Copyright SOFTONIC INTERNATIONAL S.A. © 1997-2021 - All rights reserved. Dropbox and OneDrive also integrate with third-party services, but Google Drive integrates with everything. Multimedia features aren't all that robust. The most popular versions of the this tool are 1.18, 1.17 and 1.16. Why? More than 6494 downloads this month. For $1.99-per-month you get 100GB, a $6.99-per-month Microsoft 365 Personal account gets you 1TB, and the $9.99-per-month Microsoft 365 Family plan gets you 6TB (1TB each for up to six users). Softonic review Free cloud storage. Installing Backup & Sync resembles installing Chrome, with the same "on your marks, get set, go" messages during installation. It has a big advantage over Backup & Sync, as mentioned earlier: It lets you specify files and folders that you don't want downloaded to the local computer's storage. It doesn't offer auto-smartphone-photo uploading as Dropbox and OneDrive do, but that's what the Google Photos app is for. Based on our scan system, we have determined that these flags are possibly false positives. Our antivirus scan shows that this download is virus free. However, iCloud Drive is not as robust as either Google's or Microsoft's offering. Nothing is stopping you from using more than one file storage and syncing service, especially considering that you can get free storage. The Microsoft 365 options also include the downloadable Microsoft Office applications, as well as extra security features (such as ransomware detection and two-step verification), mobile offline folders, and Family Safety apps for Android and iOS. When downloading large files from Google Drive, a single GET request is not sufficient. With the apps installed, you get access to the most recent versions of all your files. Watch Out, It's Probably Malware, These Online Behaviors Will Stick Around After the Pandemic, Intel to Build Chips for Other Companies With New Foundry Business, Read Great Stories Offline on Your Favorite, How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad, How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill, How to Find Free Tools to Optimize Your Small Business, How to Get Started With Project Management, Desktop Clients: Backup & Sync and File Stream, secrets to getting the most out of Google Drive, Read CertainSafe Digital Safety Deposit Box Review, The Best Cloud Storage and File-Sharing Services for 2021. Google Drive's closest competitor is Microsoft OneDrive. You can use it with Google Docs, and the other programs in the Google suite. But the company has gone back to the more intuitive use of Docs Editors to mean the online productivity apps and Drive to mean the online storage. It also acts as storage for documents. Download Google Drive for free. Several online backup services let you choose an encryption key that's in your possession alone, so that not even the company's employees can decrypt your files. Deploy Google Drive for desktop to your organization for a quick and easy way for you and your users to access your Drive files from your computer. We are impressed, however, that Google Drive implements right-click context menus in its web interface (as does OneDrive). Once documents are stored there, you can share them, collaborate with others, and edit and create new things using third-party applications. Another option is to simply build your own cloud using a NAS, with a device like Western Digital's My Cloud. When it comes to deleting files, Backup & Sync offers three settings: You can tell it to delete the file everywhere, only on the current machine, or prompt you for what to do. Other similar apps that use built-in OCR include Office Lens, Adobe Scan, Evernote, and OneNote, though you have to be a paid Adobe or Evernote user to get the OCR in PDFs (OCR for images works for free users). As with Google's previous solution, Backup & Sync creates a specific Google Drive folder on your computer in addition to syncing the other folders you designated. But saving files to online storage can also serve as a sort of backup. Despite the nomenclature of the Backup & Sync desktop app, we don't consider Google Drive, strictly speaking, to be an online backup solution. File Stream doesn't share the consumer product's ability to specify files anywhere on the system for backup, however. You can add any folders on the computer, except for the C: Drive or This PC folders. Another feature related to search is particularly cool: Drive can scan a photo and interpret it using optical character recognition (OCR) or identify it using AI. The latest version of Google Drive Backup and Sync includes some bug fixes and performance improvements to the overall system. One potential concern about Google Drive is privacy. yes i do, it's a good , a nice one at that, just wow.. Mr Zeal.. The story is the opposite for paid accounts: Box charges $10 per month for just 100GB, while that price gets you 1TB at Dropbox. The File Stream utility, exclusively for G Suite users, is very similar to Backup & Sync: It creates a local-looking folder on the computer to access and save your files. You can also access your files from Google Drive by syncing them to your computer ou can sync selected folders to your desktop, this means you can access those documents offline. Google Drive stores your documents but cannot be used to fix or restore your operating system. One useful storage and synchronization tool is Dropbox. The files are always safe, no fear of deleting or lost due to computer crash or accidental deletion. Download Google Drive - Backup and Sync for Windows now from Softonic: 100% safe and virus free. ease of use and performance are excellent. That means that if you work on a file from the office, and then go home and want to pick up where you left off, you can do so without having to download the file, email