After several years of rumors, Google Drive is finally here.
Google Drive is an upgrade and complete replacement of Google Docs, designed to help you store any of your files and folders online.
In addition to that, you can share your files and folders publicly or private. You can also collaborate with others on such shared files.
Some people say Google Drive is the Dropbox killer, while others say that it has arrived too late to the scene.
To help you decide whether Google Drive is for you, let’s go through the details and full feature list of Google Drive.
Whether or not Google Drive can fight Dropbox or other services successfully, one thing is for sure: Google Drive has entered the online storage market, and it’s going to stick around for a long time.
How to get Google Drive?
If you already have a Google account, or will create a new one, you can get or request Google Drive right away.
To get started, head on over to the Google Drive start page, where you’ll find out if your account is ready to start using Google Drive.
If your account is not yet ready to be activated, Google will notify you via e-mail when it will be.
It seems there is a very short waiting list for many of the users to get Google Drive on their accounts. The Docs services of users are being upgraded to Google Drive randomly, and according to online reports, fast.
Since Google Drive is not being announced as a Beta, like so many other Google services have been in the past, it is expected that hopefully everyone with a Google Account will have access to Google Drive within a few days.
Google Drive – Full Features List
Here are the full specs of everything currently seen and experienced by all Google Drive users.
| Google Drive Features - Announced and confirmed info at launch |  |
|---|---|
| Signup Process | Start the Google Drive activation process |
| Free Storage | 5 GB |
| Max File Size | 10 GB |
| Public API | Yes |
| Integration | Gmail, Google Docs, Several external services (increasing) |
| Desktop Client | Windows, Mac, Linux coming soon |
| Browser Management (file editing, uploading, managing, etc'0 | Yes |
| Mobile Apps | Andoid, iOS/iPhone/iPad coming soon |
| Can share files and folders with others securely via password | Yes |
| Version tracking (can revert back to older version of files) | Yes - unlimited revision history |
| Collaboration (allowed users can discuss, edit and comment on files/folders) | Yes |
| Ability to increase disk space for free (like Dropbox does for referrals) | No |
| Upgrade Prices | +25 GB - $2.49 +100 GB - $4.99 +200 GB - $9.99 +400 GB - $19.99 +1 TB - $49.99 +2 TB - $99.99 +4 TB - $199.99 +8 TB - $399.99 +16 TB - $799.99 |
| Integrated Docs (All the features of Google Docs) | Yes |
| Publicly shared folders feature (no password required) | Yes |
| Link directly to files to share | Yes |
| Link directly to folders to share | Yes |
| File Format supported for uploads | Any/all |
| File Formats supported for Docs/previews/views/editing right inside Google Drive | Microsoft Word (.DOC and .DOCX) Microsoft Excel (.XLS and .XLSX) Microsoft PowerPoint (.PPT and .PPTX) Adobe Portable Document Format (.PDF) Apple Pages (.PAGES) Adobe Illustrator (.AI) Adobe Photoshop (.PSD) Tagged Image File Format (.TIFF) Autodesk AutoCad (.DXF) Scalable Vector Graphics (.SVG) PostScript (.EPS, .PS) TrueType (.TTF) XML Paper Specification (.XPS) Archive file types (.ZIP and .RAR) |
| OCR (text recognition in images, PDF files, etc) | Yes |
| Sync files/folders outside of the Google Drive folder on your computer? | No - you have to move any files/folders you want synced, into the Google Drive folder on your computer |
We’re going to compare Google Drive with Dropbox, Box and other services very soon.
Will You Use Google Drive Over Dropbox and Others?
What do you think of Google Drive? Do you have a Google account?
Will you be using Google Drive and give up your existing online storage/sharing service?
Or will you stick to the competitors, like Dropbox? Do you think Google Drive is not a strong service?
Please share your thoughts and comments below. Thanks for reading!
Google Drive is Here! The Full Specs http://t.co/Htj9RxmA Will you switch over to Google Drive completely?
The most brilliant part is that it’s already synced with your Google account (Documents, files etc) which makes the transition quite easy.
Good one, I’m already using it next product, Google Drive!
Can somebody else please comment and let me know if this is happening to them as well? This may be a problem with my web browser because I’ve had this happen previously. Appreciate it.