OVERVIEW
Target audience: McGill staff, faculty and students
Several options for document storing and sharing are presently available to the McGill community. The comparison chart below can help you select the most appropriate solution for your needs.
IMPORTANT: New OneDrive storage capacity starting May 31st 2024
On May 31st, 2024, OneDrive storage capacity for all students, will be adjusted to 20GB, to comply with Microsoft’s new Storage quota for its educational sector clients.
If you are a McGill student, please verify your current storage using the instructions in this article: How to check file storage usage in OneDrive.
If your current storage exceeds 20GB, empty the recycle bin, remove shared items and application installers. Move older, unused files and large files such as videos, PowerPoint presentations or picture libraries, off your OneDrive, to another location right away so you are ready for May 31st storage space reduction.
The OneDrive storage provided to staff or faculty members will not be affected.
More details about this initiative can be found in this announcement on the ITS website.
Supported document storing and sharing solutions
Solution |
Who can use it |
Primary purpose |
Hosting and backups |
Main characteristics / benefits |
Use Cases |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
McGill staff (including affiliates), faculty and students who have access to the Office 365 portal. |
Store work, research and documents related to current studies. Documents that are being worked on, on a day-to-day basis. |
Cloud storage, backed up by Microsoft Students are allotted 20GB of OneDrive storage. Full restore to a state within 30 days Deleted documents recoverable up to 93 days from the recycling bin |
Local synchronization on your computer Access files from anywhere on any device via secure Azure AD Login No VPN required outside McGill network Integration with other Microsoft 365 apps Version History Individual manages sharing, permissions, organization, etc. Easy external and internal sharing |
Draft and work versions of documents. Meeting recordings (from Teams) Personal information and documents should not be stored on OneDrive for extended periods. | |
|
McGill staff (including affiliates), faculty and students who have access to the Microsoft 365 portal |
Collaborate on an integrated team hub, with quick & easy access to files; hold conversations, work together in files, call and meet |
Cloud storage, backed up by Microsoft Large storage, up to 25TB per site Full restore to a state within 30 days Deleted documents recoverable up to 93 days from the recycling bin |
Integration with other Microsoft 365 apps Chat enabled Easy to use, collaborate and share Easy external and internal sharing Team / site owner(s) manage membership permissions, organization Local file synchronization on McGill-managed computer |
Project or team working documents Documents ready to be shared for committees: minutes of a meeting… Research data (see specifics below) | |
|
McGill staff (including affiliates), faculty and students who have access to the Microsoft 365 portal on request |
Store and sync group work files in a central repository, without the need for chat, meetings, and other collaboration features of Teams. Advanced search capabilities by tagging files with keywords. |
Documents libraries can be fully restored to a state within 30 days Deleted documents recoverable up to 93 days from the recycling bin |
Easy sharing with your team, members of the organization, and external users Advanced permissions management Site owner(s) manage membership permissions, organization Integration with other Microsoft 365 apps Local synchronization on your computer |
Project or team working documents Digital asset bank Department Cloud Storage Research data (see specifics below) Documents ready to be shared with a team | |
|
* Not currently accepting new requests |
McGill staff users with existing spaces |
Store files on a limited Collaboration Space on private content
Appropriate for final version or official record |
On premises storage Recoverable up to one year |
Secure Azure AD login / No VPN required for access on Desktop/Laptop outside McGill network Predictability with stable Interface Custom Views Managed by the user and IT External and internal sharing available but not easy |
Archived department data or projects |
|
The recommended storage solution is now SharePoint. |
McGill staff, faculty and student on request |
Network file storage for personal use or department Temporary /ad hoc solution for specific cases where there is very large number of documents.
|
On premises storage Variable quota on the G:\ drive per unit/department 1GB for staff and faculty personal use on the R:\ drive 300MB for students with existing access Recoverable up to one year |
VPN required for access outside McGill network Unlimited number of files per folder Besides the free departmental or unit/faculty folders, additional purchasable HNAS storage available if needed Managed by IT Services |
Server based applications Whole department Shared Drive Research Data (see specifics below) Streaming Capability Personal and work files (especially files that cannot be stored on OneDrive / SharePoint) |
Authorized data to be stored in each solution
| Type of data | On premises - D2 | On premises - Network File Shares | Cloud - McGill OneDrive | Cloud - McGill MS Teams /SharePoint |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regulated PI (Personal Information) |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Regulated – PHI (Personal Health Information) with Consent |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Regulated PCI (Payment Card Industry) |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
Regulated - Other |
to be evaluated |
to be evaluated |
to be evaluated |
to be evaluated |
| Protected |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Public |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Customized services
If your requirement is not fulfilled by any of the above solutions, or if you need a customized interface, lifecycle, or workflows for your documents, reach out to the Collaboration Solution Team.
We may be able to customize existing tools to create a personalized application to address your needs.
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES:
- Microsoft Teams - service description
- OneDrive - service description
- SharePoint Online - service description
- D2 - service description
- Network file storage and management - service description