The time has come and the totally free journey is over for Google. As of Tuesday, June 1, 2021, your Gmail messages, Google Drive files, and Google Photos photos will count towards your cloud storage limit.
No more loopholes, no more skipped files, no more unlimited photo storage (unless you have a Pixel) and documents. From then on, everything counts and adds up to the maximum set.
If you still don’t know what we’re talking about and what this change means, take a look at your Google Account and make sure you’re ready now that the deadline is approaching. We’ve identified five things you need to do before Google’s new data limit hits.
We have some interesting content on this, how to download all photos and videos from google photos. You can also find the one from How to upload your entire photo gallery to Google Photos before June 1.
Google ends unlimited photo storage
As of 2013, Google Accounts have come with at least 15 GB of free cloud storage for files in Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. In 2015, Google introduced a new version of Photos with the failure of the Google Plus social network.
The service allowed you to upload photos of 16 megapixels or less without counting as your unified storage limits. Google called these photos “ high quality ” and argued that you would hardly notice the difference between the original and the high quality.
The upside is that people always had reasonable quality photos, while Google used less cloud storage for each user.
Once advanced to 2021, the high quality option also closes for most mortals. This way, all quality images uploaded to Google Photos will now count towards the limit of 15 GB per user.
However, this is only valid for uploading new photos, so any “ high quality ” photos that were uploaded before June 1, 2021 will not count towards the new storage limits.
There is only one caveat in this regard, and that is that all users who have purchased a mobile made by Google, such as the Pixel 4a, will be able to continue uploading their high quality photos without stopping. account for Google’s data limit. .
Beyond uploading your photos, Google’s data policy remains the same. Anything you’ve saved to Google Drive counts toward your storage limit, including Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, and Jamboard files.
Gmail messages also count against Google’s storage limits, as it used to be. If you exceed your storage limits, Google will give you an extended grace period of 24 months before deleting your data.
The company says it will send you plenty of warnings before it starts deleting your data. Although changing the data limit only affects one type of download, images stored in the cloud.
Google says most users should still have at least three years of free storage before they hit the limit. But make no mistake, that limit is approaching, and it’s a good idea to think about what you’re going to do when you run out of space.
Here are five things to prepare to anticipate.
1.- Check for yourself
First, you need to assess the current state of your Google Account and how much storage space you have left. Google makes it easy for you with a simple storage calculator that shows exactly how much storage you have used and how much you have left.
Google also offers an estimate of how many years you have left before you reach the limit.
2.- Clean your account
Once you know how much storage you have left, Google provides another tool called “Storage Manager” which makes it easy to delete files and reclaim free space.
Suggested deletions can include obvious items such as deleted emails and documents that are in the Trash but have not yet been deleted, as well as emptying your Gmail spam folder.
Google also encourages you to examine larger files to see if they can be deleted, including documents and photos. An “Other Items” section includes items like videos in Google Photos that can’t be rendered or played.
Fortunately, “Storage Manager” only considers files that count towards your storage limits and not old, high-quality images that are not.
If you’ve had a Gmail account for a long time, the emails and attachments from your years could consume a surprisingly large amount of space.
Google Storage Manager is a good start, but if you want to use as much space as possible, be sure to check out our guide on how to clean Gmail inbox in few simple steps.
3.- Check the free storage of another place
Once you’re on the verge of going over your storage limit, you’ll need to decide what to do. The easiest option is to pay for more storage, but you might not need it if you have access to one of the two more popular services.
Members of Amazon prime They get unlimited, free full-resolution photo storage and an additional 5GB of free video storage as a subscription.
This is even better than the unlimited downloads of “high quality” photos offered by Google until June 1st! You can upload photos automatically using the app Amazon Photos for Android or iOS.
And if you have a Microsoft 365 for Office subscription, you also get 1TB of OneDrive storage as part of the package. Like Google Photos and Amazon Photos, Microsoft’s OneDrive apps allow automatic downloading from iOS and Android.
4.- Check inactivity
If you uploaded images to Google Photos or documents to Drive years ago and forgot them, you might lose your files if you don’t take action. As part of the policy changes, Google says it can remove content from any product where it is inactive.
Google defines inactivity as the non-use of a service for more than two years (24 months). The company says it will try to notify the user multiple times before deleting any content, so it’s not as if those files go missing.
The easiest way to avoid even these warnings is to log in and visit each service (Gmail, Drive, and Google Photos) at least once every few months. This shouldn’t be a problem for most people.
If you can’t be bothered to do so, you should probably upload the content you have on these services so that you don’t be worried if Google may decide to remove them immediately.
Also, don’t forget about secondary Google accounts that you abandoned at some point.
5.- Consider subscribing to a plan
If you like to use Google services and don’t want to quit, but are approaching your storage limit after performing a cleanup, it makes sense to pay for a Google One subscription.
Google one is the company’s paid storage option. The service acts as shared storage between Google services, just like the free tier.
These plans start at $ 1.99 per month for 100GB and increase from there based on your needs, reaching values of $ 9.99 for 2TB or $ 99.99 for 10TB. You can also benefit from discounts if you buy the subscription for a full year at a time.
But there are plenty of alternatives to Google if you want to switch services. Anyone with an iPhone might prefer iCloud, Apple’s cloud storage service.
Apple’s limit for free iCloud downloads is 5GB, but you can add an additional 50GB for around $ 1 per month, and prices rise again from there to offer 1TB for $ 9.99. . Apple limits cloud storage to 2TB or 4TB if you go with the (much) more expensive Apple One multi-service subscription.
Dropbox has paid storage plans and their app includes automatic photo uploads, but Dropbox is much more expensive than Google and Apple’s starter plans. Dropbox’s free plan isn’t really a good alternative as it’s only limited to 2GB.
There are other cloud storage services you can try, but you probably won’t find a better deal than Google and Apple, or the additional Amazon and Microsoft storage benefits mentioned above.
We hope that with these five tips, you have been able to make or plan for an easier transition to the plan that meets your needs. Also consult our ranking of the best cloud storage services that you can hire.
.
Table of Contents
