Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Google Launches 'Backup and Sync' Mac App for Google Photos and Google Drive
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
It was enabled by default on my mom's Mac. She called one day about some warning saying her iCloud storage is full. I tried to disable it, and it said something about deleting photos, so I now stay far away from it. TBH, I don't remember what happened in the end. I think some of her stuff disappeared because she keeps complaining about it.
So yeah, that's totally unacceptable. I'm sure others have similar concerns. When it comes to libraries, everyone wants to be 100% sure their stuff is safe. And part of that is having a simple system that doesn't change and/or get deprecated (glaring at you, Google). But it's hard to make it simple when multiple devices are involved.
[doublepost=1499996970][/doublepost]
Yeah, that's probably the more common use case. It's saved me many times. You overwrite something important vs your disk is gone. The latter is rare now that disk failures are rare, and it really only happens if there's theft or loss.
[doublepost=1499997085][/doublepost]
Well, don't take pictures of your passwords
Last edited:
Has anyone succeeded in getting this to work backing up very large (terabyte) folders?
The old version was a disaster. I tried backing up a 3 TB folder on an external drive. My boot volume is small (1 TB) and the Google drive's folder filled it up with >200 GB of files so it crashed my system.
The new version is the same. When I add the external drive's directory it just says "calculating size" but never completes. I just ignored that and started it. It created a Google Drive folder under my home directory and started copying all of the files from the external drive to my boot drive.
So it looks as if it's back to rclone.
The old version was a disaster. I tried backing up a 3 TB folder on an external drive. My boot volume is small (1 TB) and the Google drive's folder filled it up with >200 GB of files so it crashed my system.
The new version is the same. When I add the external drive's directory it just says "calculating size" but never completes. I just ignored that and started it. It created a Google Drive folder under my home directory and started copying all of the files from the external drive to my boot drive.
So it looks as if it's back to rclone.
ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT YOU NEED TO STOP BUMMING AROUND AND START DOING SOME ACTUAL WORK, CITIZEN.
Can we get some encryption for our cloud backups?
I realize this is a long shot considering providers want to be able to use deduplication, but another good option besides rclone would be good.
[doublepost=1500042378][/doublepost]
+1 for rclone on large volumes, not to mention it allows encryption.
I realize this is a long shot considering providers want to be able to use deduplication, but another good option besides rclone would be good.
[doublepost=1500042378][/doublepost]
+1 for rclone on large volumes, not to mention it allows encryption.
I'm not sure what you are trying to say here.
[doublepost=1500202168][/doublepost]
iCloud is not more expensive. If you look at the pricing, iCloud can actually be cheaper in some configurations.
Not in the free configuration which is the one most people are only interested in.
Well, can you restore old versions? Because backup means: going back in time, and retrieve previous versions.
The big problem with just a copy somewhere happens when you bump into a software bug. For example, you're editing a Word document and everything seems fine and dandy. Two weeks later it doesn't open for some reason. Why not? No idea, Word crashes when it tries to open it. Then you want to try and open previous versions of that same file.
Google Drive will keep the last 30 days of revisions. Through the web interface, you can select versions to keep permanently. Not sure how this new backup app works with that, but I'd certainly hope it was compatible.
Backup doesn't necessarily mean it has versioning. As long as one version is stored in the cloud or on another drive, it's a backup. Sync simply means there are no separate storage being used and the service only updates the files when it is changed. Google Drive is a back up service and it apparently does limited versioning up to a month or so. Time Machine is more advanced, and you can go back months.
[doublepost=1500318161][/doublepost]
You can't really put a price tag on free space, no matter its size. There is no way to calculate the per GB cost.
You know you can store MS Office file formats in Google Drive without converting them to Google file formats, right?
Yeah, I guess you're right. And going back a month isn't too bad. And judging by the amount of people who buy an expensive MacBook but don't bother buying an external harddrive for backups, it's probably the only backup that lots of people have.
You can't really put a price tag on free space, no matter its size. There is no way to calculate the per GB cost.[/QUOTE]
I'm comparing free space vs. having to pay for space. If all I need/want is at least 15GB of storage and 5 gigs isn't enough, if I'm going to use icloud then I have have to upgrade to at least the 50g plan which $1 per month (probably more in Canada). So I'm paying about $.07 a month per gig with icloud and 0 for google drive. Which you can get even more free space if you take the free photo storage plan. It's 100% savings so not really sure the point you are trying to make.
I'm comparing free space vs. having to pay for space. If all I need/want is at least 15GB of storage and 5 gigs isn't enough, if I'm going to use icloud then I have have to upgrade to at least the 50g plan which $1 per month (probably more in Canada). So I'm paying about $.07 a month per gig with icloud and 0 for google drive. Which you can get even more free space if you take the free photo storage plan. It's 100% savings so not really sure the point you are trying to make.
time machine does not have versioning though it has a time save
time machine is every hour ! so not versioning
google has true versioning and saves it for 30 days
IMHO use the two together local and off line
if your house burnt down or your computer was stolen it would be nice to have the backup online
but for a quick replacement using no data then time machine
[doublepost=1501329190][/doublepost]they also have the newer business app coming out that will be better than this for business they say ? no idea might sign up to try it
I am uploading about 5 TB of data to the sync over two computers one small at 1 TB the other about 4 TB
whats interesting is one of my accounts is showing the new computer in the side menu the other two accounts are not ?
IMHO if you have a google business account its one more layer of backup along with backblaze or whatever online you like and local of course and better yet a set of HDD offsite is just part of a thorough backup plan
the new app sounds a bit more freaky with prediction and stuff and might be more for enterprise size companies though and multiple users say 20 or above with policy in place etc... for small design biz this sync might work out great ? time will tell and of course with google sadly they could change it over night or just kill it over night ?
Google backup and sync desktop app help its users to back up in a more convenient way, all of their files and photos as well on their computer. The core purpose of launching such type of app is to older versions and outdated apps to bring in new technology.
You're partially right. iCloud doesn't play with Android at all, and Windows minimally. But cost-wise, Apple is the better deal. 2TB of iCloud = $9.99/month. For that price, Google gives you 1TB, which is...well, half.
At lower levels, $2.99/month gets you 200GB on iCloud vs 100GB for $1.99/month on Google (or $3.98 for 200GB if you're math challenged).
So no, iCloud is not in any way the more expensive option.
That's if you need all that data and want to pay for cloud storage in general. I don't. I get by on the free amount on Google. I mostly just use cloud storage for photos and a few files and I can have unlimited photo storage on Google. I can't get by on the free amount icloud gives me.