Google Now that (e.g., two bucks per month for 100GB), you might be wondering about its viability as a backup tool. Though you can't use it to clone an entire hard drive (not a good idea with any cloud-storage service), you can use it for the next best thing: preserving your important data. All you need is Google's desktop sync utility, which, not unlike Dropbox, adds a special folder to your hard drive that acts as a two-way conduit. Any files or folders you put there will get synced to your Google Drive, and any files or folders you add to your Google Drive will get synced back to that special folder on your PC. Here's how to get started.
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Step one: Download and install the (available for Windows and Mac). For purposes of this tutorial, I loaded the Windows version. Certain aspects may be a bit different for Mac users, but fundamentally it's all the same.
Backup and Sync isn’t hugely different from the Google Drive desktop tool before it, but it’s nice to see that Google is still paying attention to its cloud-based services and bringing a few. Why doesn't mail that I send from Mail.app on my mac show up on my iPhone's Sent Mail when using gmail? Google backup and sync won't sync all files from cloud to.
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One quick sign-in is all it takes to connect your desktop and online Google Drives. Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET Step two: Run the program, then sign into your Google account.
Click through the various setup screens (which provide a few details on using the tool), then click Done when you get to the 'You're all set!' What Google Drive looks like on your desktop. Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET Step three: Your Google Drive will open immediately within an Explorer window, allowing you to peruse all the documents currently stored there. Indeed, Google Drive is now accessible as a folder on your hard drive, available under your username (within the Explorer hierarchy) and in your Explorer Favorites list. Now, as noted above, you can drag any files or folders to this Google Drive folder to have them 'backed up' to your Drive account. So, for example, if you currently save all your Word files to, say, Documents Word Docs, you would simply drag Word Docs to Google Drive.
Just remember, though, that the next time you start Word, you'll need to access your files via Google Drive Word Docs, not the previous location. And make sure you save new documents there as well so they get synced to Google Drive. Needless to say, this can require a bit of fiddling with your regular workflow. Google Drive isn't a backup tool in the traditional sense, though its simple syncing makes it just as effective as the likes of Dropbox.
And it's definitely a whole lot cheaper. Save to Google Drive extension for Chrome. Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET.
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