Google Drive now available

Zascar

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57419024-93/google-drive-its-slick-integrated...and-not-exactly-free/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKJ9KzGQq0w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SjRH3SImlM

Looks good but not sure I'll be dropping Dropbox just yet!

BionicRasher

Looking forward to this as I have never been a Dropbox user and always trying to get my Google docs in sync with the home nas

PogMoThoin

Zascar wrote: »

Looks good but not sure I'll be dropping Dropbox just yet!

It'll kill Dropbox, Drive is already seamless if you already use Google and works very well. Dropbox need to really up their game with their paltry 2GB (I've only got mine to 7.5GB by spamming my family to sign up and linking it to my college email), Skydrive give 25GB and Box gave 50GB. I'd say Google are only giving 5GB to test the water. Google already has one of the largest, fastest, and infinitely scalable storage platforms on the planet, there's no way Dropbox can win.

yoyo

Would love to play around with it but my "Drive is not ready yet" unfortunately :P . Looks pritty cool though, if they make a decent desktop app like dropbox I could see it taking over, what I like about dropbox is it appears as a simple folder and dropping stuff into it auto syncs, I've tried others with desktop apps but are much less efficient

Nick

Kenny Logins

I have used Dropbox for ages, but will give Drive a go too.

Zascar

Does anyone know if it will sync photos taken from my Android mobile? If not I'll keep using dropbox. I'll have to see how it copes with linking and downloading etc. Dropbox now lets you link to any file even if its not in the public directory, but it behaves differently. Video files play automatically and photos are in a gallery.

I'm also wondering how all of this is going to work with piracy etc - dropbox too

unkel

yoyo wrote: »

Would love to play around with it but my "Drive is not ready yet" unfortunately :P .

Same here. On the mailing list now :rolleyes:

If you like the simplicity of Dropbox, you might also like Gladinet. Works simply as a drive and combines all your (free) cloud space from Amazon cloud, google docs, windows live sky drive, etc. Those 3 alone are 60GB. Free.

cookie1977

I cant wait to try Google Drive but I must be one of the only people to think of the services out there that sugarsync (both free and pay to use) is superior. Have they apps to use on mobile devices ready for launch or will they follow later do people think?

In case anyone's wondering the prices, here they are (You need to be signed in to google):
https://www.google.com/settings/storage/

Narcissus

yoyo wrote: »

Would love to play around with it but my "Drive is not ready yet" unfortunately :P . Looks pritty cool though, if they make a decent desktop app like dropbox I could see it taking over, what I like about dropbox is it appears as a simple folder and dropping stuff into it auto syncs, I've tried others with desktop apps but are much less efficient

Nick

I have Google Drive installed on my Mac. It is just a simple drag and drop folder which auto syncs. I haven't used dropbox or similar before so this is new to me but it seems fairly cool. You can view the files easily and send to google docs to edit etc

28064212

cookie1977 wrote: »

I cant wait to try Google Drive but I must be one of the only people to think of the services out there that sugarsync (both free and pay to use) is superior. Have they apps to use on mobile devices ready for launch or will they follow later do people think?

I've got around 9GB on SugarSync, and I don't see Drive displacing it anytime soon. SugarSync is far more powerful, you don't have to move your files into a specific folder, you can just select a folder anywhere on your hard-drive for syncing. The mobile app is much better too, just select a folder to sync

Ctrl Alt Del

Where is the data going to be stored ?
EU or USA !?

Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox and More Compared: What’s the Best Cloud Option?
Just found this link here.

Adyx

As much as it seems like just another opportunity to give Google more info for ads targeting me, if this works as well as Drop Box's folder system, it'll be great. Drop Box is great but I can't justify spending money on it at the moment and Skydrive's current refusal to last beyond a reboot as a network drive rules it out for me.

Zascar

I don't like the way it uses the google docs and wraps itself around that. Yes could be handy for some but I'd prefer to keep them separate. I did a workaround by putting the Google docs in a folder of their own which is not too bad.
What's everyones opinion so far of how it manages media files etc?

Narcissus

Zascar wrote: »

I don't like the way it uses the google docs and wraps itself around that. Yes could be handy for some but I'd prefer to keep them separate. I did a workaround by putting the Google docs in a folder of their own which is not too bad.
What's everyones opinion so far of how it manages media files etc?

