Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Disable Google Drive drive letter

support.google.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 110 posts

Re: Disable Google Drive drive letter

#31

Post by jonathanlydall »

The old one would often cause "this app is preventing Windows from shutting down", which normally would eventually resolve itself, but it was an annoying delay. Hopefully this new one is better in this regard.

I was very annoyed at the "upgrade wizard", it felt like of steps and very disruptive. One screen with a few checkboxes should have sufficed, perhaps an optional "advanced" button for those who want it.

Relatedly, I got more than one pop-up saying the new version was coming to which I felt "this is really not something you should bother me about before the actual upgrade".

Re: Disable Google Drive drive letter

#32

Post by LightG »

Reason 421 to ditch Google. They have a couple of things I find handy, but wouldn't trust them with my data if they paid for it (and they don't).

It's not that I inherently don't trust them with privacy (though why should I?), it's the constant bullsh!t and bait and switch.

And even that, I tried to pay them for something the other day (I felt I had to while I considered other options), for the pleasure of paying them, they wanted my passport, utility bill and other details. Erm, nope.

They've collectively taken a dive off the deep end.

I never felt I'd get to a place where I feel I trust Windows on a laptop more than I trust Google.

/endrant

Re: Disable Google Drive drive letter

#33

Post by blitzar »

jpalomaki wrote: post #15

Could this be the first step to migrate away from the folder sync? So eventually you would have just the virtual drive approach. Not an expert here, but I believe the folder sync is technically more difficult to get right and there’s likely lot of edge cases that give you lots of trouble.

I am pretty sure this is one of the last steps not first steps.

Been using this type of google drive for years now, mounts a virtual drive (with ability to always sync some folders locally + cache of contents).

I do miss the idea of my local copy being a backup of the cloud contents, and having to be a bit more thoughtful about syncing up chunks of documents and folders for being disconnected. Given how large the amount of data actually stored is, and how little gets frequently used, it makes life a lot easier.

Re: Disable Google Drive drive letter

#34

Post by blitzar »

LightG wrote: post #32

Reason 421 to ditch Google. They have a couple of things I find handy, but wouldn't trust them with my data if they paid for it (and they don't). It's not that I inherently don't trust them with privacy (though why should I?), it's the constant bullsh!t and bait and switch. And even that, I tried to pay them for something the other day (I felt I had to while I considered other options), for the pleasure of paying the…

Funnily enough I trust them to keep my data safe more than pretty much any provider.

Safe from everyone except themselves (google) of course, but then I litterally cant think of any provider/person I trust to not read stuff I put on their computer.

Re: Disable Google Drive drive letter

#37

Post by sumedh »

pedro2 wrote: post #14

Google Backup & Sync is being replaced by Google Drive for Desktop, née Google [Drive] File Stream. Unlike Dropbox, where filenames are searchable by name on Everything, here that doesn't seem to happen -- at least the indexing takes more than 15 minutes with UI frozen. An interesting tidbit: Google Filestream allows mounting on a folder. Google Drive for Desktop doesn't support it yet. Another interesting tidbit: th…

> Google Backup & Sync is being replaced by Google Drive for Desktop

Why does Google have this bad habit of changing product names, they do it with Chat as well.

Re: Disable Google Drive drive letter

#38

Post by ClumsyPilot »

marderfarker2 wrote: post #7
swayson wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No idea, not sure if it is the next generation of users, forcing the change, or something more nefarious. ultimately, "control is an illusion"

You already lost control when you let someone else store your files for you. This drive letter issue is just a GUI problem.

In any normal market, the customer is the one is control, because they are the one paying. Something is seriously rotten.

Re: Disable Google Drive drive letter

#39

Post by nixass »

ljm wrote: post #26
robbedpeter wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's lazy and greedy and arrogant. It's catering to the lowest common denominator, pushing users into a cycle of manipulation and constant change, preventing any nuanced use of software, forcing users to increased dependence on a walled garden. It's a dark pattern - don't let people use the software in unexpected ways that might take potential profit away from another service or future feature. If any use gives more…

Going with Occam's Razor, I think it's really just as simple as product/engineering not making this kind of feature a priority. Plus, we're talking about Google here, so this new desktop version was 99% likely to have been rebuilt as an MVP.

> Plus, we're talking about Google here

Exactly the point the referred poster was making. Google does nothing without monetization in mind

Re: Disable Google Drive drive letter

#40

Post by kettleballroll »

nixass wrote: post #39
ljm wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Going with Occam's Razor, I think it's really just as simple as product/engineering not making this kind of feature a priority. Plus, we're talking about Google here, so this new desktop version was 99% likely to have been rebuilt as an MVP.

> Plus, we're talking about Google here Exactly the point the referred poster was making. Google does nothing without monetization in mind

As opposed to which other company?
Post reply on HN