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Save more with Google Drive

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Re: Save more with Google Drive

#62
post #45
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is such a well reasoned + researched post deserving of a knee-jerk response?

High char count isn't a measure for sound reasoning.

Maybe you disagree with his reasoning. Maybe his reasoning is illogical or misguided. But dismissing something as FUD without providing any sort of counter arguments or reasoning is worse than being wrong.

Re: Save more with Google Drive

#63
post #41
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible I'm mistaken, but all the examples of 'abandonment' you've listed are free. Here, you're paying. It's a business. You've got the same guarantee as you've got with Dropbox.

Google Checkout was abandoned and wasn't free

And replaced with Google Wallet which is, at least as a user, the exact same thing or better and exists on more platforms. That one isn't really a surprise.

Re: Save more with Google Drive

#64
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And backups/replication/off-site storage, security, maintenance, etc.

So why don't they say that? Instead it's: 9.99 per month for 1TB.

Because if they did, we'd be bitching about how Google has too much marketing-speak on their copy about Drive, and how it's not that innovative since other remote storage companies do the same.

Re: Save more with Google Drive

#65
Right now I use SkyDrive, since I got 200 GB free for two years when I got my Surface. So I'm set for now.

But by the time my free storage runs out and I need to find somewhere to keep my files, I think it will be interesting to see how the prices are. I have a feeling that by then Google will be offering 100 GB for free, trying to get you to keep everything on Google Drive.

Re: Save more with Google Drive

#67
I won't go near Google Drive until they fix some serious longstanding issues with the desktop client. The two that caused me to abandon Google Drive (I even have a free TB for 3 years from my Chromebook Pixel):

1. No way to re-sync existing folders on your computer (seriously). I was pushing hundreds of GBs of photos to my Google Drive, and after syncing everything, upgraded to a new computer (the files were stored on an external drive locally). You'd think you should be able to reconnect to your account and point it at the files that already exist locally. Nope. There's no way to do it - the client tries to be so "smart" that it will refuse to recognize existing files, and tries to re-sync both copies (both ways) as duplicates.

2. The desktop client consumes nearly 100% CPU while syncing. I realize that while scanning local folders, the client may need to run checksums on files (potentially CPU intensive), but Google Drive was consistently eating up extraordinary CPU resources even after scanning the local files. I would expect some occasional disk IO and high network IO, but not constantly high CPU usage... who knows what they're doing.

What bothers me most is that Google appears to be completely ignoring these issues, even with hundreds of posts on their forums over years with people complaining about these things.

Re: Save more with Google Drive

#68

I think at this point I'm a little more comfortable paying more for a company that I know won't abandon this market. I know Dropbox will be Dropbox in 5 years. How can we be sure Google Drive won't be shuttered in less time? Google is very haphazard with their web properties. Sometimes they shutter them, sometimes they stuff them in the closet. Google Reader, Wave, etc, you know. the stories. What scares me more are…

> I know Dropbox will be Dropbox in 5 years. How can we be sure Google Drive won't be shuttered in less time?

Dropbox could be acquired and shuttered (or worse, data-mined). Google - much less likely, though it does have a tendency to close projects it does't see as strategic.

I'd say the risks are equivalent. Hedge your bets, use multiple services and secure it all with something like Boxcryptor.

Re: Save more with Google Drive

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who cares? If they close it, you signup for a competitor and re-upload the data. Even if they do close it, you'll have months to copy everything. And besides, if you're relying on a single system for all your backups, you're doing it wrong.

That's a terrible retort. Downloading and then uploading a terabyte of data can be very expensive depending on where you live, and it can also take a very long time.

Download and then uploading a terabyte of data can be very expensive depending on where you live

Dropbox doesn't have a 1TB plan, but 2x500GB costs $1000/year. On Drive, it costs $100/year. That's a difference of $900/year.

I don't know where you live, but around here $900/year buys you a pretty fucking good connection, with blackjack and hookers included.

it can also take a very long time.

So what? You can still use Drive until everything is copied.

Re: Save more with Google Drive

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who cares? If they close it, you signup for a competitor and re-upload the data. Even if they do close it, you'll have months to copy everything. And besides, if you're relying on a single system for all your backups, you're doing it wrong.

That's a terrible retort. Downloading and then uploading a terabyte of data can be very expensive depending on where you live, and it can also take a very long time.

If it's so incredibly expensive where you live, then you probably aren't using online file storage in the first place.

And yes it can take a long time, but you might swap cloud providers every 2-5 years, you're not doing it every day. Even if it still takes a month to copy all your files, that's generally an unattended process, so it's not such a big deal.

I'm not saying it's trivial, but it's not a huge deal. All things considered, it's pretty easy to switch.

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