Understanding Storage in OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint Online


Introduction

This article compares the Virginia Tech storage options available in Microsoft’s OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint Online.

Explanation

 

This table summarizes some of the key differences/similarities between the products. 

 

Collaborative

Google equivalent

Access

OneDrive

Not conceptually, but you can share items

My Drive

  • Local computer via OneDrive app
  • Anywhere via browser
  • Mobile device
  • Teams
  • Slack

SharePoint Online

Collaborative storage

Shared drives

  • Anywhere via browser
  • Mobile device
  • Teams
  • Slack

Teams

Collaborative productivity

None

  • Anywhere via browser
  • Mobile device
  • Local computer via Teams app

 

OneDrive

OneDrive is considered your non-collaborative Virginia Tech storage space. It is intended for use as a place to store your files that you are not going to share with others (though you can share with others) and is the equivalent to Google My Drive. 

SharePoint Online

SharePoint Online is considered your collaborative Virginia Tech storage space. It is intended for use as a place to store your files that you are going to share with others and is the equivalent to Google shared drives. Each SharePoint Online site has 1 TB available, but you can request more at Additional Storage for Teams or SharePoint (vt.edu)

Teams

Teams is considered a place for collaborative productivity. It is intended for use as a place to work on files together. The storage within Teams is just a SharePoint Online site. Therefore, any files located within a team can also be accessed via the same-named SharePoint Online site. The SharePoint Online site associated with a team has the same properties as a standalone SharePoint Online site described above.