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Upcoming Google Storage Policy Changes

The Association of Former Students July 7, 2021 10:01 AM updated: May 6, 2022 12:32 PM

If you have an @AggieNetwork.com email account, you will be affected by an upcoming change in Google policy that will end unlimited storage for Google Workspace for Education.

Before June 1, 2022, you will need to remove any Google Drive and Docs files you wish to keep, and reduce your combined Gmail and Google Photos storage to under 10 GB.

Steps to take are here: tx.ag/ActBeforeJune1

Below are updates and answers to frequently asked questions (shortlink: tx.ag/StorageLimitUpdates).

Highlights from the latest update:

    • Beginning June 1, 2022, all accounts will be capped at 10 GB. This storage allotment will be shared by Gmail and Google Photos.

    • On June 1, 2022, accounts that have Google Drive enabled will no longer be able to add new files to their Google Drive. You will still be able to access and download existing Google Drive files.

    • On Aug. 1, 2022, Google Drive will be fully disabled for all accounts. Any files remaining in your Google Drive after August 1 may become unrecoverable.

    • You can learn about Google's recommended procedures for removing content from your account at https://takeout.google.com and https://takeout.google.com/transfer.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are @AggieNetwork.com email accounts?
We started the @AggieNetwork.com email program many years ago as a way to provide former students with an official, Aggie-branded email address. The program offers up to five @AggieNetwork.com email addresses “for life” and for free. That is the purpose of the program, and what we are doing our utmost to keep. After the program became powered by Gmail, Google added features like Google Drive and Docs to these accounts (formerly "G Suite for Education" accounts, now called Google Workspace for Education).

What is happening with @AggieNetwork.com accounts?
Beginning June 1, 2022, all accounts will be capped at 10 GB total storage to be shared by Gmail and Google Photos. On August 1, 2022, Google Drive will be disabled for all accounts and any files still in your Google Drive may become unrecoverable.

Why is this happening?
Google has announced a major change for Workspace for Education accounts. Previously, they allowed unlimited storage for each individual account within an organization. Now, they are giving organizations a pool of data to be shared by all accounts within the organization. Our pool is 100 TB.

Why not include Google Drive as part of the 10 GB per account cap?
As of Sept. 2, 2021, The Association’s account is using 1.2 PB of storage, 94% of which is in Google Drive. If we included Google Drive in the 10 GB per account cap, we would still be well over the 100 TB that Google will impose on us by July 2022. The only way to keep Google Drive would be to drastically reduce the 10 GB per account cap.

Can I pay you for additional storage?
Unfortunately, no. If we remain over our 100 TB of storage beyond Google’s deadline of July 2022, Google will eventually begin charging us for those overages. At the same time, Google has expressly prohibited us from passing any kind of incurred costs on to users, and has said they will not provide an option for users to purchase more storage on their own for these types of accounts.

But a regular Google account gives me 15 GB of storage and allows me to pay for more.
Google Workspace for Education accounts are different from regular Google accounts.

Will the 10 GB per account ever be reduced further?
We believe the 10 GB cap and limiting accounts to Gmail and Google Photos will be sustainable for some time and allow for growth. However, future circumstances or decisions made by Google could require the further reduction of storage space or removal of Google Photos from @AggieNetwork.com accounts.

 

May 6, 2022, Update

Howdy, Ags!

We’re writing again with an alert and updates regarding your Google-based @AggieNetwork.com email account.

It’s imperative that you move or back up any files in your Google Drive before Aug. 1, 2022.

On June 1, 2022, adding new files to Google Drive will be disabled for @AggieNetwork.com accounts. You will still be able to access and download what is there until Aug. 1.

This is because of storage limits that Google will impose on our Workspace for Education account, causing us to cap all @AggieNetwork.com accounts at 10 gigabytes of total storage beginning June 1.

For reference, you can find copies of all the correspondence we have sent about these changes at tx.ag/StorageLimitUpdates, going back to July 2021.

As discussed in those updates, each user’s 10 gigabytes of storage will be limited to Gmail and Google Photos. Beginning Aug. 1, Google Drive will be fully disabled for all accounts and files left in your Google Drive may become unrecoverable at that point.

