files unless you or another person with access to the Shared Drive deletes the files.
What happens to the Drive and Photos that I have shared out to other people from My Drive?
Sharing will be disabled. Any files previously shared to other accounts will no longer be shared.
Can I still open Drive and Photos that others share with me?
No, you will not have access to any Google Drive or Photo data.
What happens to alumni who are working/volunteering for the University and have shared files?
Alumni who are working for the University as a volunteer will need to have their department request Drive access for them.
How can I keep or transfer ownership of my Drive and Photos files?
Between now and January 1, 2023, there are several options for moving your content, whether it’s by downloading or transferring to another Google account.
After I transfer my Drive and Photos to another account, will the sharing settings be retained?
Once you’ve transferred your files to another account, they will no longer be shared to anyone.
Can you help me transfer my files?
Yes, we can help! We’re available by phone and email during university business hours. Call us at 906-487-1111 or email us at it-help@mtu.edu. You can also visit us at the Technical Assistance Center (TAC), which is located on the first floor near the main entrance of the Van Pelt and Opie Library.