Faculty and staff may purchase additional storage to support administrative, academic, and research needs if they require more than their limit. We provide additional storage at the same rate that Google charges CMU, with no added fees.

Note: Faculty also have access to 10 TB of research storage through their Google Shared Drive for Research.

Storage is currently available in the following increments:

• 250 GB ($36.00/yr.)
• 500 GB ($72.00/yr.)
• 1 TB ($144.00/yr.)
• 2 TB ($288.00/yr.)
• 10 TB ($1,440.00/yr.)

To request additional storage, email it-help@cmu.edu with a valid Oracle string and we will increase your storage limit.

Note: Students requiring more storage for research work should speak with their faculty advisor regarding where to store their work.

No, but we ask that you look closely at what you’re storing. Make sure it’s related to your CMU work, is still relevant, and actually needs to be kept. Check out Google’s tips for freeing up space on Google Drive.

Google My Drive

1. Log in to Google Drive.
2. From the left navigation panel, click Storage.

Google displays your usage for My Drive, Google Mail, and Photos, as well as a list of your Drive files.

Google Shared Drives

1. Log in to Google Drive.
2. Click Shared Drives in the sidebar.
3. Click the Shared Drive you hope to review.
4. Click the information icon to View details.
5. Scroll down to Drive Details to review your storage usage.

Google Shared Mailboxes

1. Open your Google Shared Mailbox.
2. Scroll to the bottom of your inbox to see your current usage (left). 

To help understand how best to support our campus, we:

• Analyzed how CMU community members use cloud storage across campus.
• Conducted benchmarking research with peer institutions.

Using what we learned, we established storage limits to meet CMU's unique needs.

Transferring ownership assigns a new owner while maintaining the file links, permissions, and folder structure.

1. Log in to Google Drive.
2. Right-click the file or folder you want to transfer ownership and click Share then select Share. 
3. Click the drop-down next to the person you want to transfer file ownership to and select Transfer Ownership.
   Note: If the individual is not listed, share the file with them first, then complete these steps.
4. Click Yes.  
5. Click Done.

You may transfer a file or folder from yourself to another individual or to a Shared Drive. When you transfer ownership, you assign a new owner and maintain the file links, permissions, and folder structure (if applicable).

1. Log in to Google Drive.
2. Right-click the file or folder you would like to transfer.
3. Click Organize and then click Move.
4. Click All locations and then click Shared drives.
5. Browse to the shared drive you would like to move the file to.
6. Click Move. Google displays a notification that you are transferring ownership to a shared drive.

Students can use Google Takeout to move files to a non-CMU account. Learn more on our Move Your Student Services page.

If faculty or staff would like to transfer data, consider scheduling a consultation with a member of our Google Team—whether for a simple Q&A or to request assistance moving your work to your new drive. Or you can contact the Computing Services Help Center at it-help@cmu.edu to request support.

If your primary role at the university changes, your available storage limit will automatically adjust. This process is triggered based on changes in CMU's source systems, such as S3 and Workday to align with that of other people in your new role.

For example, if you transition from a faculty account to a sponsored account, your limit will change from 100 GB to 5 GB. Or if you transition from a student account to a staff account, your limit will change from 25 GB to 50 GB.

If you experience any issues with your storage limit adjustment or believe there is an error, please contact the Computing Services Help Center at it-help@cmu.edu. 

We recommend that you store any files that you may collaborate on in a Google Shared Drive or Box Organization Folder so that individuals other than yourself may access them if you leave the university.

If you notice that someone has shared a file with you from their MyDrive, encourage them to store it in a shared storage location instead.

Review our Drive Best Practices to learn more about where to store your data.

Regularly organizing and decluttering your files is always a good idea. Check out Google's tips for freeing up space on Google Drive to get started.

A storage limit is the maximum amount of space allocated to an individual account, Shared Drive, or Shared Mailbox.

• Students - 25 GB
• Staff - 50 GB
• Faculty - 100 GB
• Sponsored Accounts - 5 GB
• Shared Drives - 25 GB
• Shared Mailboxes - 5 GB

For context, one gigabyte can hold approximately 10,000 documents, 500-1,000 high-resolution photos, or nearly 2 hours of video. For students with 25 GB of storage, that translates to up to 250,000 documents, 12,500-25,000 high-resolution photos, or nearly 50 hours of video.

To allow high-storage individuals time to move and adjust to their new limit, we implemented temporary limits set at 20 percent above the amount an individual used as of March 4, 2024. These are temporary, and we will work with these individuals to assess their storage needs and determine how to align them with the available storage based on their role.

Google will display a banner notifying you when you are within 20 percent of your storage limit.

If you exceed your storage limit, you can still send and receive emails and access your Google Drive files, but you cannot upload new files or modify existing files.