Ultimately, you will have to choose which Google Drive solution is right for you.īackup & Sync is easier for making sure you have copies of your files on your pc & Google Drive, while Drive for Desktop is better if you want to mainly keep your files on Google Drive and stream the ones you need to your PC, keeping more of your hard drive space free. We recommend you also use a backup drive with its provided backup software or a third-party backup solution since those backups are usually meant to cover any of the above issues. And finally if your files are encrypted due to ransomware on your computer, the encrypted files will most likely get synced up to the Google drive as well if your pc has an internet connection during/after the ransomware attack. Similarly if the file gets corrupted, it most likely will be corrupted in the synced version. However, it does not provide a backup in the case you accidentally erase a file and the drive has synced (it will be deleted on Google's cloud drive as well). This also works well when re-imaging your computer or switching to a new one. Notes on using as a backup solution: Having a copy of your files synced on both your computer and Google Drive, will allow you to recover or use your files from another computer/device in case you no longer have access to the original computer due to damage or loss. Note: Backup & Sync does work with our system if you see a notice to the effect that it only 'might work but have to check with an administrator' Compare Backup & Sync with Drive for Desktop Setup instructions.įollowing is a link that compares them, and if scroll down, you can choose the one you would like to download. ' Drive for Desktop streams all files and folders from the cloud.' (This was formerly called Drive File Stream and still is on Macs).

'Backup and Sync syncs and stores Drive content locally on your computer.' (Note: At some point in the future, some of these features will be unified into Drive for Desktop, and they most likely will discontinue Backup & Sync eventually). There are two options to sync files with your computer and Google Drive.

What is google drive desktop