Helpful links:

We believe these steps will enable our Aggie-branded email program to be sustainable for some time.

However, please understand that future circumstances or decisions made by Google could require the further reduction of storage space or removal of Google Photos from @AggieNetwork.com accounts down the road. 

Additional updates will be sent out as more information becomes available.

Thanks and gig ’em!

Aggie Network Web Team
The Association of Former Students | Texas A&M University

 

Sept. 2, 2021, Update

Howdy, Ags!

This is an update regarding changes coming to your Google-based @AggieNetwork.com email account. We first contacted you about this in early July, and copies of all correspondence related to these changes can be found at tx.ag/StorageLimitUpdates.

We now have a better understanding of the storage limits Google will impose by July 2022. Due to these limits and the size of our current user base, we will cap all accounts at 10 gigabytes of total storage.

We are happy we can continue to offer Gmail and Google Photos, and these two services will share your account’s allocated storage space. However, we have made the difficult decision to remove Google Drive and Docs from @AggieNetwork.com accounts.

We are planning to enact these changes on June 1, 2022. This means by that date:

    • Any files you wish to keep must be removed from your Google Drive and Docs. Any files remaining in your Google Drive and Docs beyond June 1, 2022 are subject to deletion.

 

  • Your combined Gmail and Google Photos storage must be reduced to under 10 GB. As long as your account remains below that threshold, you will be able to send and receive email and add new photos.

You can check your current data storage levels for these services by visiting https://drive.google.com/settings/storage.

You can learn about Google’s recommended procedures for removing content from your account at https://takeout.google.com and https://takeout.google.com/transfer.

We believe these steps will enable our Aggie-branded email program to be sustainable for some time. However, please understand that future decisions made by Google could require the further reduction of storage space or removal of Google Photos from @AggieNetwork.com accounts down the road.

Additional updates will be sent out as more information becomes available and as we get closer to the June 1, 2022, deadline.

Thanks and gig ’em!

Aggie Network Web Team
The Association of Former Students | Texas A&M University

 

July 7, 2021, Update

Howdy, Ags!

We are informing you about upcoming changes to Google's storage policy, which will affect users of @AggieNetwork.com email accounts. These changes, which will take effect by July 2022, will place tight new restrictions on the amount of file storage available to your account.

Currently, through the Google Workspace for Education program, Google provides every @AggieNetwork.com email account with unlimited storage for Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. However, under the new policy, the tens of thousands of @AggieNetwork.com email users will share a finite amount of "pooled storage" space. Regrettably, as we wait for further details from Google, we cannot yet accurately determine your account's future storage allocation. However, based on the limited information we have now, it could be as little as 1 gigabyte.

To prepare for the implementation of Google's new policy, we strongly encourage you to review your current storage usage and delete any unnecessary files in Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos.

  1. To confirm how much storage you're using, go to https://drive.google.com/settings/storage.
  2. To review and delete large or unnecessary files in Drive, go to https://drive.google.com/drive/quota.
  3. To review and delete large or unnecessary files in shared drives, go to https://drive.google.com/drive/shared-drives.
  4. Consider deleting Drive content that you may have copied to a shared drive. If a file resides in 2 locations, it may be consuming twice the storage space.
  5. To search for and delete unnecessary or large emails, go to Manage files in your Google Drive storage and follow the instructions for Gmail.

If you rely on your @AggieNetwork.com storage for many important files, you must find an alternative storage solution. Although your @AggieNetwork.com account will continue enjoying unlimited storage for now, any storage over the limit could be subject to deletion once Google implements these changes.

As we receive more information from Google about the change to storage limits, we will update you via email. We will also share information on our various social media channels and at tx.ag/StorageLimitUpdates. We recognize that Google’s decision to make this change will greatly inconvenience some of our users. We hope that by making you aware a year before the change takes effect that we are mitigating its impact on you.

Please note that this notification only applies to accounts provided through the @AggieNetwork.com email service, which is powered by the Google Workspace for Education program. If you have a Google account provided directly by Google or via another service provider, you should check with them to see whether that storage policy is changing.

Thanks and gig ’em!

Aggie Network Web Team
The Association of Former Students | Texas A&M University



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