Judith MacFadyen Is this what your OneDrive looks like? It’s time to clear some space and get organised!
Ever since we started using OneDrive and Teams, it has been easier to “save everything, just in case”. Files have been piling up unused and unseen in Teams and OneDrive folders.
Cloud storage isn’t free, nor is it limitless. There is an environmental and monetary cost to keeping cat videos from 2021 and sending “thank you” emails to everyone.
The data storage problem
We need to tackle the data storage problem now for two main reasons:
- To maintain our position in the Sustainability rankings (ref. University League | People & Planet).
- The University will need to purchase additional storage next year if we do not reduce what we have stored.
Whilst the University could be pressed to find the funds to pay for more Cloud storage, there would be an monetary and environmental impact, which would in turn affect our ranking. The ranking is an important factor in persuading students they want to study here, which is what funds us.
There is also a third reason – Copilot
We use Copilot within our organisation. When you ask for something, Copilot uses information from your M365 files, which includes files in your own OneDrive. If all the files in your OneDrive are obsolete or out of date, Copilot is more likely to give you incorrect answers.
Sustainability
As the UKs fourth most sustainable University, we need to be constantly improving our efforts. Retaining documents on your OneDrive has environmental implications as every GB of data you store produces 0.28kg of CO2 emissions. If you had only 100Gb saved, that would still be the equivalent of 70 miles being driven in a normal family car. For more statistics, see Carbon Footprint of the Internet for calculations.
Hot off the press! Carbon reductions bolster Reading People and Planet rank – University of Reading
Benefits of reducing your storage?
The sensible approach to this data storage problem is to clear space by looking at what we are using it for now and deleting what we don’t need anymore.
To start with, we are asking staff to look at what they have in their own OneDrive space.
Everyone has a theoretical storage limit of 5TB (5000GB) on OneDrive. This is in comparison with the 100GB we had five years ago when we had “home drives”. Microsoft saves almost everything that you do, which leads to lots of clutter. You possibly don’t even realise what is in there! Having a tidy up will make it a lot easier to find things in OneDrive.
How much can you save?
Your personal OneDrive storage quota includes:
- OneDrive files and folders.
- Any items in your Recycle Bin.
A quick win therefore is to empty your Recycle Bin, and DTS will be implementing a new policy to automatically empty Recycling Bins on a monthly basis.
Go through your own OneDrive account and:
- Identify unused files and delete or archive (zip)
- Identify duplicate files and delete those you don’t need.
- Remove large files you no longer need.
- Compress large files that you do need (zip).
- Delete software download files in your Downloads folder
- Uninstall applications you don’t use anymore
You can get 7zip from AppsAnywhere to help with this.
For instructions, see KI 2655 OneDrive: guidance for creating some space
Do the same with any Teams you own. Do you really need to keep “COVID-19 Tea Room”, or “Christmas Party 2023” anymore?
We will be moving on to tackle unused Teams and their associated storage in the next stage, so get a head start now.
Data Management
In the next post, I’ll be looking at data management – how to decide what to keep. and where is the best place to keep it?
Further information and contact
If you have any questions or need any advice, please contact the IT Service Desk.