Spanning for Google Workspace: Advanced Shared Drives Backup Flow

Spanning securely backs up and protects your Google Shared Drives, enabling you to work with confidence in the cloud. Learn more.

With over three billion monthly active users and growing, Google Workspace is one of the most popular Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications for individuals and businesses today. Google Workspace offers several tools and features that enhance collaboration and productivity, one of which is Google Shared Drive.

What is Google Shared Drive?

Google Shared Drive (formerly known as Team Drive) is a feature within Google Workspace that provides teams with a shared space to store, access and collaborate on files. Unlike files stored in an individual’s My Drive, which that individual owns, files in a Shared Drive belong to the team or the organization, ensuring that team resources remain accessible even if members leave the organization.

What is the difference between Shared With Me and Shared Drive?

The “Shared With Me” folder and Shared Drive in Google Workspace serve different purposes and operate in distinct ways. “Shared With Me” is a collection of files individually shared with you, where the file’s originator manages ownership and permissions. Consider the “Shared With Me” folder more like an inbox rather than a traditional folder. Files appearing here aren’t actually stored in your drive; they are simply links to files hosted in someone else’s drive.

Shared Drives, on the other hand, are collaborative spaces intended for team use. Files within a shared drive are owned by the organization, providing a more structured and secure way of managing team resources. Simply put, regardless of who adds or creates files within a Shared Drive, the drive itself owns the files, which means they belong to the organization.

Why back up Shared Drives in Google Workspace?

Backing up Google Shared Drives is essential to safeguard your organization’s data integrity, ensure business continuity and mitigate the risk of data loss. Here are a few reasons why you must back up your Shared Drives:

Data protection against human error

One of the most common causes of data loss is human error. According to Verizon’s 2023 Data Breach Investigations Report, 74% of data breach incidents involved some human element. People might accidentally delete important files or folders. Regular backups of Shared Drives ensure that even if something is accidentally lost or deleted, it can be recovered.

Defense against malicious attacks

Cyberattacks, such as ransomware or phishing, can lead to data being encrypted, stolen or destroyed. Backing up Shared Drives provides a safety net, allowing you to restore data to a point in time before the attack occurred.

Compliance and legal requirements

Many industries are subject to regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, etc., that require data to be retained for specific periods. Regular backups can help ensure compliance with these legal and regulatory requirements, providing auditable records and protecting your business against legal risks.

Protection from service outages

Although Google Workspace offers robust infrastructure, no service is immune to outages. Having backups of your Shared Drives will ensure critical data is still accessible even if Google Workspace is temporarily unavailable.

Mitigating the risk of insider threats

Insider threats, whether deliberate or accidental, pose a significant risk to your organization’s data. By having backups of your organization’s Shared Drives, you can rest easy knowing that data can be restored in case of intentional deletion or alteration of files.

Business continuity and disaster recovery

In the event of a disaster, whether natural or man-made, having up-to-date backups of Shared Drives will allow you to quickly restore data and maintain operations with minimal downtime.

Protect your data efficiently with Spanning’s Advanced Shared Drives Backup Flow

Spanning Backup for Google Workspace protects your Shared Drive data from employee mistakes, cybersecurity incidents and other data threats. With our recent product enhancements, you will experience significant improvements in overall backup speed and onboarding. With the new developments, Shared Drive backups will be separated from user drive backups, both from the UI side and the backend. They will be queued separately from user drive backups, reducing latency while enabling faster data transfer rates and quicker backups. Additionally, you will have the option to toggle specific Shared Drive backups on or off. Self-service restoration for Shared Drives will also be available.

Ready to transform your data protection strategy? Book a demo today to discover how Spanning securely backs up and protects your Google Shared Drives.