Shared Drive Feature on Business Starter Plan

[rickyho282828]

Hi,

I would like to check about the differences of Shared Drive in Business Starter and Business Standard Plan.

As per the recent update from Google, the business starter user can enjoy to have shared drive benefits.

I have two company domains, 1 business standard edition, and another 1 business starter edition.

From now, I can't see the shared drive being rolled out to my business starter account.

In terms of the shared drive access (Manager, Content Manager, Contributor, Commenter and Viewer) , what are the differences in Business Starter ?  I heard that the access is limited as compare with standard.

Best Regards,

YK Ho

[Marcin_Milewski · Accepted solution]

Hey @rickyho282828 

You might be on the trial plan but also you might have this option disabled - check if Shared Drives are enabled in the Admin Console.

Best,
Marcin

[Marcin_Milewski]

Hey @rickyho282828,

The Business Starter plans have pooled storage, that provides a more simple and flexible way to manage storage, as all storage is shared across the organization, removing the need to manage it on a per-user basis

According to the recent announcement In Business Starter plan, users will be able to create shared drives and add members, files, and folders. But the certain admin-level and security controls—like the ability to control access to the items in a shared drive—will not be included in shared drives for the Business Starter.

For more details you can reefer to: https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2023/05/pooled-storage-shared-drives-for-google-workspace-bu... 

Hope it helps,
Marcin

[rickyho282828]

Hi Mercin,

Thank you for your prompt response. However, I was trying to use shared drive on my registered account. However, I'm not able to use the shared drive. This isn't any shared drive roll to my account.

In fact, I just would like do a hands on practice in this feature to see what are the actual difference between the shared drive of Business Starter and Business Standard. 

Is it the possibility that because of it is still a trial account ?

Thank you.

Best Regards,

YK

[Marcin_Milewski · Accepted solution]

Hey @rickyho282828 

You might be on the trial plan but also you might have this option disabled - check if Shared Drives are enabled in the Admin Console.

Best,
Marcin

[AshRB]

Hi Marcin, 

Are there any updates on when shared drives would be rolled out for business starter customers?  There are references to shared drives in the sharing settings but no option to actually enable them.  

Thanks, 

Ashley

[Marcin_Milewski]

Hey @AshRB , 

The news that I've shared in the previous post informs: 

• Beginning May 15, 2023, new Business Starter customers will have pooled storage by default.
  
  
• Pooled storage will start rolling out to existing Business Starter customers on May 22, 2023 and continue over the coming months. 
  
  
• Shared drives will become available after pooled storage rolls out to all existing Business Starter customers.

Best,
Marcin

[jarrodlombardo]

Is there any way to know if my Workspace has gotten Pooled Storage or not yet? My users seem to all be limited to 30GB but all limits are turned off in settings, so maybe that indicates that we don't have Pooled Storage yet?

[AshRB]

Hi Marcin, 

Is there any update on how to see if our account has had pooled storage added yet?  In your July response you indicated that Workspaces added after May 15, 2023 would have this automatically, but my Workspace was created in June and didn't seem to have it.  Is there something special that I need to check/enable?  If we would be part of the roll out after all, is there a target date by which basic customers should expect to have this feature? 

Thanks!

Ashley

[Marcin_Milewski]

Hey @AshRB Please refer to: https://support.google.com/a/answer/12002975, you might need to turn on the pooled storage first.  If you don't have this option, and you think you should - reach out to the support team to verify what is the cause. 

Hope this helps,
Best
Marcin

[max32268]

Per Support, you seem to have your information not fully correct. It appears that May of 2023 the rollout of pooled storage to Starter accounts began, but currently support claims that will not be completed until Q1 or Q2 of 2024. Although you may seem to have pooled storage from the "Storage" menu in the Workspace admin console, you may not. Apparently you can check if you have no or a higher than 30GB per user storage limit on Drive, then show the "Storage Limit" column in the Directory/Users view. If it shows 30GB then you are on per-user storage still...

Disappointing seeing all the conflicting information regarding this and I have to reach out to support and press them to dig deeper in order to get these answers. The projected completion date should just be on the blog post and communicated to staff so they can respond correctly in places like this...

[lex_intrepidvx]

Hi Marcin, 
I have a Google Workspace Business Starter and am a super admin and manager for shared drives. For some reason, I am not able to add new folders or files and am not able to edit. It says I don't have permission to edit. I looked at the admin console, and I can access everything. Do you know, or does anyone know, why this is happening?  

Help is much appreciated!
Thanks, Alexia  

[JarrodNDK]

And you already have Shared Drives? or are you trying to create them but don't have them enabled on your Workspace yet?

