Google Admin Console : Erase Local Data

[j224]

I've had a response from Google support. The pupils just close the lid when finished which does not log them out, so the profiles don't get cleared.From Google support:-

 

Surely they get logged out at some point? By the next user who picks up the Chromebook and signs in with their own account?

[chinesewhispers]

Just to chip in, we're also seeing this problem.

 

You can individually clear space to get logs from a device by changing sign-in screen options to display a list of accounts, then removing a few dozen (in my epxerience) manually. I've done this on one device and submitted logs.

 

Waiting to hear back.

[chinesewhispers]

I've found that the 'Reset' option, using Clear User Profiles from the Admin console does appear to work (for me, today). I've done this in bulk on a couple of trollies and has had the desired effect.

 

Not ideal, but does seem to be a workaround for now. Google are looking at it with us.

[JAMIEFCAT]

With over 2000 chromebooks on Google Admin Console I can confirm that I have this issue too. Since the Covid bubbles burst, there's been quite a few accounts on the Chromebooks and even after deleting all accounts theres still 14GB used space in the "other" section.

[SpaceInvader83]

We've suffered with this also but clearing user profiles seems to be working as expected for us.

 

gam cros_ou issuecommand command wipe_users doit

[jthompson]

We've suffered with this also but clearing user profiles seems to be working as expected for us.

 

gam cros_ou issuecommand command wipe_users doit

 

Not tried the gam method for doing this yet, although I wonder whether it'll come up against the same problem as the Admin console method: namely that it doesn't seem to work if the Chromebook is already full. You also have to pick your moments for doing this, too, since the Admin console method will kick off any current users IIRC.

[SpaceInvader83]

Not tried the gam method for doing this yet, although I wonder whether it'll come up against the same problem as the Admin console method: namely that it doesn't seem to work if the Chromebook is already full. You also have to pick your moments for doing this, too, since the Admin console method will kick off any current users IIRC.

It does the same, forces a reboot > I must admit I've been targeting more via a csv or individually rather than doing a full OU.

[TechMonkey]

Anyone had any further joy solving this? We are getting about 2 days before needing to powerwash devices to free up space, which isn't really acceptable.

[jthompson]

It's seems to have settled down a bit more here, with the option appearing to work better. One of the trolleys I powerwashed a few weeks ago is still showing all devices with minimal disk usage.

 

It's the occasions where you've got the odd device that seen similar recent usage but has somehting more like 20% used when the rest are 8%. You're left wondering why. Leftover OS update files, maybe?

[paulkerton]

It's the occasions where you've got the odd device that seen similar recent usage but has somehting more like 20% used when the rest are 8%. You're left wondering why. Leftover OS update files, maybe?

Unlikely. ChromeOS doesn't do in-situ updates, you've essentially got two copies of ChromeOS on your system always - the current version and the previous one.

 

So if you're on Chrome 96, you've got a version of Chrome 95 sat dormant. Your Chrome 96 doesn't get updated when there is an update. 95 gets updated to 97, and your 96 will be switched to sitting dormant. They essentially swap you between the two OS's on your device.

 

Thats why OS updates are so quick on Chrome OS, you're not trying to update the live OS you're using.

[spd_demon]

Hey all, I'm in Canada, have over 75,000 chromebooks deployed and we have been struggling with this as well. We used the "erase local data" in the past and has been hit or miss. We too were told we needed a trigger for logouts so we implemented the Idle setting to be log out. This proved problematic as others have stated. What I'd like to see from Google is a policy option that would be supported on the chromebooks that would erase cached copies of profiles that haven't been used in X amount of days. This would allow us to maintain user data on devices but would never run out of space.

[j224]

Hey all, I'm in Canada, have over 75,000 chromebooks deployed and we have been struggling with this as well. We used the "erase local data" in the past and has been hit or miss. We too were told we needed a trigger for logouts so we implemented the Idle setting to be log out. This proved problematic as others have stated. What I'd like to see from Google is a policy option that would be supported on the chromebooks that would erase cached copies of profiles that haven't been used in X amount of days. This would allow us to maintain user data on devices but would never run out of space.

Yeah, that seems like an obvious fix and something you'd think would happen already?

[jthompson]

That's presumably what the automagic option that Google recommend should be doing anyway, albeit balancing the value of X against the available storage.

[paulkerton]

Yes, that's exactly what it should be doing; basically.

