Google Drive

Pros

I have been using Google drive for almost a decade. This price of 2 tera of storage is beyond inconceivable low - and can't be matched by the competition. My entire business and personal life is stored in the Google Drive Cloud. The best feature is that I am not forced to sync the cloud with my local device as most all other competitors force you to do. The ability to access my GD from my phones and tablets allows me to take my entire life wherever I go. The fact that you can choose any folders and files you desire from anywhere they are located on your local machine is another incredible benefit most of the competitors do not offer. The best feature is how flawless the backup and sync app works with Windows 10 pro, and how easy it is to "switch to a new computer" and still keep all your files without having it sync them all over again from the new computer device---you just simply need to make it "aware" you have a new device and do some basic easy configuration steps---but it works out great as long as you do things correctly. I feel that Google is the safest of all the cloud storage choices since Google runs the world, so my security is first and foremost in their minds and I have complete faith in that.

Cons

The worst and I mean the worst thing about GD is that backup and sync conflicts with Microsoft OneDrive and the 2 cannot run at the same time. This is due to a "defect" in GD that it creates a "temp download folder" in all the folders set to be synced, and this "folder" causes OneDrive to malfunction and stop working. Therefore, I am forced to only use GD when I go to sleep as I must have MS OneDrive working because it has to be in order for me to use my MS applications. It too me dozens of hours of technical troubleshooting and technical support assistance to finally have learned of this in the hardest way that could be possible to learn such a thing. This was a total nightmare for me at the time as this nonsensical "temp folder" caused all my troubles but dozens of hours of tech support cals and remote sessions were needed before an angelkic tech explained to me what the problem was being caused from. The fact that I can't have GD running while I am working all the day is the worst thing possible there could be, but I am stuck between a rock and a hard place on this as MS OneDrive supersedes GD when it comes to 1st priority rights of which app gets to be enabled throughout the day.

Pros

Everything about Google Drive is pretty amazing! I'm a huge advocate of this application. It can truly revolutionize the way your business is organized and the way operations are handled. The depth of what can be accomplished with Google Drive is second to none in my opinion. It doesn't hurt that 90% of the functionality is offered free with a standard gmail account. There are a few options that require a business gmail account but those are functions I have rarely required.

I literally took 2 different companies, each with 5 separate retail locations, and took all of their old antiquated paper form systems, contact management, accounting, etc. and created a cloud based system with Google drive. This allowed employees from all 5 stores access or restricted access to any type of document at any time, all at the same time. The amount of time, money, and energy saved not to mention the efficiency of operation, was immeasurable. It was like moving a company from the dark ages into a modern technological society. There were concerns that older less tech savvy team members would not adjust well to the new workflow but those concerns were put to rest after they received continuous training. Any additional training required to get team members up to speed was more than worth it because the entire operation was now working together seamlessly with full access to information at any time.

It certainly took time to setup new systems, produce new SOP's but it was well worth it!

Cons

Once you spend time in the software you understand how intuitively and simply it has been designed. There is nothing I don't like about this app. It is life changing.

Pros

I recently decided to buy a chromebook, and that computer has very little space for documents and photos. Documents and photos are my bread and butter as an artist, and there is no such thing as deleting anything, because I am not sure when or if I will need that document or photo in the future. For a very cheap subscription, I was able to get 100GB of drive space and it has allowed me to have no issues using my specialized lap top, saving me hundreds of dollars. Secondly what I like most about the software is the ability to save documents in different formats and to download them in different formats. I am able to move from different forms to different documents effortlessly and without issue. When you are self-employed, it is important to both be able to save those documents in many forms, and well has never deleting them.
Thirdly, I love that my items will allows be in Google Drive even if my computer breaks. The safety in knowing that my documents and pictures are safe and sound for the first time is amazing. I have lost so many important items through different computers breaking, and I know that no matter what happens to my current computer, the important items that I'm creating will not disappear. Finally, I really love using all of the extensions that google drive allow you to have. I think that the people who create those extensions are very creative. I even create invoices in my Google Drive and can send them out and track them through the free software, perfect!