"Shared drives will become available after pooled storage rolls out to all existing Business Starter customers." https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2023/05/pooled-storage-shared-drives-for-google-workspace-bu...

[Diegotkt]

Same issue here, I'm on a "Google Workspace Business Starter" plan but I don't have any access to shared drive creation yet (I'm the admin, so I checked)... when will it be rolled out?

[cityguide]

Same question. I migrated from legacy G Suite to "Business Starter" so unable to write to support. Pooled storage was announced for this plan until the end of 2023, but there are still no signs of implementation in my Admin Console. What is approximate date of this very needed feature?

[JarrodNDK]

The rollout is happening but they can't tell us when our accounts will get it. You can check if you have it yet by doing what Mac says here: https://www.googlecloudcommunity.com/gc/Workspace-Q-A/Shared-Drive-Feature-on-Business-Starter-Plan/...

[rwwachow]

Still having this issue. My team is on business starter plan & we have pooled storage between us but the shared drive creation section of the drives app does not exist. Not sure how to enable this

[JarrodNDK]

"Shared drives will become available after pooled storage rolls out to all existing Business Starter customers." workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2023/05/pooled-storage-shared-drives-for-google-workspace-business-starter.html

Many existing Business Starter customers don't have pooled storage yet, so its currently "by design" that no Business Starter customers (including you) have Shared Drives yet. 

[chikko · Accepted solution]

I am facing the exact same issue - i recently started a new workspace account with Starter plan, i've pooled storage enabled and can see that its pooled when i go to the drive app (bottom left corner). However i don't have see any option / the button for "Shared Drive" nor can i set it up in the settings.

I already contacted the support which forwarded me to the SMB Workspace team. I've written two emails and got two answers but they don't even understand the problem to be honest, they just send me default links like this:
https://apps.google.com/supportwidget/articlehome?hl=en&article_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.google.com...

which isn't the answer for the question. This is extremely frustrating..

@Marcin_Milewski Is there any chance you can check on this issue? The problem we are facing here is not the pooled storage itself. Its basically just the missing "Shared Drive" Button and the option to enable it in the settings.

For example, we don't have the option in the settings to enable "Shared Drive Creation" like described in this support video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoudPG-pJ2A

Nor do we even see the "Shared Drives" below the "My Drive" like shown in this clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mE3-LhuAms

As seems to be a common problem google probably forgot to rollout the settings option for shared drive creation to the Starter plan

[JarrodNDK]

"Shared drives will become available after pooled storage rolls out to all existing Business Starter customers." workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2023/05/pooled-storage-shared-drives-for-google-workspace-business-starter.html

Many existing Business Starter customers (e.g. me) don't have pooled storage yet, so its currently "by design" that no Business Starter customers (including you) have Shared Drives yet. 

[AbdealiLoKo]

My understanding is the Business Starter does not include Shared Drive.

Refer: https://apps.google.com/supportwidget/articlehome?hl=en&article_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.google.com...

> Supported editions for this feature: Business Standard and Business Plus

[StephenHind]

@AbdealiLoKo Google announced a while ago that Starter is getting Shared Drives fundamental but it's not available yet

[iotha]

Hi Chikko, I am +1 on the same issue of {"missing shared drive button" on the "Google business starter" plan}  I can't believe how much time has wasted by mark an unsolved question solved by pointing to the wrong direction.  

The answer is simple: the Shared drives feature is NOT available for business starter plan. See screenshot below:

[JarrodNDK]

"Shared drives will become available after pooled storage rolls out to all existing Business Starter customers." https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2023/05/pooled-storage-shared-drives-for-google-workspace-bu...

[AlanK]

Nope! They lie!

It's asking me to upgrade to from Business Starter to get shared drives. See arrow above.

[pkenyon]

November 28, 2023. Is the Shared Drive yet available? If not in starter $6; is it available in $12/user/month?

[JarrodNDK]

I think it's in the $12 plan, yeah. It's not in the $6 "Starter" plan yet.

[mattpr]

I downgraded from standard to starter because didn't need the features.  Had created shared drive before doing so.  After downgrading I got pooled storage instantly.  I can still see the shared drive that was created before, but can't add new ones.  I can see managed shared drives in admin console and can delete the one that is there but can't add new ones.  I do have pooled storage.  On the storage page there is a card saying my plan doesn't have shared drives.

...so I guess google is just slow to rollout pooled storage and shared drives to starter plans.  As far as I saw there aren't any updates on rollout progress from google's side since May 2023.  Someone mentioned Q1-2 2024 for finishing rollout of pooled storage.

...anyway, I guess the point is, it is no wonder there is so much confusion.