 

 

1. Boot up
   
2. Do I have X% amount of storage space free?
   
3. If yes, go to 7, if no go to 4.
   
4. Find profile with oldest last login time.
   
5. Delete profile.
   
6. Go to 1.
   
7. Wait for login. When login process is triggered;
   
8. Does this profile already appear on this Chromebook?
   
9. If yes, sync profile to make it up to date. If no, download all data needed.
   

 

Clunky pseudocode, but you assume this is the basic process.

[DGardiner]

Yes, that's exactly what it should be doing; basically.

 

 

1. Boot up
   
2. Do I have X% amount of storage space free?
   
3. If yes, go to 7, if no go to 4.
   
4. Find profile with oldest last login time.
   
5. Delete profile.
   
6. Go to 1.
   
7. Wait for login. When login process is triggered;
   
8. Does this profile already appear on this Chromebook?
   
9. If yes, sync profile to make it up to date. If no, download all data needed.
   

 

Clunky pseudocode, but you assume this is the basic process.

personally id even settle for is the user the same as the last, if not remove any existing profiles.

 

means we keep the performance of having repeat users cached but in a shared environment theres no buildup of crap

[paulkerton]

Reviving this. We're starting to see this now when we changed from the erase local data option for Chrome 97. Chrome 99 seems to be the culprit!

[KingHagrid]

We're experiencing this issue in our school system as well. We've powerwashed, removed accounts manually etc. Storage on a 32gb is maxing out even with nothing on it. We did discover that if you deprovision the chromebook (take it out of enrollment) so its no longer on the console and not enroll it the storage does not max out. It stays at its normal amount. Which we can't send out the chromebooks like this and lose all our licensing for management. (this was on update 98).

 

Now just to test it we did reenroll the chromebook and the storage space shot back to max usage. The system is taking up the majority of the space while apps and other miscellaneous stuff is taking up less than 350mb so we know its not the apps doing it.

 

As one final attempt to try and get this resolved we sent the chromebook back to HP. They sent it back and said they had replaced the mainboard. Well when they sent it back it came with version 92 on it. The storage was reading something completely different. It said the system was using 150mb and that we had 1.7gb free. It was showing the total storage of the Chromebook being 2GB. They don't make a version with 2GB (the chromebook was acting extremely slow at this point). So I forced a update and got it on version 98. Storage went right back to saying the system storage was taking up majority of the space with 1.7gb free on a 32gb system.

 

I've also contacted google in the hopes of some sort of resolution. I was placed on hold for 45 minutes and then hung up on after someone answered.

 

If anyone has any suggestions or feedback on this please say so. I've tried everything I can think of along with the suggestions that were in this thread prior.

[jthompson]

Where are you seeing those reported disk usage stats? On the device itself, or in the Google Admin console?

[ArfurDessy]

We have been experiencing the storage issue for quite a number of weeks on our Dell 3100 Chromebooks. I have tried the changes that have been suggested in the forum:

1. Logout on lid closing – works

2. Erase all local user data – not working

3. Change download location to ‘Force Google Drive’ – not working (still allows students to choose download location)

Resetting the Chromebooks through Admin Console works, however, the pain is having to connect them to a network afterwards, as this is too much for some of the Primary School Students to do. I did contact Google Support to ask if there was any way to automatically connect to a wireless network after the ‘Reset’. They said “Yes there was” and talked me through the process, however, that doesn’t work either. You need to manually connect to the wireless network to complete the provisioning of the Chromebook, then it automatically switches to the wireless network you set up.

I will continue to badger Google Support for a suitable solution, unless someone comes up with one quicker😊

[localzuk]

This is not a bug - it is by design according to Google. When you have a device set to delete profiles each time, it reserves space for some reason, which uses up the vast majority of the space. If you don't have it delete profiles, the space isn't reserved and it works as you'd expect.

[j224]

This is not a bug - it is by design according to Google. When you have a device set to delete profiles each time, it reserves space for some reason, which uses up the vast majority of the space. If you don't have it delete profiles, the space isn't reserved and it works as you'd expect.

 

We don't have it set to delete profiles and we still get them filling up really quickly after factory resetting.

[jthompson]

Yeah, I have to say that the devices where we've set them to delete user data are the ones that aren't running out of space. We've not need to powerwash those ones for quite a while, either, so I think something improved around about v97 or something.

[EssentialRug]

Just wondering if anyone is still seeing this issue or has had any feedback from Google from the support tickets you've raised?