Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, and Google Drive - How to Synchronize Your Data Across All Devices

[@jeromerosen2592]

Just bumped into your KZbin site Frank and I just want to say your videos (I've watched most of the PC related ones) are some of the most thorough and useful I've ever encountered. You explain everything in laymen English so well. I was in the computer business for over 40 years. Keep up this wonderful service- I'll be referring your site as often as possible.

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank you so much!

[@AirEngineResearch]

This is the first time that I have been able to follow how to synchronize my computer to the online drive, most of the time they go through so fast and don’t show the steps clear enough to be able to understand and actually do the synchronization steps as you are showing us. I have subscribed and I appreciate the time you’ve taken to go through it in detail.

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank you!

[@plantationshuttersmandurah]

I need to watch this later

[@grahamcann843]

Thanks. Great explanation!

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank you!

[@TranscendentII]

Great video, this is the only thing that helped me synchronize data across all my devices with google drive with ease. Other methods were unnecessarily complicated.

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank you!

[@atlanticoak978]

You saved me a great deal of time learning how to do this. Thank you!

[@frankwestphal8532]

I'm glad I could help, and thank you for watching. Multi-way synchronization with Google drive is super useful!

[@reppinbkny975]

​@@frankwestphal8532 Is this tbe same process I would use to restore lost data on dri e for desktop? The icon in my desktop tray disappeared as well. I want to get the drives back. I had 4 for for different email accounts on my laptop windows 11. All my downliads exist and synched on my android phone and galaxy tablet but are no longer on my pc. I did not delete them. They disappeared during the recent google drive debacle. Please advise if you can.

[@ClintEastw0od]

Fantastic tutorial Frank. Very clear explanation and demonstration. Thank you.

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank you!

[@GraceandKnowledge]

Thanks. I just bought a sweet HP win 11, couldn't figure out how to access my G drive. Your video is clear and understandable.

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank you for watching!

[@thetexastroubadour]

The cream always comes to the top! Very helpful tutorial and has clarified many issues for me - thank you. Now all I need to know is why the drive app synchs 100% but the drive browser version still has old documents sitting in old folders. Best wishes, Geoff

[@frankwestphal8532]

I think this is becasue the older files in the google drive online storage (browser version) were uploaded before the google drive file sync app was installed and configured. Most online storage will error on the side of having more data, than less data. You can clean that old stuff up directly from the online storage version (browser) if you want.

[@FabulousWanderers]

Fantastic, we're a bit late to the party finding your channel, just wanted to thank you for providing the great content 🌟👍❤

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank for you watching! I'm glad it is helpful.

[@upscmotivation1146]

ohh thnku so much. I was looking for the solution from 2 days. U did a great job

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank you!

[@garyaram1808]

Thank you for very clearly and precisely explaining how this all works. I've been having nothing but headaches with this since I got rid of dropbox and moved to google drive. I'm on windows 10 pro and anytime drive is mirroring it uses almost all memory. It takes almost an hour to get on the computer to be able to shut off sync in order to just use computer. If you have any videos that deal with this I'm all ears. or any suggestions. Thank you again. I will use your video to help back check my set up to make sure I didn't do anything stupid.

[@frankwestphal8532]

Hi, and thank you for watching. I just did a couple quick tests to see how much RAM (random access memory) Google Drive uses while syncing. It was actually very low... about 50MB total, even while syncing. Do you have a solid state drive (SSD), or a mechanical hard drive in your computer? If you have a mechanical hard drive that could explain the slowness of the computer while Google Drive is syncing because the disk is doing a lot or reads, or writes, or both. Here's a quick test you can do to find out: Type in "task manager" in the search/run box, run task manager, and look at the processes tab. There is a column for disk usage. Now, with task manager open, sync a large file or group of files by putting them in your Google Drive folder. Then look at that disk usage. I'm only guessing here, but it probably spikes and if that disk usage is getting in the 70-80% range or more, that's probably the bottle neck slowing down the operating system responsiveness. You can also watch your Google Drive RAM usage here and see if that's spiking for some reason. But RAM shouldn't be spiking, because once the sync is queued up, it's the disk and the network doing all the work. And in task manger you can also look at your network usage while that test sync is happening. That could also be the issue if what you're doing on your computer needs the network, and you have low bandwidth available. In my test that I just did, the Google Drive sync was using about 10Mbps. I don't where you live, but on rural ISP networks 10Mbps is very often the entire available network bandwidth. You can run a speed test by typing "speed test" into a google search, then run it. If you do this test and see your disk usage spike, and you have a mechanical hard drive, that is most likely the bottleneck. An SSD will solve it. Crucial MX series and Samsung EVO or Pro SSDs are VERY fast and reliable, and they are what I use, and recommend. But don't rule out the network unless you have above 25 or 30 Mbps results in your speed test. I hope this helps!

