Google Drive set to launch next week with 5GB of free storage

[Shawn Knight]

Google is planning to launch their long-rumored cloud storage solution next week. The free service will be called Google Drive and is expected to directly compete with the likes of Dropbox and SugarSync, according to a report from The Next Web’s Brad McCarty.

McCarty received a draft release from a Google Drive partner that’s filled with information on the pending service. For starters, Google is offering 5GB of free storage to every user, or 3GB more than Dropbox. As with the rival service, users will be able to purchase additional storage as needed. It’s worth noting that HTC users have access to an additional 25GB of storage.

It’s still somewhat unclear exactly how the service will work on a Mac. Windows users shouldn’t have any issue linking the service with their existing Google accounts but from what McCarty can gather from the material he received, the service will work “in desktop folders” on both platforms. So yeah, it’s still vague and its exact operation remains unknown.

McCarty expects Google to launch the service sometime in the middle of next week, likely either Tuesday or Wednesday. Google Drive will be available for Android, iOS, Mac and PC but there isn’t any word on how much additional storage will cost. Keep an eye on drive.google.com as this is the URL listed in the leaked screenshot shown above.

Do you use any form of cloud storage? If so, which service do you prefer and why?

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https://www.techspot.com/news/48222-google-drive-set-to-launch-next-week-with-5gb-of-free-storage.html

 

[Raswan]

Been using Dropbox for about a year and a half. It's lightweight, invisible when I don't want to see it, and super easy to use when I do. Honestly, it's leaps and bounds above everything else out there. Wish there was a little more free storage, but it's so great that I would be willing to actually shell out some dough for it at some point.

 

[lawfer]

I really like Sky Drive. I have a drop box account, but I realized the type of cloud solution I really need is mainly for storing and sharing office documents with my peers, and at that, SkyDrive is simply better. Not to mention, of course, that it offers a lot more free storage than the competition. I also have a WP7, so the integration come even extra handy.

I will probably also get this as I have a Gmail as my primary email, and there's just no way I won't try this out. But so far, I don't think I see myself switching. Maybe...

 

[SNGX1275]

I use Dropbox and I have 4 gigs of space from referring friends. I don't have any plans to switch to anything else right now because Dropbox is working fine. Plus I trust them more than I do Google.

I don't think there should be much concern about how Google Drive is going to work on a Mac. They have Google Music which even works on old PPC Macs. Getting Google Drive to work is probably just a slight modification to their Music.

 

[treeski]

I use both skydrive and dropbox, for different purposes. I don't see any need to pick up another service (or drop either of my current ones).

 

[treetops]

nope but I wouldnt mind backing up a few things since I lost my flash drive, well there are a few game key codes I keep on a yahoo notepad other than that not really. Ill probably jump on this and at least back up my college papers. I bet they are going to want your cell phone number....... I hate that.

 

[SNGX1275]

nope but I wouldnt mind backing up a few things since I lost my flash drive, well there are a few game key codes I keep on a yahoo notepad other than that not really. Ill probably jump on this and at least back up my college papers. I bet they are going to want your cell phone number....... I hate that.

Definitely put your school stuff on there. I can't count how many times I've seen people post on TS where they lost their 'college thesis' or other such college stuff due to a hd failure and want us to recover it for them. Put it on dropbox or this, and no probs.

 

[treetops]

Indeed im going to grab another flash drive as well.

 

[inventix1136]

Given the fact that RIAA /MIAA and other mafia types of organizations have taken over U.S. government, I would not use the cloud for anything you can't afford to lose. One criminal indictment of a overzealous prosecutor with an eye in taking down a cloud service, and all your data is lost with no warning -- poof, no trial required, just an allegation...

Kind of funny that European companies can not legally use U.S. based cloud providers due to violation of EU privacy laws (patriot act, national security letters). Wonder how many U.S. jobs will be lost to that one...

From Forbes:
"So, the question remains ? for companies holding EU citizens? data in Europe, does placing such data under the control of a U.S.-based entity expose them to legal consequences? The simple answer is yes. If a German company were to place their customers? data under the control of a U.S. entity or subsidiary, they could be held liable for any subsequent data release." -- let the fun begin...

 

[Guest]

What can't Google do? I have tried all the cloud services, just getting way too expensive for me. I recently started using GoodSync and so far I like it. I can't afford to pay for cloud storage so it is a great solution for my budgget.

 

[TJGeezer]

I started using GoodSync awhile ago, and today they said my trial had expired and the directory had too many files for the free version. They want about US$40 to register, which I can't justify given I'm only syncing one directory of many but all small files. So I uninstalled it. SyncToy works as well for what I do, if more slowly, shrug.

I love the Dropbox shared folders for auto sharing files of any size. I've never gone over the limit, which is about the same as Google's 5GB now. I've tried others like CX (works fine) and The Box (which is both klunky and not very forthcoming in their come-ons, which don't mention filesize limits etc. until they have you in their databanks, meh). I might love the newly redesigned SkyDrive but syncing has been a problem there in the past. I'll try the redesign when I get around to it.

My personal data files go through SecretSync to Dropbox for fully encrypted storage, so cloud backup is automatic on those. And syncing with or without encryption is automatic for folders I invite others to share with me at Dropbox. What's not to like?

Past experience with Google sez they'll do it well, whatever it is they've designed. But I'll probably stick with Dropbox unless there's a compelling reason to change.