Collaborative cloud storage
Google Drive
Last updated:
Nov 15, 2024
Provided by
Google LLC
Life Admin Area
Reducing admin time
Google Drive lets you store files online, freeing up your computer's hard drive and giving you the peace of mind that your files are backed up, even if your hard drive fails. What separates Google Drive from its competitor cloud storage solutions is its intuitive way of enabling collaboration and file sharing (while also offering security). You may not immediately think about sharing your files, but when it comes to operating as a household or collaborating with friends and family on travel, get-togethers, and other projects, Google Drive's help cut down on the back and forth.
Everybody has storage needs. From digitized paper documents to trip plans you've created online, you have to store files somewhere. The danger with a computer or an external hard drive is that the device can fail, you have to manually remember to backup, and you can't access files from different devices. The big advantage with cloud storage, like Google Drive, is that you have ready access and a high level of reliability.
But what makes Google Drive even more powerful is all of its collaborative features, enabling you to easily control who has access to what folders and files. Google Drive is also the basis for Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides, a set of document types that multiple people can edit simultaneously.
When people talk about the cloud, they mean that your files are stored (securely) on the Internet. Technically, this means they are stored on mulitple, intentionally redundant, servers located in server farms all over the world, managed by companies like Google, Amazon, etc.
Online tools that let you manage your files in a folder structure and control access by other people. Prominent examples include Google Drive, iCloud Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Dropbox.
When docs or to-do lists live on the internet, multiple people can simultaneously contribute and change them, living in one place with one dedicated link that you can go back to. Digital collaboration tools also let you determine who can access certain items and in which ways.
Google Drive thrives as a cloud storage provider because it's available to all operating systems and document types, even while offering its own. Then, it's built into the entire Google experience, so if you use Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Photos, it's a very streamlined experience. Because Google Docs and Sheets have become the most commonly used collaborative documentation tools online (more than Microsoft's equivalent tools), you can more easily collaborate in Google Drive than nearly any of its competitors. That gives it a leg up when it comes to facilitating your life admin.
While Google Drive's pricing is on par with Apple and Microsoft, its 100 GB and 200 GB options are attractive for the average household's size needs and costs, while incentivizing you to keep your storage clean.
There are a few key details the make Google Drive much more friendly to life admin compared to other offerings.
Apple's iCloud feature set provides storage, password management, notes, reminders, and other features built into your Apple account. If you're a complete devotee to Apple, it can be a major convenience to use their subscription services, but the downside is cross-platform collaboration with non-Apple users.
Also reviewed on Wayshaping ->Microsoft, like its competitors offers its own collaborative software, from OneDrive for storage to Office 360 for shared documents to Microsoft To-Dos for basic tasks. While Microsoft is powerful, there's a higher barrier for collaborators to get access to Microsoft's software relative to other platforms.
Also reviewed on Wayshaping ->Dropbox is a highly collaborative platform that pioneered shared cloud storage. If you don't use Google, Apple, or Microsoft, Dropbox might be a great alternative, but if you do, then using Dropbox can just complicate the intuitiveness of online storage and collaboration.
Also reviewed on Wayshaping ->