I copied an mp3 and an m4a file to the google drive folder and it seemed to take a good while to complete the sync. You're limited by the upload speed of your broadband.

It didn't play either of the files, I would have to download them to use them. Do I just need a chrome extension to play them in the browser?

Also, I deleted them from the google drive folder but then they were put in the trash online also so I have to delete them twice to remove them.

I'll continue using it but will probably just be using it for small documents.

red dave

I installed it on my android phone. Actually read the t&c's before using it and then proceeded to uninstall it. I've seen an article on the t&c's floating around the net today. To paraphrase it went along the lines of anything uploaded gives Google and 3rd parties the right to copy, distribute or do whatever they like with the material. As an artist that didn't appeal to me.

I don't think i misread it but i'll hold off using it until i have better understanding of their ownership of material uploaded and what they do with it.

For anyone uploading copyrighted material this may be a warning that they scan all files uploaded.

yoyo

Still waiting... Whats up Google (my Gmail account is quite old so I'm wondering are the activations dependent on account age or something? Have my account since '04 :O )

Nick

Diddy Kong

Adyx wrote: »

As much as it seems like just another opportunity to give Google more info for ads targeting me, if this works as well as Drop Box's folder system, it'll be great. Drop Box is great but I can't justify spending money on it at the moment and Skydrive's current refusal to last beyond a reboot as a network drive rules it out for me.

Check out the new SkyDrive app then, vast improvements over previous iterations. I have actually started moving back to hotmail more and more so doubt I will be using Drive.

yoyo

Diddy Kong wrote: »

Check out the new SkyDrive app then, vast improvements over previous iterations. I have actually started moving back to hotmail more and more so doubt I will be using Drive.

Not much use Microsoft not having a dedicated Android app like Dropbox, seems weird to make one for Ios and not Android, kinda limiting their market substantially there :pac: .

Nick

JonB

Kind of disappointed. I was kind of hoping for more space for Gdrive. Skydrive 25gb is awesome. But by god it's deadslow to use. I placed a 1 gb folder into SkyDrive and it took over 7 hours to upload it on my upc connection. GDrive was a good bit faster at uploading. I also have a box.net 50gb account but my problem with that is no windows app and the website bulk uploader is just bad.

I say i'll find myself using Gdrive mostly as seemless integration with my google account and also the fact I use an Android phone and SkyDrive has no Android app yet!

yoyo

JonB wrote: »

SkyDrive has no Android app yet!

From Googling it appears theres no plans for one either, I know its likely due to trying to get people to get a WP7 phone but why do Ios apps :S . Microsoft do have Mac development teams so thats the probable reason

Nick

Adrian4

I have one PC that 3 others use.

How can you stop people going in & deleting stuff from the google drive or drop box application?

28064212

Adrian4 wrote: »

I have one PC that 3 others use.

How can you stop people going in & deleting stuff from the google drive or drop box application?

Different Windows accounts (which you should have anyway)

unkel

yoyo wrote: »

Still waiting... Whats up Google (my Gmail account is quite old so I'm wondering are the activations dependent on account age or something? Have my account since '04 :O )

Just checked - had my gmail account since '04 too

Got my invite this afternoon, so I expect you'd have it by now too, Nick

I used GDrive (got access to it yesterday), installed the desktop app, then read the T&Cs regarding who owns the data, and as said earlier, I uninstalled it. Don't really like the idea of google been able to do what they want with what I put on the server.

I'll stick with SkyDrive, SugarSync and Dropbox for now.

unkel

Meh. This "new" Google Drive free space eats into the free space I already had through Google Docs

Thanks for nothing, Google

Uninstalling...

Kenny Logins

Deleted User wrote: »

I used GDrive (got access to it yesterday), installed the desktop app, then read the T&Cs regarding who owns the data, and as said earlier, I uninstalled it. Don't really like the idea of google been able to do what they want with what I put on the server.

I'll stick with SkyDrive, SugarSync and Dropbox for now.

http://technerdium.blogspot.com/2012/04/google-drive-delusions-of-grandeur.html

BionicRasher

unkel wrote: »

Meh. This "new" Google Drive free space eats into the free space I already had through Google Docs

How did that happen? it gave me an extra 5GB on top of what I had already. Its essentially like a jumped up version of Google Docs anyway (with lots of potential too)

Zascar

28064212

Deleted User wrote: »

I used GDrive (got access to it yesterday), installed the desktop app, then read the T&Cs regarding who owns the data, and as said earlier, I uninstalled it. Don't really like the idea of google been able to do what they want with what I put on the server.

