Googles new Drive app replaces Backup and Sync with Drive File Stream – Ars Technica

The new Drive app was a hefty 238MiB download and a pain-free but surprisingly long (several minutes) installation.

Jim Salter

After installation finishes, the new Drive user is offered a mercifully brief feature tour.

Jim Salter

You can run the locally mounted Google Drive folders one of two waysstreaming or mirrored. Streaming folders don't download files from the cloud unless and until you actually open them.

Jim Salter

There are extra settings buried behind a gear icon in the Google Drive Preferences dialog itself. Note the drive letter selection, Office presence detection, and Photos quality settings.

Jim Salter

Beneath the Office, drive letter, and Photos settings, we can scroll down to set the local cached files directory, proxy settings, and bandwidth limiters.

Jim Salter

Google has released a new Google Drive desktop app that replaces old versions for both home and business. The new Drive app builds in features from Google Photos, Backup and Sync (the old, primarily consumer app), and Drive File Stream (the old, business-targeted version).

Frankly, there doesn't appear to be much new in the upgraded appthe update looks like more of a clean-up and unification effort than anything else. Major features include:

According to Google's introduction, users of the older Backup and Sync app will start getting in-app prompts to transition to Drive for desktop, which it recommends users complete by September of this year.

Backup and Sync users will support a guided workflow for transitioning from the old app to the new on July 19, and Google Workspace domains (both Rapid and Scheduled release tracks) will see in-app notifications prompting transition beginning on August 18. The deprecated Backup and Sync app will cease functioning entirely on October 1.

The answer is simple, but we want to draw a heavy underscore because it's not typical these daysall Google service users can use the new Drive app. This includes free personal accounts and paid enterprise Google Workspace accounts.

In other words, if you're a Google Drive user, it's time download the new appthere's no point in putting it off. If you're a Google Workspace administrator, you have two months to test and deploy the new app before Backup and Sync curls up and dies on October 1.

Listing image by Jim Salter

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Googles new Drive app replaces Backup and Sync with Drive File Stream - Ars Technica