[@geoffrogers276]

Thanks Frank, I had no problems the first times I setup Google Drive between computers in my life but got stumped on last one, partly die to old age and partly due to being still unfamilar with W11. I watched your video very carefully and finally got it to go, Great style of video, thanks again.

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank you for watching! I'm making more computer tutorial videos right now.

[@hassanbathish9044]

Thank you Frank for your good explanation. I use my google drive as a backup for my laptop and recently purchased a new Laptop and copied all my folders from my old laptop to the new one through an external drive. How to sync my new laptop with my google drive without duplicating the folders on my Google Drive.

[@frankwestphal8532]

Hi, and thank you for watching. With regards to your question, what I would do is set up the google drive file sync app exactly like I do in the video, and all of your data in your google drive online storage will be automatically synchronized with your local google drive folder. Technically, if you already have your data in google drive online, there’s no need to do a manual copy/paste to and from an external drive, because once you set up the google drive file sync app on the new computer (exactly like I did in the video… because you want to “mirror” the data, not “stream” the data), a copy of all your data in google drive online storage will be downloaded to that local google drive file sync app folder. But there’s also no harm done in doing a manual copy/paste… you just end up with 2 copies of the data, and they are most likely in 2 separate locations on your local hard drive. One location would be wherever you copied the data from the external drive to, and the other location would be the local google drive folder that is assigned to be synchronized with google drive online. What I recommend doing for future management of your local data is to build out your entire folder structure WITHIN the google drive folder that you’ve assigned to be synchronized on your local computer via the google drive file sync app. This makes it so that every time you get a new computer, or if you have multiple computers, all you have to do is install the google drive file sync app, define the target folder on your local system drive, and set google drive file sync app to “mirror data”. It will automatically download all of your folders and data to the new computer. The folder and file structure will be identical on every computer you do this on, and they will all synchronize automatically. It’s powerful stuff because you really don’t have to manage data between multiple computers anymore. And in addition to that, if you keep all of your data in google drive online, any device that you install the file sync app on, will have the exact same data. For google drive file sync app for Android and iOS, there is no option to “mirror” the data because for many people that would immediately consume all of the phone’s storage, but you can still “stream” (which just means that it’s reading a copy from google servers), and that means you always have access to your data on your phone as well, no matter where you are, unless you don’t have an internet connection to the phone.

[@parthraval9382]

Thanks man. I wanted to sync my Obsidian vault to G-drive instead of Onedrive because of more storage, your video helped me alot.

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank you for watching, and I'm glad it was useful!

[@johnbilbury4094]

Thank you for the advice of not opening up emails you don't know.

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank you for watching. And thank for you acknowledging this. When it comes to IT security, one of the fundamental rules is: Implicit deny Explicit allow To elaborate on the definition of that phrase, it means that all unsolicited communication attempts are denied, by default. Anything that gets through does so only because it has been specifically (explicitly) allowed. This can take the form of something as simple as not an opening an email from an unknown source, or/and (there is an and here because good security is also always layered), it can be at the firewall level where the attempts at unsolicited communications are simply discarded by the firewall immediately and permanently. The rule is the same throughout. Nothing gets through, unless it has been specifically allowed. Anyone who follows this will be a very difficult target for malicious actors because our awareness will cost them too much time and effort for it to be worthwhile to them.

[@PersonalKings]

amazing video, you just cleared my all doubts and questions

[@sunmoonstarrays]

Very well articulated thank you 💜

[@successfullydepressed]

Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks Frank!

[@manojn3598]

Super helpful Frank. Detailed video and good pace as well. Thank you!

[@dchungmanson]

You are the best ! I am glad I found you and picked up so much from your videos Thanks a lot

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank you for watching, and thanks for the encouragement! I have more quality videos coming.

[@soren9955]

Thanks Frank! Gonna set it up just like you said! By the way: You said for drag&drop actions you like to display two windows next to each other. Try to use "Windowskey + Left" and "Windowskey + Right" thats a very handy shortcut! Of course you might already have known that ;)

[@uccoskun]

This is very clear explanation. Great Example. What about using a computer right under the "my drive" in the drive home page. What is the diffirence?