The T&Cs state: “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.

The rights that you grant in this licence are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This licence continues even if you stop using our Services (for example, for a business listing that you have added to Google Maps).”

The bolded part is the important bit. The licence you grant is for those very limited purposes. The T&Cs also state: “Some of our Services allow you to submit content. You retain ownership of any intellectual property rights that you hold in that content. In short, what belongs to you stays yours.”

Deleted User wrote: »

I'll stick with SkyDrive, SugarSync and Dropbox for now.

All of which have pretty much the same terms

unkel wrote: »

Meh. This "new" Google Drive free space eats into the free space I already had through Google Docs

Thanks for nothing, Google

Uninstalling...

I don't think you really understand what Google Drive is. Docs is part of it. You now have 5GB of free space, up from 1GB a few weeks ago. When you install Google Drive, all your stuff from Docs is downloaded to your Drive folder on your PC and kept in sync. Anything you add to that folder on your PC is uploaded to Drive, and is accessible from anywhere

Uninstalled it yesterday.

Concerns are t&c's.

28064212

28064212 wrote: »

The T&Cs state: “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.

The rights that you grant in this licence are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This licence continues even if you stop using our Services (for example, for a business listing that you have added to Google Maps).”

The bolded part is the important bit. The licence you grant is for those very limited purposes. The T&Cs also state: “Some of our Services allow you to submit content. You retain ownership of any intellectual property rights that you hold in that content. In short, what belongs to you stays yours.”

Eh, that proves my point, yeah you still own the stuff, but they can do whatever they want with it, which is what I said.

28064212 wrote: »

All of which have pretty much the same terms

Actually, no they don't.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/how-far-do-google-drives-terms-go-in-owning-your-files/75228

The difference between google and dropbox is, google will use my files to show me ads...

BionicRasher

NoDrama wrote: »

Uninstalled it yesterday.

Concerns are t&c's.

Importatnt part you may have missed in the T&C is


Some of our Services allow you to submit content. You retain ownership of any intellectual property rights that you hold in that content. In short, what belongs to you stays yours.
The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our Services, and to develop new ones.


What is everyone thinking Google is going to do with your collection of docs and pics and stuff? They are a multi billion dollar company and although my photos are special to me I don't think Google is going to take them and sell them on to Time Magazine or sell my copy of my ESB bill to the the Huffington Post

28064212

Deleted User wrote: »

Eh, that proves my point, yeah you still own the stuff, but they can do whatever they want with it, which is what I said.

They can do whatever they want "for the limited purpose of operating, promoting and improving our Services"

Deleted User wrote: »

Actually, no they don't.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/how-far-do-google-drives-terms-go-in-owning-your-files/75228

The difference between google and dropbox is, google will use my files to show me ads...

That article is terrible, it leaves out the exact same terms from SkyDrive and DropBox

SkyDrive: "You understand that Microsoft may need, and you hereby grant Microsoft the right, to use, modify, adapt, reproduce, distribute, and display content posted on the service solely to the extent necessary to provide the service"

DropBox: "We may need your permission to do things you ask us to do with your stuff, for example, hosting your files, or sharing them at your direction. This includes product features visible to you, for example, image thumbnails or document previews. It also includes design choices we make to technically administer our Services, for example, how we redundantly backup data to keep it safe. You give us the permissions we need to do those things solely to provide the Services. This permission also extends to trusted third parties we work with to provide the Services, for example Amazon, which provides our storage space (again, only to provide the Services)."

SugarSync: "Accordingly, you hereby grant to SugarSync a license: (i) to use, copy, transmit, distribute, store and cache Files that you choose to sync and/or store; and (ii) to copy, transmit, publish, and distribute to others the Files as you designate, whether through the sharing or public linking features of the Service, in each case solely to provide the Service to you."

BionicRasher

Deleted User wrote: »

The difference between google and dropbox is, google will use my files to show me ads...

If you use any Google service they are already doing this.

Moral of the story for me is.....

