You should know about Google Drive's future

4 things you should know about Google Drive's future

Google Drive is kaput! Wait -- no, it isn't. Here's what you would like to know regarding Google's cloud plans.

The Google Drive app will stop working March 18, 2018.
Its replacement, Backup and Sync, is available now.

For fans of Google Drive, the headlines last week seemed alarming: "Google Drive shutting down in March!" "Google Drive is dead!"

Um, no.

Although Google does decide to build a modification early next year, the Drive service itself is not going anywhere. Rather, it is the Google Drive app that is being terminated, and that is only because it's being replaced. Here's what you would like to understand regarding the future of Drive.

If you do not synchronise, don't worry

Just to be totally clear, only the Google Drive apps for Windows and mac ar approaching end-of-life. which is totally fine, because Google released Backup and synchronise back in July.

But before we delve further into that, it's worth noting that a lot of users do not even bother with Google's desktop apps. Rather, they access Drive during a browser (and/or on phones and tablets), during which case there is no extra synchronise software needed. If you fall into that camp, this news is not news at all; nothing to see here, move along.

What is Backup and Sync?

Google's free utility replaces each the Drive and Photos desktop apps for Windows PCs and Macs. you'll use Backup and synchronise to back up the contents of your entire pc, or just selected  folders.

It's a pretty easy tool to use, particularly if you were already syncing with its Drive app predecessor. If you are new it, however, check out "Get started with Google's Backup and synchronise app."

What is Drive File Stream?

Backup and Sync e Drive File Stream 

sostituiranno Google Drive

The funniest part about last week's Google Drive fake news: Google announced the date of Drive's demise in a blog post for IT administrators who offer Google's G Suite productivity tools to employees. so this wasn't even supposed for everyday consumers.

To further head off any confusion, let's talk about Drive File Stream, a tool mentioned therein post. consistent with Google, it's "a new desktop application that enables you to quickly access all of your Google Drive files on demand, directly from your pc, which means you utilize almost none of your drive space and spend less time waiting for files to synchronise."

But, again, that is something your workplace may roll out; it is not something you need to worry about on your personal laptop computer.



What else is going on with Google Drive?

Support for Google Drive for Windows/Mac can endwise Dec. 11, 2017. and also the apps will flat-out stop working (on both platforms) on March twelve, 2018. so you have still got plenty of time to create your way to Backup and synchronise -- assuming you need to, you know, backup and/or synchronise.

And that's about it. There hasn't been a lot of Google Drive news latterly -- except the good news that the service is definitely not going away.