[@frankwestphal8532]

Hello and great question. The difference is that if you sync with "my drive" anything in the dedicated Google Drive local folder, on ANY computer, will sync to the single location of "my drive" within Google Drive Application and Storage online. If you set up the file sync app, and sync to a specific computer, which will become an option when you're setting up the file sync app, then you'll have different datasets of file sync, going to their respective computers, in Google Drive online application and storage. My experience, is that the VAST majority of people, want the same dataset, across all their computers/devices. And for this reason, I personally always set up the file sync app to "my drive", not "My laptop" or "My desktop" or whatever other label you might have the option for. In the end, all of the data that's in the designated local google drive folder on any computer that is using the file sync app, will be synced with google drive online storage and application. But it'll just be spread into 2 or more folders within google drive online application and storage, if you separate, based on computer. I just point the file sync app to "my drive" on all my computers and then point the location to sync to, the "Google Drive" local folder that I've shown how to create in this video, and I see the exact same data on all my devices.

[@tonamiller8298]

Thank you so much. I will have to watch this a few more times to get all the steps. What i am needing is for my pc and laptop to use the same folder. Can I do this with the sync? I do a whole lot of graphics and need both computers to update the same folder.

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank you for watching. And yes! This is the beauty of multi way synchronization. Just do the exact same steps for both computers and everything in your google drive folder on both computers will be identical, and constantly sync between the two computers. And that exact same data will also be in your google drive ONLINE storage as well. You can even set it up on your phone to see the exact same data there too, if you want. Multi-way synchronization.... you always see the same data, no matter how are you are accessing it.

[@NaomiHammeke]

Hi Frank, very useful video. Thanks. I'd like to know if you have any clues on why "My Drive - Google Drive" won't update "storage used" after I delete photos from "Photos - Google Photos". Maybe you've already done a KZbin to address this issue. I just ran into the problem. Any help would be appreciated. You speak in easy to understand terms and what you show on your video is helpful. Thanks!

[@frankwestphal8532]

Hi, and thank you for watching! I think what's happening in your case is that when google photos are moved to the trash, they are not actually deleted for 60 days. So, this is counting against your google drive available storage. However, you can manually empty the trash and google drive will update with the correct available storage in a day, or sooner. To do this, go to: google photos > trash > empty trash. That should get it done but if not let me know with any more details you have, and I'll figure it out.

[@user-KellzDesignsStore]

Great info very easy to install. Now I have one question. I do POD. And I deal with another of files and folders. And use different apps. This method synced info together to sever etc. How do I pull info from onedrive file to a digital app to be able use and edit?

[@frankwestphal8532]

Hi. Thank you for watching, and for this question. The actual files in Google Drive online storage, or OneDrive online storage, are exactly the same as if they were on your local computer. And when you set up synchronization between the online storage application and the local synchronization app, like I show in the video, the files actually are on your computer because they are being mirrored in both locations at the same time. So, there is no such thing as a "OneDrive file" or Google Drive file". Those names are just describing WHERE the files are, not what TYPE of files they are, or how they can be used. And the easiest way to use any TYPE of file in Google Drive or OneDrive is to set up synchronization, exactly like I show in this video, and then open and edit those files directly on your local computer, like you would do for any other files. The terminology with Google Drive and OneDrive gets tricky because those names are actually describing two very different things. But the key is to use them TOGETHER, because then you can do exactly what you're asking about... which is open and edit those files on your computer any way you want exactly like you would for any other files on your computer, without having to download or upload files constantly, because that's all being done automatically once you set synchronization up. I hope this info helps.

[@frankwestphal8532]

I also have a OneDrive tutorial video that may help you understand how to use OneDrive and Google Drive better. Both OneDrive and Google Drive basically do the same thing. They're just two different companies versions of the same concept. Here is that video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIKWnJxpat6HmMU

[@jrwtmndm]

thanks for the tutorial. can we sync only the google drive and android without google drive for desktop?

[@frankwestphal8532]

Hi, and sorry for the delay. Yes you can. It supports any combination of phone/desktop/laptop/web app. Just install the app on your phone and you can upload from your phone or any other computer when you log in to the web app.

[@surajkumarbehera]

I have a big pdf file of 300mb, If I add it to drive, and highlight it, will the highlights be synchronised across device? Will it be downloaded again and again?

