Contents
Purpose
This article is to outline what needs to be considered and how to migrate from SAMBA to Google Shared Drive
Process
Outline what should be allowed within the Shared Drive
Take a moment to review the Shared Drive Settings for how you wish to allow Members to be able to do things within the Shared Drive.
By Default, Shared Drive will have the following settings:
- Members (Contributor or better) can share anything within the Shared Drive to anyone outside of UCSB
- Members (Contributor or better) can share anything within the Shared Drive who are not Members of the Shared Share
- Commenters and Viewers can Download, Copy or Print anything within the Shared Share
Consider Data Privacy Compliance for Google Shared Drive. some medical, financial and other restricted datasets may not be shared via Shared Drive
Outline your permissions
Take a moment to look at the Shared Drive Permissions and who will need access to the various data that is in your SAMBA share.
If there are some folders within your SAMBA share that require specific or special permissions, you should consider that you will need to make a separate Shared Drive for that specific folder based on those permissions.
It is recommended to consider having one Departmental Functional Account be given Manager permissions along with the person who will manage the Shared Drive as a 'just in case' situation, such as emergencies or managers leaving and possibly forgetting to pass control over to the next person.
Note with regard to Departmental Functional Account
We recommend that for the Functional Account, it should be named <Department> Fileshare.
(IE: If the Department was CSI, it should be named CSI Fileshare)
This user account should be in the Department's Admin Records or available for the Connect Departmental Admin to reset the password in case there is a need to manage other Departmental Shared Shares.
Outline Shared Drive Structure
As mentioned earlier, with Outline your permissions, when you are copying your data from SAMBA to the Shared Drive, you have to take into consideration what folders have special access requirements.
If you have folders that should be accessed a different way, as mentioned above, you will have to consider making that a separate Shared Drive and not include that folder structure within the Shared Drive you are working on.
Also, keep in mind that the Shared Drive does have limitations, as noted here, Google Shared Drive Limitations.
Create Shared Drive
Follow the process to create the Shared Drive here - Creating a Shared Drive
Keep in mind to use the Settings and Permissions you outlined earlier when you create the Shared Drive.
We also recommend, for ease of Identification, to name the Shared Drive <Department> <Function>.
IE: If the department was CSI and the function of the Shared Drive as General, calling it CSI General would help, especially if you are a cross department user, easier to identify which Department the Shared Drive belongs to.
Copy Files/Folders to Shared Drive
You can now copy folders into the Shared Drive, but please make sure to follow your Outline Shared Drive Structure as noted above, only copying the Folders that should be in the Shared Drive with the permissions allowable.
Optional Transfer
ECI can work on transferring the SAMBA share information to Google Shared Drive, however, the process can take up to a couple of weeks depending on the amount of data is in the SAMBA share.