Google drive/photos help!

[JTB.SDG]

Okay, I have two questions here. I'm getting old and technology is ahead of me now.

I have google drive and recently was forced to switch to the new system of backing up; now I'm confused.

1) For each folder I have, do I want to "Sync to google drive" AND "Back up to google photos"? I don't know which to do; it tells me I probably don't want to do both as it will take up more space but I don't think I have any folders that are either all photos/videos or no photos/videos. Do I lose anything if I just sync everything to the drive and NOT google photos?

2) My google drive is constantly processing. It's being doing this since I switched over; currently processing like 25,000 items. It gets done but then whenever I shut my computer and open it up again it starts processing all over. Taking up internet bandwidth and I'm constantly getting unnerving messages that I'm running out of space on my computer. How can I just make sure everything is backed up but get rid of the incessant processing?

Help me! Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 11889]

Google has long since ditched its motto ("Don't be evil."); I'd suggest ditching Google drive and storing the files locally with an external drive as a backup.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

I would recommend ditching Google Drive and getting a Microsoft 365 Family: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/p/microsoft-365-family/

It not only comes with the Office Products for 6 people in your family but each person you add to your family gets 1 TB of OneDrive storage. It's very convenient. I keep all my photos in the OneDrive -> Pictures directory while I keep Documents in the documents directory. Since it is linked with your Microsoft account, all the settings and files follow you around whenever you log into a new computer since they are stored in the Cloud.

I just set up my daughter's laptop that I bought her for college next year and it was really easy to log in with her Microsoft account and then it immediately associate all her settings to Windows 11 and all the Office apps were registered.

You have to renew it once per year for $99 (unless you're in the military or a vet and can get it for $69/year). I think it's well worth the deal for the Office products as well as all the storage each account receives.

 

[JTB.SDG]

I'm using an apple so I can't necessarily just buy all new stuff and switch over to Microsoft.

Just looking for a few tips maybe? Thanks!

 

[jwithnell]

I've been running off Dropbox for four or five years now and keep the most critical files backed up on an external drive that I take offline between backups. My files get huge in Photoshop and I often need to share folders or grab data when on other computers. The only syncing slowdowns I've noticed involve my phone.

 

[hLuke]

Okay, I have two questions here. I'm getting old and technology is ahead of me now.

I have google drive and recently was forced to switch to the new system of backing up; now I'm confused.

1) For each folder I have, do I want to "Sync to google drive" AND "Back up to google photos"? I don't know which to do; it tells me I probably don't want to do both as it will take up more space but I don't think I have any folders that are either all photos/videos or no photos/videos. Do I lose anything if I just sync everything to the drive and NOT google photos?

2) My google drive is constantly processing. It's being doing this since I switched over; currently processing like 25,000 items. It gets done but then whenever I shut my computer and open it up again it starts processing all over. Taking up internet bandwidth and I'm constantly getting unnerving messages that I'm running out of space on my computer. How can I just make sure everything is backed up but get rid of the incessant processing?

Help me! Thanks.

Hi Jon, creating a new folder on google drive and putting the files in there should work. You can simply copy and paste them into the folder or open the files into the folder. Since you have 25,000 items to sync, it will take time to process. My advice is to go to the google drive website, create a folder and put the items in there. Second, connect your laptop to charger, or if using a pc make sure it stays on, and wait for all the files to process. Once everything is done, all the items should appear in the folder and are able to be opened. The only other way I can think of to avoid the large processing times is to get a hard drive and put everything on there-- but even that will take a fair while to complete.
So, go on the google drive website, copy and paste or open all the files putting them into the designated folder, leave your computer on and wait until it says everything is complete. Once it is complete you can safely shut down your pc and everything will be saved.

 

[hLuke]

you won't loose anything if you sync it all to google drive-- it will all be stored on the drive for you to access as long as you have a google account
and in regards to the lack of space on your computer. it sounds like it would be a good idea to cut and paste everything to google drive folder. or just put them in google drive and delete the files stored on your computer after. you won't lose anything once they are synced onto google drive-- they are yours to download again if you need