Spanning Google Workspace for Shared Drives (Team drives)

Overview of Shared Drives

Shared drives are specialized folders within Google Drive designed for team collaboration. Unlike files in My Drive, which are owned by an individual, files in a shared drive belong to the team. This ensures that even if team members leave, the files remain accessible to the team, facilitating seamless collaboration from anywhere, on any device.

Changes in Backup and Restore Processes

Previous Process:

Previously, if you were a Manager or Content Manager of a Shared Drive, you could back up and restore data from user accounts that had access to the Shared Drive.

Current Process:

Now, in the Shared Drive tab, you can manually select each Shared Drive you want to add to your backup selection.

Impact on Existing Users:

For existing users who had Shared Drives in their backup selection, these drives were automatically included. Moving forward, new Shared Drives must be selected manually or you need to opt-in into auto-protection of all new shared drives. Existing backups for Shared Drives will continue without disruption, with all historical data retained under the original user account.

Locating Old Backups:

For backups created before June 2024 changes, follow these steps:

1. Open the user account that has Manager or Content Manager access to the Shared Drive.
2. Navigate to the Drive tab.
3. Open the Team Drives section.
4. Select the drive you need to restore.

After the release, all data will be found in the Shared Drives list under the Shared Drives tab (see Current Process section above).

Cleaning Up Backup History

Removing Old Backup History

To remove the backup history for a Shared Drive, you need to remove all users with Manager or Content Manager role associated with that Shared Drive. Otherwise, as long as there is one user with access to shared drive is protected the data will be remained on Spanning side.

Cleaning Shared Drives with the New Workflow

When unassigning a Shared Drive in the new workflow, only the data backed up after June 2024 release will be removed.

Example

If you previously backed up a user's data, including a Shared Drive, and then decided post-release that the data is not critical, you can unassign Shared Drive and remove the user (users) from the backup. Pay attention that when you unassign a user the following data will be removed:

• Mail history
• Drive history
• Shared Drives history (all data backed up before June release)
• Calendars
• Contacts
• Sites

By understanding these changes and following the updated procedures, you can effectively manage and maintain your team's Shared Drives and backup processes in Google Drive.