Google Shared Drives - Migration

Owned by Dan Jakubiak
Last updated: Aug 05, 2024 by Ashley Mattingly
2 min read

Faculty, staff, and students who use Shared Drives in Google Drive will access its data in Microsoft OneDrive.  

Starting March 18th, 2024, users will no longer be able to create new Shared Drives. Existing Shared Drives will continue to function as normal. If a new shared space is required, use SharePoint.

Where did the data go? 

ITS is moving the data from Google Shared Drives into a single user’s OneDrive to avoid the duplication of data. The data will likely reside in the OneDrive of the user who created the Shared Drive.*  

  • Creator: The user who created the Shared Drive.

  • Owner: The users who manage the Shared Drive.

  • Member: The users who read or edit files within the Shared Drive. 

When a user creates a Shared Drive, they automatically become an owner of it too. However, due to the distinctions above, it is possible for a creator to no longer be an owner. If the creator leaves the Shared Drive, they will no longer be an owner. The user account will forever hold the title of creator, although they no longer have access or control over the Shared Drive.  

*If the creator is no longer a member of the Shared Drive, the data will be migrated into the OneDrive of the alphabetically-first Owner. For example, if Beth and Anna are both owners of a Shared Drive in which the creator is no longer present, the data will be migrated into Anna’s OneDrive. Once the migration is complete, the data can be moved to another’s OneDrive or to a SharePoint site if appropriate. 

Examples of a creator no longer having access to the Shared Drive: 

  • If the Drive was created by a student graduating in Spring 2024 but owned by a faculty or staff member, a copy of the drive will be migrated to the faculty or staff member’s OneDrive. 

  • If the Drive was created or owned by alumni but also owned by a faculty or staff member, a copy of the drive will be migrated to the faculty or staff member’s OneDrive. 

What if the Shared Drive had multiple Owners? 

ITS migrated staff data out of Google Drive before all other groups. This migration moved all their data from their Google Drive into their OneDrive. Therefore, staff was the first group using OneDrive exclusively, and ITS migrated Shared Drive data into their accounts.  

If there were multiple staff with the owner designation, ITS migrated the data into the OneDrive of the alphabetically-first email address.
For example, if alice.name@uconn.edu and beth.name@uconn.edu were both owners of the Shared Drive, the data would have been migrated to Alice’s OneDrive.  

Can this data move to SharePoint?

Once the data has been migrated into a OneDrive, that person may then move it into a SharePoint site. You can easily move data between SharePoint sites and OneDrive.

Not sure where your data is?

Please reach out to techsupport@uconn.edu with the name of your Google Shared Drive to confirm the destination of the Drive.

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