[@frankwestphal8532]

Hi, I'm answering questions for comments that I missed so sorry for the delay. I'm not sure if you'll be able to edit the .pdf in google drive online. I would guess not, because editing is typically a paid feature of .pdf apps. However, if you highlight it on your local computer, and then upload it, yes the highlights will be there. The file that is uploaded will be exactly the same as the one on your computer, the moment you same it on your local computer. Once it is uploaded, you can then share it out and have it be downloaded again and again with the highlights. And the 300MB size is no problem whatsoever.

[@rajuppi]

Very nice video. Impressed !!! and subscribed as well

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank you!

[@user-KellzDesignsStore]

Or since one drive and google are synced the google folder would be the option to pull file from?

[@frankwestphal8532]

Hi. Thanks for watching. It really comes down to personal preference on this one because both Google Drive and OneDrive basically do the same thing... they're just two different companies versions of the same concept. And they will both run without issues, at the same time, on the same computer. I actually really like using both OneDrive and Google Drive (synced up on both like I describe in this video and in my OneDrive video) at the same time, because I can store business related files with OneDrive and keep my personal files separate in Google Drive. Using them both is a really nice way to completely separate business and personal, while still having access to both data sets at any time, and anywhere!

[@pmacgowan]

I have setup my GD on my mac and PC, It used to sync between Mac/PC/Internet, but I have to rebuild my PC , I reinstalled GD but now the GD on my mac and the PC appear as different "computers" and are not syncing because they appear to have their own version of the drive. If I modify a file on the Mac it copies to the cloud but does not replicate to the PC and vice versa. Both machines are using the same acct but it cannot do the replication from PC->Mac and Mac->PC. Where have I gone wrong ?

[@frankwestphal8532]

Hi. I know what you're describing here. They added the option a couple years back to sync separate computers to their own respective GD online folders, which in my opinion defeats the purpose of file sync across all devices, which is how it's most useful, right?... hahaha. The way to resolve this is to first go into google drive online app, and consolidate any/all files/folders that are under both "computers" and move them to "my drive" if they aren't already there. That gets them all in the central location of "my drive". Then, on each of you computers, create a single google drive folder (single folder called "google drive" on each computer) if you do not have them already. Because you're doing a PC and a Mac, creating the folders on the root of each drive, would be easy to remember and locate/use. Next, on each of your computers open "preferences" in the google drive file sync app and what you will mostly likely see is that you're currently syncing to "my laptop" or "my PC" instead of "my drive". Click on "my drive" and then it's going to ask you what local folder you want to sync. Point it to the folder you created called google drive. And choose the "mirror" option (as long as you have enough disk space on each computer to store whatever is in your "my drive" in the online version of GD). Do this on both computers. Then both computers will be syncing a single folder on each computer, both of which will also sync with "my drive" in google drive online. The key thing here is that your files are in "my drive" online, and you choose the "my drive" option in "preferences" in the GD installed file sync app. That's how you get the app pointed to the same online storage location. Lastly, do a test sync of a single random file to make sure both google drive folders that you created on each computer, have the exact same data in them, and then verify that in the online GD "my drive" as well. If that sync works, what should simultaneously be happening, is that everything in "my drive" online, should be showing up in both individual google drive folders on both computers. At that point you should be fully synced with a single online storage location, instead of a separate one for each computer.

[@pmacgowan]

@@frankwestphal8532 Thanks for the lengthy reply. Maybe you need to do anther video to explain it. Because I still cannot get it to work after trying your suggestion 😞 You mention about choosing "MyDrive", the problem is that I cannot see how to change this because the field is display only in the popup

[@devonlovings7979]

Great video Frank. So I have an external hard drive that has all my projects on it. When I travel I take it with me so I can work on the road. Would the best option be to mirror the entire hard to google drive in case the hard drive gets damaged in travel? Basically I unplug the drive from my desktop and plug it into my laptop when on the road. I would like the files to sync up whenever I make changes to the hard drive or if I open and edit them on Google Drive. Not sure how this works with the hard drive changing between computers.

[@frankwestphal8532]

Hi, and thank you. Ok, so I understand exactly what you are saying. Using an external USB drive to store data on, and keeping it with you is relatively common, but very risky. These types of drives always eventually fail when being transported and plugged in and out long enough. I've seen it first hand many times. My first recommendation is that if you have enough space on your system drive, copy your data on to that, and then set up google drive file sync app, to mirror it on google drive online. Then, if you set google drive file sync app on one or more different computers, the data will be mirrored there too. This removes the variable of a vulnerable external drive, and gets the data in two locations at any given time. Now, if you don't have enough space on your system drive in the laptop, you CAN mirror the external drive using google drive file sync app. The option is under: preferences>add folder>(choose external drive). Obviously it won't sync when that drive is unplugged, but it will get your data in two different locations, so the risk of data loss will be much lower, And actually, if you are able to move the external drive's data on to your system drive, that external USB drive is perfect for backups. That is what I recommend, and what i do myself... Data mirrored on all computers' system drives using google drive file sync app, then a backup of files, and a system image, on an external USB drive. With that combo, you have extremely high restore granularity, up to and including the entire operating system,, and essentially zero risk of data loss. If you do decide to set up backup on that USB drive instead of using at as a primary storage device, here's how to do it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fWSUqJ1orM6cbZY

