If you’re looking for a method of backing up your materials online, it’s tough to miss Google Drive. Countless individuals and companies use it all over the world, plus, you know, it’s Google. There are few names out there that carry nearly as much trust as that one. However, before you decide to start depending on Google Drive for this important purpose, it might be a good idea to consider the following review of it.
PROS:
Google Drive excels at supporting collaborative projects
It’s free I guess.
CONS:
Google Drive doesn’t sync properly. I’ve had to restart Chrome, and my PC several times. Google knows this is an issue.
Right off the bat, one thing we need to bring up is that Google Drive is about far more than just having a cloud resource. It’s also become one of the most popular collaborative tools on the market.
It lets users effortlessly create, store, edit and work on documents from all over the world. When you consider how well Google Drive also works with resources like Google Docs, Slides and Sheets, it becomes immediately apparent just how effective it is for getting things done in a timely, efficient manner even when you have dozens of people working on the same thing.
Pricing Packages
Another thing to love about Google Drive is that it has a sweet offering for absolutely free. As long as you don’t need more than 15 GB of data for your files, you’ll never pay a dime for using this cloud solution. All it takes is a Google account to begin taking advantage of this offer.
Furthermore, any files you create by using Google Docs, Slides, Sheets or other in-Drive Apps won’t go toward the 15 GB you’ve been allotted. You also won’t be liable for any files that have been shared with you. Email attachments that go through Gmail and Gmail messages also don’t go toward this total.
However, even if you do need more, you’ll hardly be breaking the bank to get there. An extra 100 GB is just $1.99 a month. For 10 TB, you’ll only be spending $99.99 a month. That being said, the pricing for this service changes fairly regularly, so it’s worth checking in on before proceeding with your decision-making process.
The Google Drive Interface
Of course, any discussion of a backup solution has to involve its interface. No matter what it brings to the table, if it’s too difficult to be used conveniently, who cares?
Luckily, Google doesn’t disappoint here either.
From the main page, you’ll be presented with handy little thumbnails that represent your various documents. To the right, you’ll find a button that allows for sharing, deleting, previewing, getting a link for a given document, etc.
Google Drive makes it really simple to stay organized, which can be especially helpful when you’re collaborating with a large group of people. Feel free to create as many folders and subfolders as it takes to keep everyone on the same page.
Other options for staying organized include color-coding items or using stars. Create whatever system makes the most sense for your company’s unique needs.
You can decide from three different modes for allowing others to view your work. There are Viewing, Suggesting and Editing. That last one is probably self-explanatory, but the second allows users to leave their suggestions, though they show up in brackets. The first only lets people look at your documents, but not actually edit them.
All-in-all, it’s hard to think of any reason not to use Google Drive. While you could spend money on other options that would come with a lot more features, plenty of companies with cash to burn still use Google Drive despite their budgets. Before you decide to go the premium route, then, we’d highly recommend you try Google Drive for yourself.
