October 1, 2021: Upcoming changes to Google Drive for Clemson alumni

Ryan Real, Communications & Marketing
June 25, 2021

Due to a recent Google policy change that will affect all higher education institutions, Google Drive storage for Clemson University alumni will be disabled on October 1, 2021.  At this time there will be no changes to alumni email at g.clemson.edu, which will continue to function normally. Due to these storage changes, alumni will need to transfer any documents or data stored in Google Drive to another storage solution before October 1. Depending on the amount of data stored in Google Drive, we recommend downloading or migrating data well before access is disabled on October 1, as transferring data can take a considerable amount of time depending on internet connectivity. Alumni can download their Drive data using Google Takeout at takeout.google.com. For more on how to use Google Takeout, visit support.google.com/accounts/answer/3024190

You can learn more about this policy change on Google’s blog: blog.google/outreach-initiatives/education/google-workspace-for-education. A list of frequently asked questions regarding Clemson accounts can be found below. These questions and more information will be updated as necessary.

The CCIT Support Center is available to answer questions and provide assistance. Contact the Support Center by calling or texting (864) 656-3494, starting a live chat at ccit.clemson.edu or emailing ITHELP@clemson.edu.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: I graduated from Clemson last year but am currently an employee at Clemson.  Will my drive be disabled or will I still have access to it?
A: Any active Clemson students or employees will retain access to Google Drive.

Q: Does this affect all Google Docs and Sheets? Or just files saved in the Drive?
A: This does affect Docs and Sheets, as they are stored in and tied to Google Drive

Q: Will this change affect Google Photos?
A: Not at this time. Google Photos are stored separately from Drive, but they will still use Clemson’s pooled storage. This policy may change in the future as we continue to evaluate storage limitations.

Q: Can you convert or migrate my account to not be part of Clemson’s domain?
A: No. Google does not provide that functionality.

Q: I tried to share the files with my personal account and change the owner, but Google says that is not allowed. Can you enable it?
A: Unfortunately not. Google gives us the ability to control external sharing, but there are no settings to allow ownership transfer outside the organization.