[@devonlovings7979]

@@frankwestphal8532 So, it looks like i don't have enough space on my system to store files there, perhaps that will be my next move. My other questions would be the following if you'd be so kind: 1) Would I use mirror or stream 2) If I'm traveling, would I need my home computer to be on to access files 3) I'm worried sometimes that I may not have the fastest internet speed where I travel so not sure what method would be best for that.

[@frankwestphal8532]

​@@devonlovings7979 1) Would I use mirror or stream A: If you have the space on the system drive, use mirrored. This is called hybrid, because you have online access to your files if needed, but they also exist locally so you get essentially zero latency when working with your files. If you work with them extensively, the latency from having to read/write from/to a remote server adds up and becomes pretty annoying. 2) If I'm traveling, would I need my home computer to be on to access files A: No. Once they are synced with google drive online, the latest available copy is the master at any given time. And the beauty of this is that if you're modifying your files on the road, the moment you turn your home computer on, those files are going to sync and you can pick right where you left off , on your home computer. It's seamless. I do exactly this all the time. 3) I'm worried sometimes that I may not have the fastest internet speed where I travel so not sure what method would be best for that. A: Mirrored. This eliminates the read of the entire file from the server. Only the changes to the files are read/synced and it requires very little data to do this. In addition, the files exist locally as well, so even if you have zero internet connection, you can still work on them, and the moment you connect again, they will automatically sync. NOTE: The downside to mirroring is that it requires more system drive disk space (local disk space). But SSDs are so cheap now it's highly worth it to just get a large SSD and if you have to, reinstall the OS on the new disk. Once this set up, everything is seamlessly synced from that point on, not to mention lightening fast startup and use of the computer and synced files. And lastly, if you do have to reinstall the OS, it's easy, free, and super fast when it's written to an SSD. I show exactly how to do it here. I labeled it as switching from 10 to 11, but it's a clean install, not an upgrade, so it's the same as installing a brand new factory OS: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hWaWq32Ce9mjjsk Here's what's covered in that video: 1. Preparing what you will need 6:56 2. Backup up your user data (files) and software license keys 7:51 3. Creating a bootable USB drive with Windows 11 on it 13:40 4. Updating the system BIOS/firmware 19:34 System BIOS/firmware UEFI boot mode settings 26:22 5. Installing a new Solid State Drive 23:17 6. Installing and activating Windows 11 27:26 7. Restoring your user data to the new Windows 11 system 31:11 And if you're running Win 10, I show a clean install of that in this video as well (same process, just a different OS): kzbin.info/www/bejne/mp-XY5xuiJafhMU

[@stevegbrough]

Thanks

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank you!

[@riwajpandey1574]

And is it possible to sync local files between two devices using same account? Like you have showed how a change in one local computer can change or mirror the activity done google drive, but is it possible to sync or mirror that folder of one local computer to another local computer ?

[@frankwestphal8532]

Yes. 100%. Any files or folders that you put in the Google Drive folder, will be synchronized with google servers. Then, if you install google drive on another device, and sign in with the same user account, those files will get mirrored to that device as well. And, you can do this on any number of devices. For example, I always have my files mirrored using google drive and one drive, between my desktop, laptop, and phone. It is the same user account that is used to sign in, and synchronize. I show how to create the Google Drive folder, and how to point the google drive file sync app to use that folder as the synchronization location, in the video. This means that anything you put in that folder will be synced across all your devices that are signed with the same user account. Here's the part of the video that covers that: 06:56 installing and setting up Google Drive file sync app

[@daniellunabarcelo5847]

Great video, excellent explanation, thank you very much for the tutorial!! Cheers!

[@frankwestphal8532]

Glad it was helpful!

[@lightbox617]

For reasons or copyright and privacy and storage space, I do not want to synch anything except among my chromebooks and I want my images to go from my hard drive to google Drive. I use google drive to store raw and edited images. It just stopped working. It just won't start uploads or even let me create a new folder. My drives are associated with two email accounts; one personal and one for my not for profit arts 501c3. At the moment, I'm paying for 4 Tb that I can't use to ad storage. Not a happy user. can I reinstall Chrome without deleting my current copies of Chrome?

