I’m still sticking with “I’ll believe it when I see it” when it comes to Google’s rumored Gdrive (a.k.a. Platypus) service, but my guess is that it actually is coming sooner rather than later. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google is in fact preparing to launch a free service that would allow users to store files with Google that they’d normally store on their computers (word documents, photos, music, etc.). If the WSJ felt confident enough with their unnamed source to report that Gdrive is coming, I’d say there’s a pretty good chance that it is.
The first time we ever wrote about a rumored Google file storage solution was back in March of 2006, so this rumor is by no means new. In fact, since the original rumors started, it has continued to be the subject of many more rumors. People have speculated on what all you’d be able to do, how much storage Google would offer users, and whether or not it was even being designed for the general public. Google has made no official announcements regarding it which is partially why there’s so much hype surrounding it. The other reason for the hype is simply how convenient it would be for people because it eliminates the need for carrying around a USB drive for those who use multiple computers.
As you might expect, not everybody is fond of the idea of Google storing and having access to their files. The WSJ points out some of the issues that Google will face like data privacy, copyright, and simply the cost of having enough storage capacity and staff available to keep the service up and running without hiccups. Privacy will probably be one of the biggest issues because they’ve already been accused of having access to too much information already.
At this point, I don’t think it’s a matter of “if” but a matter of “when” Gdrive will launch. The only other question I’m asking myself then is how much storage will Google be willing to give everybody? They’ve already hit the 5 GB mark with Gmail, so I’d have to think they’d offer at least that, but likely more for a file storage service. How much storage would Google need to offer for you to feel that the service was worth it?
5GB will be OK. 10GB will be great.
For 2007, of course :) .
And here I thought it was already out. I don’t follow Google too much.
Eliminates the need for a USB drive??? DivShare has been offering free unlimited storage for a long time, but USB drives haven’t been killed. USB drives are still very useful because it’s far faster to download to a drive than upload to the web. Also, I don’t think any web interfaces let you upload and download a whole folder, with all it’s subfolders in tact. That’s what I want to see.
Comments about privacy here do amuse me – if you don’t want Google having access to your data here’s a clever idea – don’t f**king give it to them.
I agree with the comment about DivShare though – at the end of the day whatever system they come up with will need to be as easy as using a USB drive if they want me to use it for regular data transfer. With a USB drive I can access my documents quickly, save them directly to the drive etc. Unless they come up with some sort of uber FTP software you won’t get the same quick portability.
I would use it, but as backup rather than for transfer. The size doesn’t bother me – the fact that it’s there would be good enough.
Start off with 5 and increase it like Gmail is increasing. I think they should slow down the Gmail counter because people don’t really need 5GB for e-mail, but for files and documents, 5GB could be filled up quickly.
Finally! :twisted:
I think I’d use this for storing mp3s and junk….but probably not much else. I already am giving google access to my calendar, email, and docs….so I don’t want to dump ALL my stuff to them. :D
That would be really awesome, but I think they would have to create a software application to do that.
That’s all I would use it for as well. There are some things that I wouldn’t mind having backed up at an offsite location, but I want something that is easier to use than any of the solutions currently available.
I agree, 5GB is a lot just for email. That’s probably why they offer it though, because they are counting on people not actually using it.
I agree that if you’re worried about privacy, you shouldn’t use it. It’s just one of those topics that will always come up though.
5GB does seem excessive for Gmail, so I think they could probably stop it all together.
What if they integrate it into our Gmail accounts and keep the 5GB cap or maybe increase it by a couple of gigs? That way they give the Gdrive to everyone with a Gmail account with way less overhead. It’ll also make sense to have all our attachments easily accessible through a file manager.
I hope it will have some kind of integration in Gmail. That way I could stop having to email files to myself.
You could have stopped doing that a while ago, there are 3rd party applications that let you use your Gmail account as a drive. And yes all the folders and sub folders are kept intact when you download them to another computer.
However there is the slight problem where your account may get suspended if you upload more than 400Mb at any one time, there are no issues/limits on downloading though which is good.
Most of my files that I store online are pictures and media but the only way I would use an official “G-Drive” would be if I could use it as a normal drive. The problem I have will all of the online storage places like DivShare, MediaMax, AOL’s X-Drive, Photobucket, is they all have these horrendously slow java applets that are geared towards ‘mediacenter’ functions like photo albums. All I need is a place to dump files, don’t care how pretty it is.
We’ve actually written an article before outlining those various tools available, but nothing would beat Google developing their own service that is well integrated.
From what I’ve heard it will probably be shared space between all the Google products. So you could have let’s say 5 GB space and you can use it for Picasa, Docs, mails, etc. Of course space slowly increasing (just like what Gmail does now)