October 2021
Google Drive for Desktop is one of the latest offerings from Google, they have sort of merged 3 of their offerings i.e. Drive, Backup & Sync and file stream. I don’t use Drive much but find it useful for sharing “documents” with others. I tend to use MS Onedrive but Google Drive is easier for sharing documents. My wife doesn’t use Onedrive and favours Google Drive because she needs to share documents and videos with other people.
Drive for Desktop doesn’t appear to offer any improvement over Backup & Sync. In my wifes case. She has an Android phone, an Android Tablet and a Windows (10) laptop. The photos she takes on her phone are backed up to Google Photos and other documents (that she wants to share) are backed up to Google Drive, which means she can access the photos and documents using her Android tablet. Unfortunately, it isn’t as easy using her Windows laptop. Her laptop now has Drive for Desktop, which allows her to access documents on Google Drive but she still has to use a browser to share files and to access Google Photos.
I also have an Android phone but use “Microsoft Launcher” so that I have a “Windows Phone” running on Android, this means that my Windows desktop is “integrated” with my phone e.g. I can leave the phone somewhere but still use my (Windows) desktop to see notifications, send and receive texts, make and receive phone calls and can even view photos that are on my phone. Unlike my wife, I use MS Onedrive to backup my photos and docs. I don’t use Google Photos but do use Google Drive for Documents I want to share. I also have an iPad so I can access Onedrive, Google Drive and Google Photos but hey ho!
Drive for Desktop appears to be nothing more than a new name for “backup & Sync”. With regards to Windows, it basically works the same but has some extra options. The notable feature is that Drive for Desktop creates an additional (virtual) “Drive” on your Desktop / Laptop and you can create a shortcut on your “desktop” but using “File Explorer” it will show up as an additional drive, “G” is the default but you can change this. Any files that you put in the “local” Google Drive folder will be copied to the “Cloud based” Google Drive. This is basically the same as Backup & Sync.
With “Backup & Sync”, you could right-click on the taskbar icon and select “Open folder”, “Open Drive on the web” or “Go to Google Photos”. You don’t get these options with “Drive for Desktop”. I don’t see this as an improvement.
With regards to “Windows”, Drive for Desktop doesn’t appear to offer any additional benefits over “Backup & Sync”. If you want to share files, you still have to use a browser to get to “Drive” and “Photos” to do the sharing thing.
Just like “Backup & Sync”, any files you put in the (Local) “Drive Folder” will be copied to the “Cloud” “Drive folder” and these will be available to your Android devices. So you can create a new file on you “Windows” laptop / desktop and save it in the (local) “Google Drive” folder, it will then be available on your Android devices for editing / viewing.
Google have some good documentation for “Drive for Desktop” and it’s worth spending a few minutes getting to know about the new “Drive for Desktop”.
Compare Back & Sync with “Drive for Desktop”
Upcoming changes to Drive Sync
Conclusion.
I haven’t yet found any reason to use “Drive for Desktop” instead of “Backup & Sync” other than the latter is going to be phased out.
It isn’t clear why Drive for Desktop creates a “virtual” local drive “G” when the contents are still found in “C:\Users\username\Google Drive”. Having a “Virtual Drive icon” makes it is easy to see how much storage space you are using.
Note, Google Drive offer 15GB of free storage and this includes anything you have on Google Photos. MS Onedrive only give a paltry 5GB of free storage!