Cons

I honestly don't have a ton of complaints about Google Drive itself. I think that the ease of sending documents to non-gmail users could be better, but I feel that that is more of a Google Doc specific software issue than a drive issue. I think that if they could improve a bit of the folder making / storing / organizing navigation that would help me a lot . I think that given how large of space they allow you to have, keeping organized can be really difficult. The search function is extremely important to me given how many files I have, but that only works out for me if I remember the name or subject I am looking for. The search function is limited especially if I am looking for photos. Being able to stay organized and visually see my files without a search is important to me, the more files you have, the more options you will need with how you view your layout. I think that the drive could be improved a lot if they increased layout options and photo find searches. In general though these are low-stress issues to me as a user, and I would still recommend this drive over the others.

Pros

I like most that you can use Google drive for file saving and sharing from any location in US and internationally. Our business has multiple locations in US and internationally. I work in finance and part of finance team work from multiple international offices. My international team members can save files in the same Google drive regardless of location. It is easy to share and see files immediately.

I can also create separate groups and share files only within those groups. I can include all or only designated individuals in each of the group. Managing access is very easy and helps confidentiality.

I also like that it is very easy to share files outside of organization. It is very simple to add email address of outside party and give it access to the folder. As a result, no additional work is required.

All our files are backed-up on Google drive. I love it. Sometimes, laptop can get damaged, especially during business trips, but I can still access all my files on new desktop without additional work or efford.

I also like that it is very easy to access files from home or during business trips. I don't need to call server or establish a connection to the server. I simply login into my Google email and access Google drive with all files. This saves time.

Cons

I love Google drive and I believe it is essential for our international business. The only one area of improvement that I would recommend is to make replication to hard drive easier and more simultaneous. When we try to replicate automatically, sometimes, we see conflicting versions and replication is not real time. So, it is better to see files on Google drive (Internet), rather than replica on hard drive. This is not a big deal as I can always work online on Google drive and download my files to Google drive myself.

Pros

What did we do before products like Drive? We rummaged for files on our desktop, sent a thousand emails to colleagues looking for information, and lost documents in a shuffle of unorganized madness.

Drive makes it easy to store and collaborate on files within your organization and outside of it.

- The "search" feture within Drive is accurate and useful, easily and accurately identifying the content I'm looking for. As long as you use clear, identifiable titles on the items in your Drive, you will find what you're looking for in less than 5 seconds. No rummaging around on your hard drive or desktop for files, no emails back and forth to other departments to look for something.

- If I need to share a Doc or a Sheet with a client for approval or collaboration, I can easily identify what level of permission I am offering them: editing or viewing. It keeps me from accidentally letting someone edit a document who shouldn't have access to it.

- It is very reliable. I never experience glitching or accidentally losing content due to software malfunction (an issue I've had with competitive software).

- The layout of the applications within Drive (Sheets, Docs, etc.) are intuitive and easy to navigate. I feel confident even my mostly computer illiterate 68 year old mother could handle navigating Drive and utilizing it well.

- It has a clean, modern appearance that helps me feel less stressed when I'm looking for files.

- The color scheme is pleasant.

Cons

Even the most brilliant products have ways they can improve.

1. While Drive offers an easy launch pad into other applications like Sheets and Docs, there is not an easy way to navigate back to Drive once you're in a spreadsheet or a document.

The link in the top left corner will take you back to the Sheets homepage, but not to Google Drive. For that, you have to do a few extra clicks or utilize a bookmark.

In our company, we constantly hop back and forth between Sheets and Docs, so I wish there was an easier way to go back to the parent Drive page.

2. The second area for possible improvement is the permissions section. When I want to share a script with a client outisde of our organization for them to make edits to, I have to make 6 clicks. For an action that I frequently do, that's a lot.

There are less clicks required if you're sharing to someone within your organization, but I find that useless as each member on our team already has access to all of our company files and doesn't need a special link for sharing purposes.