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Following piles of mounting rumors, an official cloud-based storage option by Google is finally here. In February, a Google employee had mentioned that the company would be releasing a cloud-based storage service in a "couple of weeks". Although that turned out to be a somewhat overzealous estimate, it's here and here's what to expect.
Google Drive appears to be very similar to Dropbox. First, you download Google's client program. Once installed, you choose what folders you'd like to synchronize and viola -- instant cloud storage. To send files to your Google Drive, you simply copy files into the designated folder. The default folder is "Google Drive" under your user directory, typically "C:Users%username%" for Windows Vista and 7 or "C:Documents and Settings%username%" for Windows XP.
As rumored, the subdomain drive.google.com appears to be home base for the service. Also as rumored, Google is offering 5GB of storage space for free. Beyond the initial 5GB, Google Drive offers tiers all the way up to 16TB of storage space. The pricing structure is as follows:
- 25GB - $2.49/mo
- 100GB - $4.99/mo
- 200GB - $9.99/mo
- 400GB - $19.99/mo
- 1TB - $49.99/mo
- 2TB - $99.99/mo
- 4TB - $199.99/mo
- 8TB - $399.99/mo
- 16TB - $799.99/mo
A fascinating aspect of Google Drive is its extremely close relationship to Google Docs. When a user enables Google Drive, their default Google Docs interface will be changed to accommodate Google Drive. By default, Google Docs has traditionally shown a home screen which displays all of your most recently opened documents. Perhaps at the risk of confusing some Docs users, this screen has been replaced with a "My Drive" page -- a page which only shows labels and documents located at the "root" of your Google Docs.. err... Google Drive. As a result, labels now work much more like folders.
It is unclear what the future holds for third-party tools like Insync, however, they seem be functioning fine since Google Drive's release.
The service is currently compatible with Windows, Mac, Android and iOS is expected to come in a "couple of weeks".
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User Comments: 15
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$100 a month for 2TB when a 2TB drive cost $90?
I have no grounds to speak on as we are just getting into virtual machines and cloud computing here at the hospital but those prices seem a little high to me. Maybe not?
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Best cloud storage provider for me is still Wuala. Their client automatically encrypts everything before uploading to their server. It is safe and works just fine and you also get 5GB of free storage.
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Trillionsin said:
Released.. but not yet available? What am I missing here...
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Amazon S3 is by far the best cloud computing available anywhere!
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Staffreleased.. but not yet available? what am i missing here...
I'm not sure I understand -- I'm currently using it myself.
$100 a month for 2TB when a 2TB drive cost $90?Although I do believe the mark up must be pretty high, I do have to say that's kind of an unfair comparison. 2TB of remotely hosted storage that ties into your Google services and 2TB on a USB drive are two very different things.
I would have to say that anyone willing to pay $100/mo for 2TB of online storage is definitely doing it for the service though, not for the storage space itself.
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StaffReleased.. but not yet available? What am I missing here...
If you go to the Google Drive site (or Google Docs) you will be offered an account with 5GB free, worked for me right now.
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It must not be available for everyone. The site tells me (your Google Drive is not available yet).
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Staff
Interesting. Are you in a different country? Maybe it hasn't rolled out to all accounts yet, if that's even possibly an issue.
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I live in Finland and it's not available for me either yet.
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Trillionsin said:Released.. but not yet available? What am I missing here...
If you go to the Google Drive site (or Google Docs) you will be offered an account with 5GB free, worked for me right now.
"We'll email you at (trillionsin's email)a
when your Google Drive is ready. Learn more
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Trillionsin said:Interesting. Are you in a different country? Maybe it hasn't rolled out to all accounts yet, if that's even possibly an issue.
I live in the USA...
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I'm getting the same message on three different accounts. I also live in the USA.
It must be some kind of a roll out plan.
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Your Google Drive is not ready yet...
I live in the USA also, have been using Google docs and everything. Sounds like they have a secret formula on who they roll it out to first >_<
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Terms of service are onerous - if you upload anything GOOGLE OWNS IT!
CNET link: [link]
Google Drive terms, as reported by CNET:
"Your Content in our Services: When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide licence to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes that we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content.
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Quoted for Scary Truth
Your Content in our Services: When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes that we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content.
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