"When we routinely deleted the account of a sales representative who resigned, the quote templates and past proposals in their My Drive vanished together. We tried to restore them, but the owner no longer existed." This is a classic case of believing handover was complete when, in reality, the file storage locations had never been handed over. When vital company materials remain in an individual's My Drive, corporate assets are lost the moment that person leaves.
This is not a mere slip-up; it is a structural problem that inevitably occurs when using Google Drive without understanding its ownership architecture. If our previous discussion about running out of storage capacity was an issue of cost, this one is an issue of business continuity. In this article, we outline why relying on My Drive is risky, what and how to migrate, and the essential steps to avoid mishaps during migration.
My Drive is "Personal Property" — Lost Along with the Person Who Leaves
Files placed in My Drive are owned by the individual who created them. Even if shared with others, the owner remains strictly that individual. When the owner's account is deleted, access to the shared files is revoked, and they are eventually lost. In other words, assuming "it is shared, so it is safe" is a misconception; sharing and ownership are entirely different concepts.
Allowing this state to persist inevitably produces two major issues. One is the loss of files upon departure illustrated at the beginning. The other is dependency on individual knowledge—as instances of "that document is in Person A's drive" accumulate, the organization loses track of who put what where. Routine operational standstills—such as being unable to open a required file simply because the person in charge took a day off—also originate here.
Shared Drives are "Company Property" — Preserved Even When Roles Change
The solution to this is shared drives. For files placed in a shared drive, the owner is not an individual, but the organization (company). Even if members are added or removed, the content remains in the drive, preserved as a corporate asset if someone leaves. The differences compared to My Drive can be summarized as follows:
| My Drive | Shared Drive | |
|---|---|---|
| File owner | Individual creator | Organization (company) |
| When owner leaves or is deleted | Files are also lost | Remains with the company |
| Ideal applications | Personal drafts and temporary work | Official materials shared across departments and teams |
The distinction is simple: separate roles so that "materials to be retained as company assets" go to shared drives, and "personal working notes and drafts" stay in My Drive. As a rule, items that continue to be used across personnel changes—such as contracts, quotes, proposals, meeting minutes, and various templates—belong in shared drives.
What and How to Migrate — Designing Folders and Permissions Together
Attempting to migrate all files at once will cause chaos for your teams. Begin with "assets that would cause severe damage if lost upon departure," where the impact is substantial. A practical roadmap is outlined below:
- Create shared drives by department or business function (using granularities that are neither too broad nor too narrow, such as "Sales," "Accounting," or "Production")
- Define permission roles for each shared drive, specifying who can perform what actions (Viewer / Commenter / Content manager / Manager)
- Move files in My Drive that should be preserved as company assets into the appropriate shared drive
Because permission role design can lead to information leaks if too loose, or operational bottlenecks if too restrictive, assign the minimum required privileges based on roles while referencing shared drive permission roles. If external sharing is involved, reviewing your Drive sharing settings rules at the same time ensures safe operations.
Critical Pitfalls Where Migrations Go Wrong
The migration process itself has hidden traps. First is ownership transfer. Simply copying files does not transfer ownership; if the original My Drive is deleted, the same problem recurs. The correct procedure is to "move" the file so that ownership transfers directly to the shared drive. Second is broken links—sharing links pasted in documents or emails may break because the URL changes upon moving. Verify whether frequently referenced files require relinking after the move. Finally, running mass migrations all at once often causes failures, so proceeding step by step, partitioned by department, is the safest path.
If company files are scattered across personal drives, employees are constantly hunting for files whenever someone leaves, or you are unsure how to partition shared drives, please feel free to reach out to GleamHub's Google Workspace operational support and IT consulting. From folder architecture and permission role structuring to phased migrations that keep business running smoothly, we will design the transition alongside you.
