Tips and Best Practices for Managing your Cloud Storage

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 10:31:40 -0400
box, cloud, google, project

Want to learn how to manage your Google Drive storage better? We have 5 steps for you! These tips can generally be applied to other cloud services such as Box and OneDrive.

What are the benefits of managing your storage?

Better security by reducing data breaches and minimizing the number of files that contain sensitive information

Freeing up your storage so that you don't have a bunch of old, unnecessary files taking up space

Decluttering your storage so it's easier to find files

Makes transitions easier if you leave the university (graduate, new job, etc.)

5 Steps for Cloud Storage Management

Below are some steps you can implement to help manage your cloud storage usage over time.

1. Yearly or monthly clean-ups

Look through your files on your UMBC Drive and look at the last time that file was accessed. If the file was last accessed over a year ago, consider deleting it. If you believe that you may need the file at some point down the line, consider transferring it to a flash drive or somewhere not on UMBC cloud services while considering the sensitivity of the data and protecting it appropriately.

If you want to hold onto work from previous semesters, consider consolidating them into a compressed folder and downloading them to your hard drive or an external drive.

2. What should be prioritized on your UMBC Google Drive

Your UMBC Google Drive and other cloud storage options provided by the university should be prioritized for storing UMBC files.

UMBC Cloud Storage

Documents, spreadsheets, and presentations for classes, UMBC work

UMBC-related documents

UMBC Research documents

Collaborative Files

Personal Cloud Storage, Hard Drive, External Drive

Personal documents

Personal photos and videos

Personal Computer Backups

Personal projects

Long-term files not used regularly

3. Remember to empty the Trash bin!

After deleting any files, clear out your trash bin so that storage space is freed up on your drive

4. Create a folder structure or naming convention for files

Having your files organized in a consistent system of folders and names that you understand can make your life easier in the long run. When it comes to finding files and when you may need to delete those files later

Consider asking Google Gemini for help creating a folder structure

5. File as you go

Organize your files once you create or download them. Making this a habit will make it so you don't have to worry about a backlog of unsorted files later

Do you want to learn more?

Here are some helpful links and resources

UMBC Cloud Storage Quotas & Changes

Organize your files in Google Drive

Search for files in Google Drive

Organize your files in Google Drive

Delete Files in Google Drive

Google Drive Help