OT: Anyone use Google Drive with a Mac?

[Reezekeys]

I was trying to sync a large file to my Google Drive. I had "Backup & Sync" running and dragged my file into the Google Drive folder on my computer and it started uploading as it should. I have slow internet where I am, and after two or three hours I was at about 80% uploaded. I clicked "Pause" then shut down the computer. Mistake. When I re-started and fired up Backup & Sync again it started uploading from 0%! It's 2020 for cripe's sake, doesn't Google have this together yet? I'm pretty sure Dropbox will resume an upload that's been interrupted. I guess I could be doing something wrong, but have no idea what. Anyone else ever see this behavior? TIA

[Mark Schmieder]

They both have fatal flaws, but I have shifted mostly to GDrive because of some nasty things that happened w/ DropBox with regards to lack of transparency (for instance, each person's allocation includes shares by other people, and it is difficult to tell who can delete or change files, plus what will cause horrible spam emails to be sent out over irrelevant changes to directory structure etc.).

 

The two biggest problems with GDrive are the one you mentioned, and how hard it is to delete stuff if you have a bunch of files in a directory (you can't simply delete the directory) and to reclaim the drive space. The issue you mention is the lesser of those two issues, in my view, but might be seen as worse, because the status is confusing and can lead to unnecessary redundant uploads/downloads.

 

Syncing doesn't work well with GDrive, and I don't think it's specific to Macs, even though that's what I run at home. I have also used it at work on Windows and am not convinced it is any better there, but I use it rarely there so I don't know for sure.

 

I do have some suggestions that might help give you better confidence of file status. One is to close the file or directory view and reopen it, as this sometimes causes a refresh of status. Another is to view your GDrive on the web instead of on the desktop; this view for some reason seems more reliable overall (and also gives you a more direct way to reclaim disc space).

 

Sometimes there is a way to directly check file status as well, but definitely I have not found the icon indicators useful -- usually I depend on someone at the other end who tells me the file didn't work or was incomplete (correct size is shown even if partial upload happened as it allocates the space in advance).

 

The lack of transparency and documentation is a problem for both services, but also is the trend these days for paid products; it's the times we live in. I would gladly spend money on a quality professional app that does what it says AND is documented AND has transparency of what is actually happening with the file sharing and communication to people before and after (e.g. DropBox sends unwanted messages FOREVER).

[Reezekeys]

Thanks for the detailed reply. Yes I also have issues with Dropbox and they seem to align with yours â trying to keep track of my space remaining is daunting, and I also wonder about deleting files that might screw with someone else's folder that they may have shared with me. You can definitely twist yourself into knots trying to figure out how much space you're using. I see files on my Google Drive on the web that I don't see on my local GD folder but I'm sure never excluded from syncing. It's such a headache keeping track of all this I just leave it alone & hope for the best whenever I need to use any of these services.

 

Next I might try my iCloud drive, which I tend to forget I have! I gather it lacks the whiz-bang collaborative features that Google & Dropbox has, but I'm paying a fairly reasonable .99/month for 50GB of space and have 20GB free so might as well give it a shot.

[Mighty Motif Max]

That never works on Google Drive. I use it regularly on an iMac, iPad, and a windows laptop. It doesn"t matter the platform. That feature just doesn"t exist right now.

 

Edit: I haven"t used the desktop program. I use the web version and the iOS app (which is horrible).

[Reezekeys]

Glad & sad to know it's not just me then! How long has Google Drive been around? I see some of my files there that are from 2013. Seven years and they can't fix this?

[ElmerJFudd]

I have bagged using any cloud drive software on my macs other than the built in iCloud Drive which is pretty competitive cost wise if not as fully featured as google or drop box. But regardless I find them to be resource hogs, especially on older machines - and google chrome - wow it"s brutal on an i5 with 8gb of RAM. Safari, Firefox, and more recently MS Edge run a lot better than Chrome.

 

Anyway, long story short. I just log into Chrome or Edge (which is based on Chromium) and use google drive upload, download, share etc. there when I need to.

[timwat]

FWIW, I've so far had a good experience with One Drive. Only been on a few months (new employer is full O365) through work.

 

Better experience than either Dropbox or G drive, at least so far.

[Reezekeys]

Ha ha I'm losing it - forgot that I signed up for Onedrive YEARS ago, just checked and my account is still there with 15GB of space. Thanks for reminding me Tim!

[timwat]

There ya go...Microsoft to the rescue! (who would have ever thought we'd be saying that in this context...)

[nursers]

I quite like OneDrive but have also found Dropbox to be excellent - have never had an issue and that includes storing MainStage and Logic Pro projects on there and even opening them from different computers.

[Ulf]

There ya go...Microsoft to the rescue! (who would have ever thought we'd be saying that in this context...)

 

Using more and more of MS stuff these days, they really seem to have stepped up their game.

