diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index 8021c5e26d8d9d95504d93e6dd540d5967e0f09d..7d85724fadf9688055e5b7b9009885fad793dbd1 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 [submodule "Tests/Data"]
 	path = Tests/Data
 	url = https://github.com/ufz/ogs-data
-	shallow = true
 [submodule "ThirdParty/vtkGUISupportQt"]
 	path = ThirdParty/vtkGUISupportQt
 	url = https://github.com/ufz/vtkGUISupportQt.git
diff --git a/scripts/cmake/SubmoduleSetup.cmake b/scripts/cmake/SubmoduleSetup.cmake
index fb7b58a2db15adeb30d41eef00ff35bf8edac9c8..ce2cbf9604512652946dea97036daa89ddf829fe 100644
--- a/scripts/cmake/SubmoduleSetup.cmake
+++ b/scripts/cmake/SubmoduleSetup.cmake
@@ -44,11 +44,15 @@ foreach(SUBMODULE ${REQUIRED_SUBMODULES})
 
     if(UNINITIALIZED)
         message(STATUS "Initializing submodule ${SUBMODULE}")
+        if(${SUBMODULE} STREQUAL "Tests/Data")
+            set(DEPTH "--depth 10")
+        endif()
         execute_process(
-            COMMAND ${GIT_TOOL_PATH}
-                submodule update --init --recursive ${SUBMODULE}
-            WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
+            COMMAND "${GIT_TOOL_PATH} "
+                "submodule update --init --recursive {DEPTH} ${SUBMODULE}"
+            WORKING_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}
         )
+        return()
     elseif(MISMATCH)
         message(STATUS "Updating submodule ${SUBMODULE}")
         execute_process(