it to yourself, or load it from a USB key. This approach makes it somewhat of an archiving service, that is, a repository for your entire history of file contents. Ben Moore is an Analyst for PCMag's software team covering video streaming services, security software, GNU/Linux, and the occasional PC game. You can still use Drive as a special synced folder of its own, but the ability to designate folders anywhere on the computer's file system is a plus. So, your compliments can help someone learn a new skill or improve an old one.In fact, the scientists found that the same area of the brain is activated whether a person is rewarded with cash or a compliment. Google Drive is very easy to use and comes with a good amount of storage for free. Note that Google Photos no longer gets a folder in Drive—it's completely separate now, except for existing photos you uploaded before Google made this change. Based on our scan system, we have determined that these flags are likely to be real positives. PCMag, PCMag.com and PC Magazine are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis, LLC and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. Other services like Box, Dropbox, iCloud, and OneDrive stick with keeping synced files in a set folder with as many subfolders as you like. Another reason why Google Drive still can't be considered a full backup service. Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology. Your subscription has been confirmed. Laws concerning the use of this software vary from country to country. A convenience is that you can drag and drop files from your computer onto any open folder in the browser. Google's security monitoring program is focused on information gathered from internal network traffic, employee actions on systems and outside knowledge of vulnerabilities. One issue is that you end up with multiple copies of the same document if you, for example, create it in Word and then open it in Docs. You can also view 90 different file types, and even edit some of those. Check the status of Google Drive. But there's little question that this is one of the sweetest cloud offerings you can find. For those that are more comfortable with Microsoft products and are looking for considerably more storage OneDrive is a viable option. True online backup runs scheduled backups and provides full system restore capability. You can create subfolders to your heart's content, too. We had a PDF with a unique string of text in the file, but not in the file name, and when we searched for it, Google Drive delivered the right result almost instantly. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product or service, we may be paid a fee by that merchant. The Google One pricing options start at $1.99 per month for 100GB; a 200GB plan costs $2.99 per month, and the $9.99-per-month Google One plan increases the limit to 2TB. The safest place. You may, however, want to be able to mark any file anywhere for backing up, the way online backup services such as Carbonite do. Just about every web service you can think of—from Slack to HelloFax to the Pixlr online photo editor—can integrate with Google Drive. Strangely, the webpage is not responsive like OneDrive's. Resizing to a narrower page cuts off some interface features. There are similar applications that have some of the same features as Google Drive. For iPhone users, it may make sense to use iCloud. We installed Backup & Sync on a Windows laptop and an iMac for testing. Google One plans also get one-tap access to support experts and the ability to share accounts with up to five family members. And where do you locate all this on a mobile client? The Computers tab showed both. (Note: SugarSync is owned by j2 Global, the parent company of Ziff Davis, the owner, and publisher of PCMag.com.). microsoft office compatible for windows 7, Best ways to transfer whatsapp from windows phone to iphone, No thanks, continue to download Google Drive - Backup and Sync. Files don’t just move from your PC to your cloud storage. The former (like SugarSync) lets you designate any folder on your system for syncing. Apple lets you share storage from 200GB and 2TB plans with up to six family members. If you're heavily into Google's ecosystem, its Drive makes sense for you. Here are some alternatives that give you storage or syncing options. Those services let you make an image of everything on your disk, including programs and operating system files. Accessing Google Drive is done through your Google account. With all file-syncing services, you download and install a program on all your computers and a master folder (which looks just like any other folder on the computer) and all its subfolders sync automatically between devices and the web version of the service. it's so cool I love using it all the time. PCMag Digital Group. It provides up to 25GB of free storage online, and you can select which folders you want to sync. o fear of deleting or lost due to computer crash or accidental deletion. You can, however, export these files to more-standard formats. Using the desktop app you can choose to back up selected files from your PC. The instructions below are for the web version of Google Drive, as it may face uploading issues: Check your Internet connection. very nice, i can share from my work and my home its very usable for office . There are many other third-party apps that you can connect with Drive to enhance its capabilities. it has been running seamlessly on my system. Once you complete the setup and sync your PC, you see a Computers tab in the Google Drive web and mobile app interface (see second screenshot above). Google Drive currently offers a generous 15GB of free storage. Box in particular excels when it comes to workflow tools, and Dropbox offers a ton of third-party integrations via its App Center.