Understanding the difference between “My Drive” and “Shared Drives” in Google Drive is important for effective team collaboration and file ownership within an organisation.

My Drive: #

• Ownership: Files and folders created in or moved to “My Drive” are owned by the individual user.
• Sharing: When you share from “My Drive,” you are granting others access to items you own. If you leave the organisation, your “My Drive” files (unless transferred by an administrator) typically go with your account.
• Structure: You organise your “My Drive” as you see fit. Its structure is personal to you.

Shared Drives (Formerly Team Drives): #

• Ownership: Files and folders in a Shared Drive are owned by the team/organisation, not by an individual. This is a key difference.
• Membership & Roles: Access is controlled by adding members (individuals or Google Groups) to the Shared Drive. Members are assigned roles with specific permissions:
  • Viewer: Can view files and folders.
  • Commenter: Can view and add comments.
  • Contributor: Can add files, edit files they’ve added or have been given edit access to. Can also add folders.
  • Content Manager: Can add, edit, move, delete, and share files and folders.
  • Manager: Has full control, including managing members, their access levels, Shared Drive settings, and deleting the Shared Drive itself.
• Persistence: If a member who added files to a Shared Drive leaves the organisation, the files remain in the Shared Drive because the team/organisation owns them. This is a major advantage for business continuity and knowledge retention.
• Structure: Managers of the Shared Drive typically define the folder structure, which is consistent for all members.
• External Sharing: Managers can control if files and folders within the Shared Drive can be shared with people outside the organisation. Specific settings can also be applied at the folder level by Content Managers or Managers.

When to Use Which: #

• My Drive: Best for:
  • Personal work-related files that don’t need to be team-owned or centrally managed.
  • Initial drafts or private notes before they are ready for team collaboration.
  • Files where you want to maintain individual ownership and control over sharing.
• Shared Drives: **Highly recommended for:**
  • All project-related files and collaborative documents.
  • Team templates, shared resources, and company-wide policies.
  • Any files that should remain with the company even if team members change.
  • Ensuring consistent access, structure, and ownership for collaborative work.
  • Centralised management of important company data.

For most business and project work, using Shared Drives is the preferred approach to ensure data longevity and clear team ownership.