When Google ended its unlimited storage policy, Michigan State University faced a new and immediate financial reality. Storage that had previously been offered as part of Google’s free tier of service now carried real and rising costs, just as years of accumulated data pushed the university beyond newly imposed limits. MSU’s Google Drive environment had grown to nearly a petabyte across more than 500,000 accounts, including many tied to people no longer affiliated with the university. That combination made both costs and active usage harder to see and harder to manage.
In response, MSU Information Technology launched the Google Storage Project with a clear strategic framework. The initiative was guided by three core pillars: mitigating user impact through proactive outreach and high-touch support, promoting sustainability and responsible stewardship of institutional data and university funds, and ensuring a consistent, identity-driven user experience across enterprise storage platforms.
“Google eliminating unlimited storage forced us to fundamentally rethink how we were using Google Drive across the institution,” said Justin Booth, member of the MSU IT Google Storage Project team.
A foundational step in addressing the challenge was integrating systems that manage user accounts and access. For the first time, the project team could clearly distinguish between active users and inactive or orphaned accounts.
“Once identity data was integrated, we could accurately determine who was still affiliated with MSU and take action with confidence,” Booth added.
The team adopted a people-first strategy rooted in proactive outreach and individualized support. Former users were contacted and provided time and guidance to retrieve their data before accounts were removed, sometimes requiring coordination across countries and time zones. For current users with unusually large storage footprints, the project team offered personalized consultations, technical assistance, and support migrating data to more appropriate platforms.
“In some cases, a single researcher was responsible for a significant percentage of our total storage,” said project team member Kevin Lucas. Addressing those scenarios required collaboration, trust, and a deep understanding of research needs.
Providing that level of personalized support meant helping users identify storage solutions that delivered the appropriate balance of security, capacity, and accessibility, rather than simply reducing usage. This approach ensured continuity of work while reinforcing sustainable data practices aligned with the university’s long-term needs.
The results of the project’s strategic, pillar-driven approach were substantial. MSU reduced its Google storage usage from roughly 950 terabytes to just over 200 terabytes, an approximate 80-percent reduction. That decrease is equivalent to deleting more than 150 million photos and stands as one of the largest data cleanup efforts of its kind at MSU.
Much of the reduction came from removing data tied to former users and implementing sustainable storage caps for current ones, while still connecting power users with solutions that met their specific requirements. In doing so, the university significantly reduced costs and brought its storage consumption into alignment with contractual allotments.
“Most of the reduction came from data that no longer needed to be there,” said project team member Drew Beach, “and that made a lasting financial difference for the university.”
Beyond measurable cost savings, the project strengthened collaboration across MSU IT and reinforced a culture of responsible data stewardship. It also highlighted the importance of flexibility as vendor models, technologies, and research needs continue to evolve.
“This wasn’t just about cleanup,” Booth emphasized. “It gave us insight into how we need to think about storage, policy, and user needs going forward.”
What began as a vendor-driven cost change ultimately became an opportunity to improve institutional stewardship, clarify data practices, and align technology services more closely with MSU’s academic mission. Through proactive support, responsible resource management, and identity-driven consistency, the Google Storage Project demonstrates how thoughtful strategy and collaboration can turn external pressure into lasting institutional benefit.