Don’t put sensitive data (bank accounts, passwords, naughty photos!! etc etc) up in any cloud service
Just use it as its intended – a great little backup facility and a way to access all your day to day data from wherever you want

All your sensitive data should be kept for your eyes only and probably encrypted and password protected anyway

tui0hcg

tui0hcg wrote: »

If you use any Google service they are already doing this.

Moral of the story for me is.....

Don’t put sensitive data (bank accounts, passwords, naughty photos!! etc etc) up in any cloud service
Just use it as its intended – a great little backup facility and a way to access all your day to day data from wherever you want

All your sensitive data should be kept for your eyes only and probably encrypted and password protected anyway

Indeed, I have a truecrypt container on Dropbox, though there is also a service which I use which I don't see mentioned here 'SpiderOak', who themselves cannot access the users data.

BionicRasher

NoDrama wrote: »

Indeed, I have a truecrypt container on Dropbox, though there is also a service which I use which I don't see mentioned here 'SpiderOak', who themselves cannot access the users data.

Some guys in TCD are working on encryption (however I find it strange that for a Google Docs/Drive plugin that its not available in the Chrome browser yet)

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/item/26568-scientists-pioneer-new/

Another option is something like this http://www.cloudfogger.com/en/home/index.aspx

28064212

NoDrama wrote: »

Indeed, I have a truecrypt container on Dropbox, though there is also a service which I use which I don't see mentioned here 'SpiderOak', who themselves cannot access the users data.

Who say they cannot access the users' data. They provide the encryption, you have no idea whether they have a backdoor built in or not. Ultimately it comes down to trusting the provider, same as all the others

yoyo

unkel wrote: »

Just checked - had my gmail account since '04 too

Got my invite this afternoon, so I expect you'd have it by now too, Nick

Yeah got it yesterday, seems to be ok although not looked into it much yet!

Nick

Telchak

I'm going to buy 200GB and use Drive with Adobe Lightroom, backing up all my photos and (hopefully) keeping my catalog in sync between different computers I'll be using. If anybody is interested in how I'm going to set it up...

cookie1977

Telchak wrote: »

I'm going to buy 200GB and use Drive with Adobe Lightroom, backing up all my photos and (hopefully) keeping my catalog in sync between different computers I'll be using. If anybody is interested in how I'm going to set it up...

Flickr is cheap and handy too. Plus offers unlimited storage for $24.95

Telchak

cookie1977 wrote: »

Flickr is cheap and handy too. Plus offers unlimited storage for $24.95

Can't upload RAW files or DNGs, and no seamless way of keeping things constantly in sync. Flickr is for photo sharing, not great for the kind of photo storage I want.

Kenny Logins

cookie1977 wrote: »

Flickr is cheap and handy too. Plus offers unlimited storage for $24.95

Not quite the same though, Flickr is great for hosting and sharing the photos you output from Lightroom but not your catalogue consisting of 000's of DNG (digital negatives).

EDIT: ^^ Too slow, didn't see the reply above.

cookie1977

Yeah, i usually upload jpeg's

BionicRasher

posted this on the Android forum too but in case you want to see it here

This guy is funny

http://youtu.be/m6ghRTMBgak?hd=1

unkel

28064212 wrote: »

I don't think you really understand what Google Drive is. Docs is part of it. You now have 5GB of free space, up from 1GB a few weeks ago. When you install Google Drive, all your stuff from Docs is downloaded to your Drive folder on your PC and kept in sync. Anything you add to that folder on your PC is uploaded to Drive, and is accessible from anywhere

Aye I understand how it works alright. I just thought it would give me an additional 5GB. I already had 5GB Google Docs cloud space BTW, not 1GB

28064212

unkel wrote: »

Aye I understand how it works alright. I just thought it would give me an additional 5GB. I already had 5GB Google Docs cloud space BTW, not 1GB

The 5GB limit was only introduced 2 days ago in preparation for Google Drive: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-57419740-2/google-docs-upped-to-5gb-of-storage-hints-at-google-drive/

unkel

I'm not sure how / why, but I've had the free 5GB on Google Docs for years...

Maybe it's because I was an early adopter having gmail for about 8 years now?

Ludo

I wish they would sort out the problems with drive connecting to the internet with network proxy settings...every other app connects to the internet fine here at work but not google drive.

It has been posted in the drive forum as an issue but no word from google about it yet. I think it may have gotten lost in the much bigger issue they are having with foreign language windows user name support.