Backing up or migrating your MassArt Google account data

Account expiration information

NetIDs for graduates are deactivated 90 days after the official graduation date maintained by the Registrar's Office. 

NOTES:

  • The Degree Completion Date is the official graduation date for any student at MassArt. This date is managed and maintained by the Registrar's Office, and is not the same as the date of Commencement. Check with the Registrar if you are not sure of your official graduation date.
  • The official graduation date can vary depending on degree, certificate, or program requirements - check with an administrator or chair to determine the anticipated or actual official graduation date. 

MassArt no longer offers full Google Workspace accounts to alumni. We have transitioned to an alumni forwarding service to provision alums with a MassArt-affiliated email alias. 

Disclaimers

Please be advised of the following:

  • There will be no extensions granted after your account has been deactivated, for any reason. Any request to extend beyond the deactivation date of your account will be denied. 
  • MassArt assumes no liability or responsibility for your data. You assume all responsibility for ensuring your data is backed up prior to the deactivation of your NetID. Make sure you have provided enough time to backup your data, particularly If you have a large amount of data stored in your massart.edu account, or an affiliated service tied to your massart.edu account.
  • MassArt assumes no liability or responsibility, and does not provide any warranty or guarantee of any kind, about the usability, performance, functionality, or fitness for a particular purpose, of any resource, product, service, system, application or set of instructions offered by a third-party, including but not limited to Google Takeout.
  • MassArt does not control, and does not have the ability to alter, the performance, functionality, effectiveness or accuracy of third-party vendors’ offerings of any kind as described herein, or in any other guidance, communication or documentation provided by MassArt.
  • Any guidance provided by MassArt is provided solely for your reference and educational purposes only. It is your responsibility to determine the best options that suit your particular needs. 
  • We have received feedback from several alums that it may take days or in some cases weeks to successfully use Google Takeout, using either download or migration features. Our recommendation is that you start the backup process immediately. 

Access your account and assess the data

We encourage all users to review information stored in their massart.edu or alumni.massart.edu accounts, and delete files and emails that are no longer needed, particularly those that are consuming large amounts of storage.

Backup and migration options

Users will need to consider which option is the best solution for their particular needs and should be advised that costs will vary depending on the amount of storage needed. Some users may find that a combination of the options below, or others not listed here, may be the best option. 

Manually back up data to an external storage device or online storage solution

Users with large amounts of data, typically digital media video, audio or image files, should download files manually directly to a personal computer's hard drive,  or to an external storage device, or using an online storage or backup service to continue to store data in the cloud. Any storage device or service will need sufficient capacity to store an archive of all the data in your massart.edu or alumni.massart.edu Google account. Prices for external storage devices vary, but users can expect to pay between $50-$200 for drives ranging in size from 500gb-4tb. Below are some links to storage devices:

Online storage options are also an option for users who wish to continue storing data in the cloud. These articles can provide more information about online storage vendors, options, and pricing: 

Generally speaking, external storage devices are cheaper over time, as online storage and backup services are subscription-based.

Using Google Takeout

Google Takeout has been enabled on the massart.edu for graduating students and recent alumni. Takeout provides users with a convenient method to export most of their data, or migrate it to a personal Gmail account. Users will need to review Google’s instructions for using Takeout.

We have also provided this Google Takeout Guidance for MassArt students and alumni doc for reference purposes. This document provides guidance on how to avoid issues with Takeout, and what its limitations are. We strongly advise users to review this document prior to initiating Takeout operations.

Please be advised of the following: 

  • Takeout export and migration operations can take quite a bit of time to successfully export or migrate large amounts of data. Some alums have reported it can days or even weeks to successfully complete migration or export. Users are advised to begin the backup process with Takeout far in advance of the deactivation of their accounts to ensure they have enough time to complete the export or migration.
  • Takeout may not be suitable for exporting or migrating exceedingly large amounts of data, as described above. More information, guidance and tips on using Takeout can be found in our Google Takeout Guidance for MassArt students and alumni doc. 
  • Employees are prohibited from using Takeout. Be advised that if you transition from student to employee, you will no longer be able to export or migrate Google Workspace data using Google Takeout. If you intend to use Takeout, you must start using it prior to your transition to employment with the College.

Exporting your data from Google Workspace

Users will need to review and follow the instructions outlined in Google’s How to download your Google data support article. 

Migrating your data to another Google account

Graduating students and alumni who wish to migrate data from any MassArt Google to a private gmail address should review Google’s Copy content from your school account to another account article. This option provides a seamless solution. Google provides multiple options for personal account plans with different prices for different tiers of storage, including a free option with a limit of 15gb of storage.

 

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