For individual accounts, Google only gives you 15GB of free storage, shared across Drive, Gmail, and Photos. Once you hit the limit, you can’t send emails, upload or back-up files. And those annoying “storage full” messages pop up, pushing you to pay for more storage space. But forget their plans! Spend time, not your dime.
Free up space, back up data, and even get more storage with a few smart steps. Let’s go!
Let’s See What’s Eating Your Storage
In Google Drive, stored files like PDFs, videos, Meet recordings, and content in shared drives count, along with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Gmail storage includes emails and attachments, even in Spam and Trash. Google Photos counts photo and video backups. However, Drive shortcuts, Google Chat messages, My Maps content, shared files (only counted for owners), and WhatsApp backups from Android do not count toward storage.
First, check your Google storage and find out what’s taking up space in Drive, Gmail, and Photos. Identify the biggest culprits- large, old, duplicate, unwanted files and delete them. Also, declutter your Gmail to free up space. Work smart! Use Gemini AI in Google Drive to auto-find junk files.
Google Photos- A Major Trouble
Delete old, blurry, duplicate photos and large videos. Compress and upload the files in drive to save space. In your phone, if the photo gallery back-up is on, select only the necessary folders for being saved in Google photos.
If these don’t work enough, there’s more.
Distribute Storage
Create a new Google account just for photos and try ‘partner sharing’. In your main account, go to Google Photos → Settings → Sharing → Partner Sharing. Now, share necessary photos with your new account. Note: Enable the setting to auto save the shared content in the new account. Now, even if you delete the photos from your main account, they’ll stay in the new one. The photos and videos you save from partner sharing won’t count against your storage.
If the photo is removed from partner sharing and you haven’t saved it before deletion, you’ll lose it. But if you have saved it, you can still find it in your Photos library.
Back-up and Expand
Export necessary files via Google Takeout and store them externally, like on a hard disk. Prime members get unlimited photo storage in Amazon Photos. OneDrive gives you 1TB free with Microsoft 365. Also, Dropbox, Mega, iCloud- each offers some free storage. Use them wisely.
Boom! You just unlocked extra storage like a boss. No stress, no spending- just smart storage management and hacks that work.
