Google Will Be Able to Backup Your Entire Computer

[LASER_oneXM]

An article on bleepingcomputer.com: Google Will Be Able to Backup Your Entire Computer

Google says it will launch Backup and Sync in two weeks, on June 28, 2017.


...some quotes from the article above:

Google pre-announced today a new tool named "Backup and Sync," built on top of Google Drive, which will be able to back up files stored anywhere on the user's computer, not just in the Drive folder. The search giant says it will launch Backup and Sync in two weeks, on June 28.

Google says the new tool is a mash-up of the old Google Drive app and the Google Photos desktop uploader. A preview of the upcoming tool's interface is available in the image at the top of this article, showing Backup and Sync's ability to back up files from any folder the user wants to sync to his Google Drive account.

While some might view this as Google wanting more access to user data, the new Backup and Sync tool can be an alternative for consumers that want to back up files but can't afford dedicated hard drives or pricey backup software and cloud storage space.

 

[HarborFront]

Ha....ha....so Google will be able to scrutinize each and every file on your PC.

No privacy to the extreme!

 

[frogboy]

Ha....ha....so Google will be able to scrutinize each and every file on your PC.

No privacy to the extreme!

A very good point my friend, I think I will stick with Macrium Reflect for this task.

 

[shmu26]

Guys, you will surely be able to define what folders will be synced to the cloud. It could be a useful tool as a second backup for often-edited files, or something like that.

 

[HarborFront]

Guys, you will surely be able to define what folders will be synced to the cloud. It could be a useful tool as a second backup for often-edited files, or something like that.

Why not choose another cloud provider instead of Google?

 

[LASER_oneXM]

....yes thats right: google's upload tool should also be able to automatically encrypt the files (before uploading them to google)
......otherwiese this service/cloud is pretty useless..... and quite risky.....
i hope google will provide an automatic encyption ......one day in the future.....

 

[HarborFront]

....yes thats right: google's upload tool should also be able to automatically encrypt the files (before uploading them to google)
......otherwiese this service/cloud is pretty useless.....
i hope google will provide an automatic encyption ......in the future.....

You mean encryption with a backdoor?



It'll be better if you triple-encrypt your files before sending to the cloud, no?

 

[shmu26]

Why not choose another cloud provider instead of Google?

Dropbox is far superior in quality of service, but you can't choose locations to sync.

 

[HarborFront]

Dropbox is far superior in quality of service, but you can't choose locations to sync.

Dropbox compromises your privacy. Not a good choice.

Edward Snowden’s Privacy Tips: “Get Rid Of Dropbox,” Avoid Facebook And Google

 

[Ink]

Thanks for sharing. BC need to provide a source to Google Blog - would be beneficial.

For documents and files, use Drive app.
For photos and videos, use Photos app - (Google Photos Backup - Desktop Uploader for Win/Mac)
For music, use Music Manager app or Play Music extension - (Google Play Music supported file types - Google Play Help)

Now Google Drive and Photo Backup tool become one, and you can upload 50,000 song files for Free with Play Music extension (on Chrome) as well as download everything if you lose your local music folder.

Google Blog: G Suite Update Alerts: Backup and Sync from Google available soon

G Suite Enterprise, Business and Education clients can look forward to Drive File Stream. Learn more.

Too many paranoid folk with no proof to their claims. Trolls everywhere.

 

[SHvFl]

Might push me from dropbox to google drive. This feature sounds too useful to miss.

 

[shmu26]

I already uploaded most of my audio files to google music, but folks should know that it does not preserve your folder structure. Google recategorizes the music according to whatever metadata it can extract from the files. So it is not ideal for rebuilding your collection after a major data loss.

One other caveat: Google products are not that great at reading time stamps, sometimes they overwrite the newer version of a file with the older version. User beware.

 

[Ink]

Might push me from dropbox to google drive. This features sounds too useful to miss.

If you use Android or iOS, you can download the Drive and Photos apps to get started. You'll need a PC or Chrome browser to upload your songs before using Play Music to listen back on Mobile (Android and iOS).

If you use WhatsApp, it stores encrypted backups to Google Drive (Android only) or iCloud Drive (iOS only) ---- and OneDrive (Windows Phone only).

Be aware that Google Drive and Gmail will use your 15GB Online Storage, whereas Photos, if set as Upload as Hi-res (optimised) will not. You can find out more on the Google Support pages for those products and services.

I already use Google Photos and Music, but 50:50 on Documents with Drive. So try out Drive for your Documents/Files whilst keeping Dropbox, because no single service is 100% on point. And let us know what you think.

@shmu26 Thanks for the information, It's better than nothing if you don't keep system image backups.

 

[shmu26]

If you want to save space on document storage: you can set google drive to automatically convert uploaded documents to google doc format -- and google doc format does not count against your 15 gb free storage space.

 

[ravi prakash saini]

if google buys me a new laptop and ready to pay my internet bill.i am ready to show him all the data on my system.
until then back up on external hard disk only

 

[SHvFl]

If you use Android or iOS, you can download the Drive and Photos apps to get started. You'll need a PC or Chrome browser to upload your songs before using Play Music to listen back on Mobile (Android and iOS).

If you use WhatsApp, it stores encrypted backups to Google Drive (Android only) or iCloud Drive (iOS only) ---- and OneDrive (Windows Phone only).

Be aware that Google Drive and Gmail will use your 15GB Online Storage, whereas Photos, if set as Upload as Hi-res (optimised) will not. You can find out more on the Google Support pages for those products and services.

I already use Google Photos and Music, but 50:50 on Documents with Drive. So try out Drive for your Documents/Files whilst keeping Dropbox, because no single service is 100% on point. And let us know what you think.

@shmu26 Thanks for the information, It's better than nothing if you don't keep system image backups.

Only use the whatsapp backup thing but yeah if i get drive on desktop i will push to more stuff.

 

[The paranoid one]

It does not sound good to me, INMO, Google services are very aggressive in terms of privacy. The idea is good and other competitors offer a similar service, like Mega, with 50 Gbs free to synchronize in the cloud, so for me, it is best to wait to see how this service behaves and if it is really intrusive or not

 

[Ink]

It does not sound good to me, INMO, Google services are very aggressive in terms of privacy. The idea is good and other competitors offer a similar service, like Mega, with 50 Gbs free to synchronize in the cloud, so for me, it is best to wait to see how this service behaves and if it is really intrusive or not

According to some online reports and statements, Mega cannot be trusted. Neither is it open-source to verify. Look it up.
Hostile Takeover: Is mega.nz safe for personal/non-public file backup? • r/selfhosted

What parts of the Privacy Policy would affect the way you would use Google service and Drive itself?
Google Drive Terms of Service - Google Drive Help
You may be interested in Boxcryptor | Security for your Cloud and similar services.

 

[The paranoid one]

According to some online reports and statements, Mega cannot be trusted. Neither is it open-source to verify. Look it up.
Hostile Takeover: Is mega.nz safe for personal/non-public file backup? • r/selfhosted

What parts of the Privacy Policy would affect the way you would use Google service and Drive itself?
Google Drive Terms of Service - Google Drive Help
You may be interested in Boxcryptor | Security for your Cloud and similar services.

Oh, many thanks! I am very grateful for this information, I did not know that there was something like this

 

[mlnevese]

If you want to save space on document storage: you can set google drive to automatically convert uploaded documents to google doc format -- and google doc format does not count against your 15 gb free storage space.

Unfortunately converting complex Word documents to Google doc format make them lose all functionality. Dynamic fields and tables, for instance, do not work at all after conversion in my experience. So unless Google's document format becomes more powerful or the conversion gets better it's not an option for me at all...