It's been 191 days since Google Drive worked for me • Hacker News Board

Re: It's been 191 days since Google Drive worked for me

#71

Post by rahimiali » Mon, Jul 10, 2017, 1:21 AM UTC

victorhooi wrote: post #61

Nition wrote: post #17

Ridiculous that they imply throughout that they have a (mysteriously silent) Level 3 support or engineering team working on the issue for almost that entire time. Would be amazing if that's actually true and it turns out they discovered some huge underlying issue with the system from the user logs that they've actually had a team working on... but I'm sure it isn't. For a start if an issue like that was being worked…

I am on that team =). I won't say much publicly, but if this is the issue I think it is (customer has a huge number of files, and is trying to sync it with a 32-bit client, and hitting memory issues), we are aware of the issue, and are definitely working on it. It's a tricky thing to solve in any sync client - for example, Dropbox has a cap around 300,000 files (I believe this customer had 700,000 files?): > https://…

wouldn't it be a good idea to at least raise an error message if the client handle the number of files? it would alleviate the mystery and a lot of frustration.

Re: It's been 191 days since Google Drive worked for me

#72

Post by dpkonofa » Mon, Jul 10, 2017, 1:22 AM UTC

Zekio wrote: post #4

The fact they haven't refunded him yet is quite disturbing

Why? The service is working as intended. He is able to store things on Google Drive. The issue is with the apps and the fact that he's trying to sync over 700GB via a 32-bit app. Additionally, they're offering him free storage. I understand that it's not ideal, but it's not like the service is down and he's unable to use it at all.

Re: It's been 191 days since Google Drive worked for me

#73

Post by Dylan16807 » Mon, Jul 10, 2017, 1:24 AM UTC

victorhooi wrote: post #59

toomuchtodo wrote: post #7

This is why Dropbox has value. It works, its reliable, and if you're a paying customer you can get support. Spend the $10/month. Don't go on for more than half a year with your storage being broken. Disclaimer: no affiliation except a satisfied pro account user EDIT: Edge cases notwithstanding.

I'm not sure what value that would add here... The customer's issue seems to be that they have a very large number of files, and are trying to sync it with a 32-bit desktop client, and are hitting memory issues. Dropbox themselves state this on their websites: https://www.dropbox.com/help/space/file-storage-limit > Note: The performance of the Dropbox application may start to decline when you store above 300,000 file…

The question is whether "declines" literally means "declines", or it's code for "breaks".

Re: It's been 191 days since Google Drive worked for me

#74

Post by paulmd » Mon, Jul 10, 2017, 1:25 AM UTC

dpkonofa wrote: post #69

victorhooi wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am on that team =). I won't say much publicly, but if this is the issue I think it is (customer has a huge number of files, and is trying to sync it with a 32-bit client, and hitting memory issues), we are aware of the issue, and are definitely working on it. It's a tricky thing to solve in any sync client - for example, Dropbox has a cap around 300,000 files (I believe this customer had 700,000 files?): > https://…

This is my annoyance with the OP - they're a very clear edge case and, technically, the product still works for them. They're not paying for a Windows or Mac app, they're paying for online storage and that part of the service works fine. They can still access all their files via the web browser and they can add and download files as they see fit. The issue with the app is probably exactly what you're mentioning and t…

No, Google Drive is sold as a customer-facing service and customers have a basic expectation that it will do what it says on the box. If the Dropbox application didn't run, I'd be pissed too, even if it does happen to be "online storage".

If someone was complaining that an Amazon S3 application was broken, that would be a different story.

Re: It's been 191 days since Google Drive worked for me

#75

Post by Aron » Mon, Jul 10, 2017, 1:26 AM UTC

Nition wrote: post #56

Aron wrote: post #48

It's been six months, eight days, twelve hours Since you went away I miss you so much and I don't know what to say I should be over you I should know better but it's just not the case It's been six months, eight days, twelve hours Since you went away

Normally I'd disapprove of a dumb song lyric joke on Hacker News but I'm impressed that the timeframe from the song fits perfectly.

a little tooooo ironic. ok, ok..

