Google officially launched Drive on Tuesday featuring 5GB free online storage and the ability to buy more storage such as 25GB for $2.50 per month ($30 per year) up to a maximum 16TB for $800 per month. Similar to Dropbox, Google Drive installs a folder on your Mac or Windows PC desktop (a Google representative told PCWorld a Linux version is in the works, too). Then you just drag-and-drop files into the new folder and the contents automatically sync to the cloud as well as any other computers with Drive installed. Overall, Drive is a pretty good service and offers more free storage than the 2GB you get from Dropbox, but less than the free 7GB Microsoft offers with SkyDrive.
Here's a look at some of the best and worst highlights of Google Drive.
Confusing
Good Integration
Google Drive doesn't download copies of your files that are saved online in Google's Docs formats. Instead, you get a folder full of icons that are links to open the documents in your browser. The good news, however, is that if your computer is set-up to access Docs offline using Google Chrome, you can open these files in just one click via the Drive folder on your desktop. If you can't get offline Docs to work with Drive, try restarting your browser.
Say, for example, you had a Google Docs "file" on your desktop called "Test.gdoc." If you happen to be offline, you can click on "Test.gdoc" and open up a read-only version of the document in your browser. Try using a Chrome extension such as Write Space if you need to edit a Google Doc offline.
Google Plus now has an option to share images from Google Drive and in my tests the new feature was very easy to use. The search giant also says that Gmail integration is coming soon. In the meantime, you can attach non-Google Docs files from the Drive folder on your desktop.
Almost No Mobile Support
Great Search Capabilities
Drive had no problem identifying both landmarks in the photos, and the files did not have any metadata such as location or handy titles to give the search engine any hints. But there were some shortcomings. A search for "Queensboro Bridge," for example, resulted in no results even though my shot of the Chrysler Building clearly showed the well-known bridge in the background. Another quirk was that when I searched for "Manhattan" or "New York City," none of my images appeared in the results, but a search for "New York" brought up all of my test images.
Even though Drive's image recognition did a good job with landmarks and famous people, it failed to find other family photos I had uploaded when using generic searches such as "dog" and "baby."
Google says its image recognition technology is still in its early stages and should improve over time.
If you want to give Google Drive a try, you can get started at drive.google.com/start. Drive is currently being rolled out to all users, so check back if the new service is not available for your account yet.
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