[@frankwestphal8532]

Hi. Lots to unpack here. I need more info to give any helpful advice. So here are some questions: 1. Do you ONLY have chromebooks, or do you also have a windows platform? 2. Are you currently using both the google drive file sync app, and google drive online storage app together, or just one of them?

[@user-pj6wq6fm4m]

Hi, your video is very helpful. But in my case, it cants able to sync. although it shows that it already sync. Please help me

[@frankwestphal8532]

Hi, is it a new installation of google drive or an older one? If it is older one, copy any google drive data on your computer to a separate folder for temporary storage. Then uninstall google drive. Then it's usually a good idea to run a malware scan. I use "malwarebytes free", and it's really good. Run that and make sure you don't have malware that's messing up the functionality of the computer. Sometimes malware uses proxy servers, and those can mess up things like sync. Then restart after malware scan, and reinstall google drive. Sync should work then. Also, for local data to/from cloud sync, make sure you choose the mirror option when setting up google drive file sync application for the first time. If you want to send some screenshots my email is [e-mail].

[@FreedomEl]

Awesome tutorial, thanks!

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank you!

[@annhobson1944]

thank you this video was helpful but My drive has stopped syncing to my tablet and phone please help

[@frankwestphal8532]

I've had this happen in the past becasue the google drive file sync application became corrupt. There could be a number of reasons for this, but the easy way to fix it is to completely uninstall the file sync app, restart the computer, and then reinstall it, sign in to it, and point it right back to your local google drive folder, in mirror mode... Exactly like I do in the video. Uninstalling the file sync app will not remove the local folder, or delete any files. After doing these steps, it should sync properly again.

[@kaila139]

Hello. Thank you so much for this video! Super helpful!! I do have one question; is there a way for files originally in my GD to not get downloaded/synced to your computer?

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank you very much. Yes I believe so. They added a section on google drive online that separates individual computers that have the file sync app installed on them. And if you chose the “My Computer” option during file sync app setup, the sync will only occur with files that are under that particular computer in drive online. This means you can have files in “My Drive” online, that won’t sync locally. But anything that’s under “Computers” (and that specific computer) option, in drive online, will be synced. It’s a little tricky to explain, but what I would do is (and the order you do these things matters here): first make a temp copy of your google drive data on your local computer (just copy/paste it to a new folder on the desktop). This is just to make sure you don’t lose data if something goes wrong. Then, uninstall the file sync app, and delete the Google drive folder that it was originally syncing with (make sure you have that copy of your data temporarily stored). Restart, then reinstall the file sync app, but this time during setup choose the “My Computer” option instead of the "Google Drive" option, then recreate that Google Drive folder you just deleted (this way it will be empty this time when it syncs), and use the “add folder” option during file sync app setup, to choose the new Google drive folder you just created. After doing this, when you look online, you should see all your previous data under “My Drive”, and then under “Computers” you should see the computer you just reinstalled file sync app on there, but with no data in it yet. From that point forward, any data you put in to the Google Drive folder on your local computer, will sync to that particular computer’s folder in drive online, but all the data under “My Drive” won’t be synced with your local computer. Essentially, you can choose to sync everything in your drive online, or break it down in to individual computers. I will caution though, separating data in to multiple locations that are syncing, or not syncing, with your local computer(s), is opening the door for more variables to possibly break moving forward. Clean and simple is also highly reliable.

[@jz4673]

L

[@janedoe7583]

Thanks for breaking down and explaining in terms that are easy t. o follow and for providing the proper names to the actions. With your explanation, I figured out that my local server (laptop) is not updating/syncing with the Cloud server. Somehow on the Cloud Server there is a section called: My Computer and another called: My Drive (Main). Each of these has duplicate folders and files, but only one has been syncing/updating. Any idea how to fix this so that I do not lose data? The Google Drive syncing options are set as: Stream files. Desktop This PC is Not syncing. I have 2TB of Cloud storage space, but only ~750 HD storage. Any tips will be especially helpful! Thanks

[@frankwestphal8532]

