Question
What is the difference between Google My Drive and Google Shared drives?
Answer
The My Drive space is individual to the user, including the organization of files and folders. Each file and folder has a specific owner.
In Shared drive, all members of a Shared drive have the same organization of files and folders. Each file and folder has no owner; the university owns the content
We will highlight a few items below, but for a full list of the differences, see this Google link
My Drive and Shared drives functionality are the same, except for the following:
| Shared drives | My Drive | |
|---|---|---|
| What types of files can I add? | All file types* | All file types |
| Who owns files and folders? | The university | The individual who created the file or folder |
| Can I move files and folders? | Users can only move files. Administrators can move folders; see the Google link above for more | Yes |
| Can I sync files to my computer? | No** | Yes (however, we recommend Drive File Stream) |
| Sharing | All team members see the same file set | Different users might see different files in a folder, depending on their access to individual files |
| How long do files I delete stay in Trash? |
|
Files or folders in the Trash remain there until the user selects Delete Forever |
| Can I restore files? | Yes, if you have Contributor access or above | Yes, if you created it. |
*Except Google Maps and existing documents with attached Apps Scripts
**Users have access to their Shared drives on a PC and Mac using the new Google Drive File Stream.