[Reezekeys]

Dropbox has worked OK for me, it's just so damn confusing with the combination of synced & unsynced files & folders, some shared, some not. I can't complain too much since 1) I got myself into these predicaments, and 2) I haven't gone to a paid tier. I guess I'm getting my money's worth! One very weird thing I noticed is that sometimes uploading to my Dropbox kills uploading to anything else - until I reboot my computer. That's a strange one.

[MoodyBluesKeys]

I used Dropbox (free) since early days as a prime cloud storage for those data files that I really needed to have both off site and available on my Windows, Mac, and IOS devices. Last year when they crippled the free accounts (I only had about 2.5gb) to only 3 computers, it became unusable for me for that purpose. I do still have the free account. There are some features available on the paid accounts, especially the business versions, that are not available on the free accounts.

 

I also used OneDrive (both the business and consumer versions, which are considerably different) for a good while, got 15gigs originally doubled because of a camera, so have 30gb free indefinitely to the consumer version. No longer have the office 365 business with 1tb of storage. Also have 50gb free for live with Box, because of purchase of a HP Windows 8 tablet sometime ago, it came with it. I also have 15gb (I think) available on Google Drive, and it does have clients on Windows, Mac, and IOS; but I don't particularly like their interface, and some stuff I put in it (notably backups from OnSong) claimed to have uploaded OK, but I haven't been able to find them. Regular data files from the computer show up, don't have a clue what happens with the OnSong backups.

 

My final solution has been to pay the 99 cents a month (without tax, even) for 50GB of storage. I currently have it a bit less than half full, some of which is the backups for the 2 iPhones and 3 iPads. It works great on Mac, PC, and IOS platforms. Although I do use a bit of Linux, that is connected with my business, as a way of formatting drives for NAS boxes.

 

Since all the folk staying home and many working from home, I have had a couple of times that it took a good while for OneDrive and iCloud to upload changes to a file. Just that the Internet connection and/or servers were overloaded at the time. Otherwise, both have been extremely satisfactory.

 

Locally, I can also backup/restore files using my QNAP NAS unit, which works well with Windows, Mac, and Linux. Currently, numerous data directories on my primary computer and on my wife's primary computer are automatically synchronized with backup files on the NAS. The NAS can also be reached on the Internet (with the right address and authentication).

[Mark Schmieder]

Reezekeys, I just want to clarify that my perspective was the opposite of yours; I was focused on the other people vs. myself. My concern is that other people's DropBox runs out of space if I shared files to them from mine, and that they can accidentally lose files they think they "own" or delete ones of mine (this actually happened last week, but DropBox is never my main copy so I wasn't angry, just surprised). Also, I never use Google Chrome as I had to rebuild my old Mac from scratch after trying out the pre-beta "alpha" test version as a guinea pig all those years ago.

 

When I investigated the paid tiers of these services a few years ago, there was zero transparency and documentation; it seemed to be more about volume than about control over access and alerts.

[Dr Mike Metlay]

I use both Google Drive and Dropbox. So far I haven't had any issues with Dropbox at all aside from very occasional times when I have to pause and restart sync to "kickstart" a sync that is taking too long. I only installed Backup And Sync a little while ago and I am glaring at it suspiciously as I learn to use it....

[OB Dave]

Thank you for this thread. I'm at the end of my rope with Dropbox. The integration with MacOS Finder is great, but I too am annoyed that they double-dip by counting the contents of a shared folder against the storage quota of everyone who shares it. And I refuse to pay $10/month for their cheapest paid option. I would consider an intermediate option if they offered one. I don't need a full terabyte.

 

Recently I needed to share some recordings with somebody, and after Dropbox blew up we tried Google Drive. I'm generally too skeeved out by Google to install their apps, so I just dragged stuff into the web browser interface. Worked well enough for a one-way transfer.

 

I do pay for extra iCloud storage, mostly to wirelessly back up my iOS devices. I've never used their folder share or know how well it works for people using Windows.

[MoodyBluesKeys]

iCloud Drive works quite well with Windows. It is now my primary cloud storage method for frequently needed files. 50GB for less than a dollar a month, have it on the PCs, the Macs, and the iPhone/iPads. I think they have a client for Android, but I don't have any Android devices. And all you have to install is the Apple iCloud, the iTunes part does not need to be on the computer. I originally got it because I had too many IOS devices to fit in 5GB. I have 30GB on OneDrive, and use it for storing stuff that "may" be needed remotely.

It also doesn't eat the computer alive (with older/slower computer) for 5 minutes on startup like the Dropbox client does.

[jazzpiano88]

Glad & sad to know it's not just me then! How long has Google Drive been around? I see some of my files there that are from 2013. Seven years and they can't fix this?

Well Sergei has been wasting the last seven years of his life thinking that money could buy anti gravity.

It's very satisfying to watch a multi billionaire piss his fortune made from mouse clicks down the drain. I'd sooner put my stuff into a wild badger's ass than a Google Drive.