Re: It's been 191 days since Google Drive worked for me

#76

Post by Dylan16807 » Mon, Jul 10, 2017, 1:29 AM UTC

dpkonofa wrote: post #72

Zekio wrote: post #4

The fact they haven't refunded him yet is quite disturbing

Why? The service is working as intended. He is able to store things on Google Drive. The issue is with the apps and the fact that he's trying to sync over 700GB via a 32-bit app. Additionally, they're offering him free storage. I understand that it's not ideal, but it's not like the service is down and he's unable to use it at all.

> The issue is with the apps and the fact that he's trying to sync over 700GB via a 32-bit app.

You make it sound like some kind of fundamental truth of computing that it would break.

The sync process is ~1 file at a time. It doesn't need to keep the entire database in (virtual) memory.

Re: It's been 191 days since Google Drive worked for me

#77

Post by kelvin0 » Mon, Jul 10, 2017, 1:30 AM UTC

Google has the WORSE support I've ever experienced as a (former) PAYING corporate customer of theirs. I completely distrust ANYTHING they tell me and would NEVER again be caught paying for anything coming from them. Never again.

Re: It's been 191 days since Google Drive worked for me

#78

Post by dpkonofa » Mon, Jul 10, 2017, 1:31 AM UTC

paulmd wrote: post #74

dpkonofa wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is my annoyance with the OP - they're a very clear edge case and, technically, the product still works for them. They're not paying for a Windows or Mac app, they're paying for online storage and that part of the service works fine. They can still access all their files via the web browser and they can add and download files as they see fit. The issue with the app is probably exactly what you're mentioning and t…

No, Google Drive is sold as a customer-facing service and customers have a basic expectation that it will do what it says on the box. If the Dropbox application didn't run, I'd be pissed too, even if it does happen to be "online storage". If someone was complaining that an Amazon S3 application was broken, that would be a different story.

It does do what it says on the box. You're not required to download any of the apps in order to use Google Drive. My contention is that the OP claims that they deserve some kind of reimbursement because "they're paying for it" but the "it" here is not the app, it's the service. They're paying for online storage. There are several ways to sync your files to that service. The Google Drive app is a free option. He's paying for the service, not the app.

Note that even you said "service" in your description of what it is.

Re: It's been 191 days since Google Drive worked for me

#79

Post by markdown » Mon, Jul 10, 2017, 1:32 AM UTC

redm wrote: post #37

toomuchtodo wrote: post #7

This is why Dropbox has value. It works, its reliable, and if you're a paying customer you can get support. Spend the $10/month. Don't go on for more than half a year with your storage being broken. Disclaimer: no affiliation except a satisfied pro account user EDIT: Edge cases notwithstanding.

Perhaps.. but Dropbox is not without its own issues. I tried diligently to get Dropbox after hearing statements like yours. I signed up and added my dataset, 600GB of ~670,000 objects. It never would sync, used 10GB+ of memory while "preparing" to sync and ultimately crashing. I use Google Drive now, and it's not without its issues, but my data is synchronized. I'm not saying Dropbox is a bad product; I'm trying to s…

Looks like it's the same issue that OP faced: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14732584

Re: It's been 191 days since Google Drive worked for me

#80

Post by dpkonofa » Mon, Jul 10, 2017, 1:33 AM UTC

Dylan16807 wrote: post #76

dpkonofa wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? The service is working as intended. He is able to store things on Google Drive. The issue is with the apps and the fact that he's trying to sync over 700GB via a 32-bit app. Additionally, they're offering him free storage. I understand that it's not ideal, but it's not like the service is down and he's unable to use it at all.

> The issue is with the apps and the fact that he's trying to sync over 700GB via a 32-bit app. You make it sound like some kind of fundamental truth of computing that it would break. The sync process is ~1 file at a time. It doesn't need to keep the entire database in (virtual) memory.

No I'm not. I'm merely pointing out why the app doesn't work. I don't expect the person using it to know that. I'm just arguing that the service itself works perfectly fine so his outrage about being a paying customer is misplaced and misguided. There are several solutions out there to sync with Google Drive. He's paying for the service, not for the syncing app. That is a free product that is available to anyone.