When things go wrong
You need your Google Workspace data out.
The clock is already running.
A client is leaving, a legal hold just landed, a migration has a cutover date, or a tenant is about to be suspended. Whatever the trigger, you need a complete copy on storage you own, and the usual ways make you wait days and then babysit a browser. Here is how to get it out fast, in full, and in a form you can stand behind.
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The problem with the two usual ways out
When you go to pull a full copy of Google Workspace, you normally have two options, and both fight you exactly when you are short on time.
A Google admin export runs as a batch job. For a real tenant the archive can take a day or more before it is even ready, and admin exports of everyone's data are measured in hours to days. Then you still download large files through a browser, where a dropped connection, a reboot for a patch, or a timeout can send you back to the start.
A direct-to-cloud backup service such as Datto SaaS Protection or Axcient is built to restore in place. When you need the data out to your own storage, you export per user or per shared drive as Zip archives and download them through a browser, which their own guidance suggests pairing with a download manager, and the links expire after 14 days. Restoring many shared drives means going back to the list, sorting by name, and pulling each one, often at a fraction of your line speed. Full-mailbox Zips get so large they are awkward to move at all.
Neither was built for the moment you are actually in: a deadline, and a need to have everything, safely, on a disk you control.
Get it out fast, in full, and defensible
1. Start before the window closes
Once a tenant is scheduled for deletion or a client's billing lapses, the data can go with it. The single biggest mistake is waiting on a multi-day export queue and running out of runway. Kick off the copy the moment you know the date, not the night before.
2. Capture everything, not just the easy mailboxes
A complete copy is Gmail, every user's Drive, and every shared drive, including the shared drives with no obvious owner. Lavawall Backup lets you choose how deep to go, from direct members only, to group-expanded membership, to a fully logged temporary-membership pass that reaches orphaned shares nobody can otherwise export.
3. Pull it at your speed, not Google's queue
A native app on a computer you control downloads straight to your drive at the full speed of your connection, up to a gigabit on a residential line. There is no waiting for an archive to be assembled first. The job that took days in a browser can finish in hours.
4. Make it survive a dropped connection
Large exports fail in browsers all the time: a reboot, a Wi-Fi blip, a laptop that has to move. Lavawall Backup resumes automatically and wastes nothing it already pulled, and when a disk fills it asks for the next one and keeps going in the same job.
5. Keep it read-only and on storage you own
Backups do not change anything in the tenant, the data lands on your external disk or NAS, and none of it passes through our servers. For a legal hold that matters: you get a clean, read-only copy with a manifest on each disk, not a pile of browser zips you have to reassemble.
6. Set it up once, with one authorization
A single Google authorization covers the whole tenant. There is no per-user clicking and no dashboard required, which is exactly why it can be stood up for an export-only tenant on short notice.
Everything you need for a clean exit
Lavawall Backup
The one-click, read-only Google Workspace exporter: full speed, resumable, spans multiple disks, straight to storage you own.
Offboarding without data loss
When a person or a whole tenant leaves, preserve the evidence and the files before the account goes dark.
Google Workspace breach detection
Risky sign-ins, OAuth grants, and over-shared files, watched the same way Lavawall watches Microsoft 365.
Buy it standalone
No other Lavawall® product required. Included in Complete, available as an add-on, or on its own. Priced per export.
Legal hold or investigation? Let the auditors run it.
ThreeShield is the CISSP and CISA team that builds Lavawall®. When the copy has to hold up, they run the export with you, capture a documented chain of custody, and produce evidence-quality reporting.
Common questions
- The tenant is closing in a few days. Can I get everything out in time?
- Almost always. The usual delay is a Google admin export queue that can take a day or more, then slow browser downloads. Lavawall Backup skips the queue and pulls straight to your drive at full speed, so a job that took days can finish in hours. Start it the moment you know the date and give yourself margin.
- Is the copy defensible for a legal hold?
- Yes. It is read-only, lands on storage you own, and each disk carries a manifest. For litigation or an investigation, ThreeShield can run the export with a documented chain of custody.
- Do I need the rest of Lavawall to do this?
- No. Lavawall Backup can be bought on its own and set up for an export-only tenant. It is also included in the complete plan and available as an add-on.