Hi, and yes. Basically, they are giving the people option to synchronize different data sets for each computer. I do not recommend this because most want to see the same data set across all devices, and if it's separated into individual computers, we will not see the same data if we log into a different computer. I like to sync with only the "my drive" root online folder. All of my computers are synced with that same folder, so I see the same data, regardless of which computer I am on. To sync only with "my drive" online folder do these steps: 1. Download a backup of everything online just to be safe. 2. Delete everything under the "computers" tab in google drive online, but leave everything in place under "my drive". 3. Uninstall google drive file sync app from your computer, restart, then delete everything in your local computer (laptop in your case) google drive folder. 4. Reinstall google drive file sync app and chose: "google drive" "mirror files" (make sure you have the local disk space for this... if not, choose "stream") and then point it to the local google drive folder during the "add folder" step. At that point, you should see everything in your "my drive" online folder sync with you local computer folder. I would do this on a wired connection if possible, for the initial sync. It will be faster and less possibility of sync errors. Once the initial sync is done, wireless is fine again.

[@frankwestphal8532]

And it probably got that way, when they updated the app to add the "computers" option. That's when the duplicate copy of your data was created online. Mine got messed up too, and I did exactly what I described above to clean it up again.

[@janedoe7583]

@@frankwestphal8532 Thanks so much for explaining what happened and makes total sense! I'm concerned that there are files in the My Drive folders that are not in the My Computer folders. Would it be "safer" to manually check each folder, then drag and drop files that I do not see in the My Drive location? Before I saw your video I was saving files to the cloud severs and also working from the local server (my laptop) creating files. So, there are likely files in each location that are not duplicates. What a flipping mess!!! Thanks again for your help and guidance

[@janedoe7583]

@@frankwestphal8532 Would appreciate it if you would produce a video--that would make it easier to follow the steps and minimizing errors. Thanks

[@stevespeake1]

Hi Frank. I'd discovered this video whilst trying to trouble shoot and have now followed all your instructions and installed Google Drive thank you. But I'm still finding the same issue. I create a video on my laptop then I upload it to My Drive 'online' but all of a sudden it's not completing the upload and just says, it's still uploading when I'm double clicking it to play. Even after installing Google Drive to my C Drive, it's playing there when uploaded but not online. This is how I share videos between my laptop and my Android phone and of course others. But then again if I share via someone's email address it sometimes doesn't play at their end either. Is there any easy solutions please. I am useless when it comes to computers and I needed the way you broke everything down and visually too thank you because that was perfect for me with dyslexia and Autism. I've Windows 11. Steve. Have subscribed too.

[@frankwestphal8532]

Hi Steve, I'm sorry didn't see your question earlier. I would guess one of these two things is happening in the situation you describe: 1. Video files are very large, and it could be that they are simply taking a very long time to upload. This is particularly likely if you are on a wireless network. If the video file is still uploading to google drive online, you won't be able to play it until it is complete. If you can use a wired connection to your router (CAT5/CAT6 Ethernet cable) while you do your large uploads, that will speed it up a LOT. If you have to do wireless, get as close as possible to your wireless router. Also, you can test your network speeds by google searching "speedtest". Google has their own speedtest app that will show up as the number 1 result. 2. The google drive file sync application could be not working right on your computer. There is no harm in completely uninstalling it, and reinstalling it. Uninstalling does not affect the ACTUAL data in your local folder or the online storage. So, you can just uninstall the google drive file sync app from your computer, restart the computer, and set it up again, like I describe in this video, and it should work fine. I have been using google drive for about 10 years now. There was one time when the application become corrupt, and I had to uninstall/restart/reinstall it. So, corruption of the file sync is possible, but it is rare.

[@MindNot]

very helpful brother

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank you!

[@auroramasters]

Hai, the process of making a folder in 1 PC and synching it into Gdrive server that we can open on Gdrive web browser is very clear and I already done that. my question is, If I want to add another folder on my office PC (I already make synch folder at home PC) that will synch with my folder on my home PC, how could I do that? tldr : I want make 2 folder on 2 PC that synch in each other. Thanks in advance for answering.

[@frankwestphal8532]

Beautiful question. This is the exact power and beauty of file sync. And the answer is very simple: On your office PC, create the exact same folder in the exact same location. Install google drive and point it to that folder just like you did on your home PC, then sign in to google drive( if it didn't prompt you to already). It will sync automatically and you will have the exact same data (in that folder only), on your home PC, your office PC, and google drive online storage. And you can even install it on your phone if you want, and have the exact same data accessible there too. With multi-way data synchronization, as long as you have an internet connection, you ALWAYS have access to your data.

[@auroramasters]

​@@frankwestphal8532 Hi, thanks for the answer. I already did that on my personal GDrive and it works like a charms. BUT I fill that folder very fast, since it is only a free account with 150GB of space. So I asked my company to buy a paid Drive with 1 TB of space. I tried to do the same thing like before but there is a problem. Since it is company drive multiple person is using the drive, and I dont want to synch other people files. so my question is, is there a way to only synch 1 folder instead the whole google drive? I tried the My computer option on google drive setting preferences. It synch 1 folder only on the google drive, but I cannot find a way to synch that particular folder on my other Computer. Thanks in advance, Cheers from Indonesia. EDIT : wow my comment was 1 year ago??? I was already using the folder for a whole year, that was awesome. Thanks for the your first video tutorial.

[@mahavpm]

Thanks - that was good

[@frankwestphal8532]

Thank you!

[@almaveronicagutierrezdevel7973]

how do i add computer on my phone under google drive?

[@frankwestphal8532]

In the google drive app, there are two tabs up on top. The left tab is the google drive root, or main drive. You can think of it like a system drive on a computer. On the right tab, is the computers. You can think of that like partitions on a drive, or even folders on a system drive. If you select the right hand side tab, you will see the computers that have google drive installed on them. And then you can choose the computer and see the data that is in the google drive on that particular computer. Personally, I like storing on the root of google drive, rather than dividing data between computers. For me, the whole point of google drive is to have the same data on all my devices. So I don't like separating them based on computer, but you can if you want.

[@TT-lt3zd]

❤ This is a very useful information ❤ Could you please show us the technique how to not synchronise video mp4 files settings on Google drive? As i choose synchronise location is Desktop to synchronise all of my pdf files, however i also save videos on desktop, but i don't want it to be synchronised also. How to do ignore synchronise files settings? Please guide us, thank you very much ❤

[@frankwestphal8532]

Hi, and thank you for watching. Currently there is no way to filter by file type, what is synchronized and what is not. However, you can just create a separate folder on your C:\ drive, then right click and choose "send to desktop create shortcut". Then you can save your mp4 files to that shortcut directly from the desktop, but the actual folder will be on the C:\ drive, so the mp4 files will not be synchronized with google drive. The only way to seperate what is synchronized and what is not, is by folder location.

[@TT-lt3zd]

@@frankwestphal8532 I would like thank you for provided me with a helpful solution. I am grateful for your expertise and willingness to assist me. Thank you!

[@martinl555]

Thank you!

[@jz4673]

Thank you

[@nikyabodigital]

it sucks tbh. much easier to send files with one drive i just right click from desktop. generate link and sending link is immed

[@frankwestphal8532]

I did a OneDrive video as well. And you can do the same thing with google drive. In addition to that, not everyone is using the file sync app in conjunction with the online storage application, so some can only share from the online storage application side. When file sync and cloud storage was new, Google Drive got there first, and because of that it is the most popular cloud storage and file synchronization apps. With that said, I agree, OneDrive does the same thing. I use both, and it's a great way to separate work from personal on the same computer.

[@nikyabodigital]

@@frankwestphal8532 My bad. I was using windows 11. Turns out the google drive link sharing is on "show more options" windows 10 shows all items immediately in right clicking but windows 11 put it in "show more options". It's sad. But I like google drive now. This is what us designers typically use as well that's why we have to sync it on desktop coz we create project files in desktop. And we want to easily share it to other people if needed. but year in general it was my bad. Google drive is as good as one drive it's just that one drive have the upperhand in utilizing windows since it's on the same ecosystem.

[@RickAman10]

👍

[@jz4673]

💯

[@jz4673]

?

[@tristanbarron2022]

We've been using various fillers in the polyester or epoxy surfboard resin to adjust weight to strength ratio for decades. Of course it didn't ever cross your mind. Because this crap is for show, and we're actually out in the ocean getting broken boards and having our asses handed to us on a regular basis. I bet he ACTUALLY paddles this kayak 5 times before it collects dust for the rest of his life in his garage. So sick of this wannabe BS.

[@vladk597]

This is the stupid way how to get your data synchronized between two devices. You should dive deeper how the Google Drive works!!! Sync via the Computers folder and you don't need to move your files around in your PC. Just sync them from their current location. Most people would appreciate this way!!!

[@frankwestphal8532]

I know exactly how it works, and I don't recommend doing that because most people want the SAME data set on all devices. If you separate your data sets based on computer, you don't see the SAME data on all computers . The whole point of using data sync is to see the SAME data across multiple devices. The way you're using it, is just backup to cloud storage of a single device.... each device has it's own data set. That is not multi way synchronization across multiple devices. And, not everyone wants a bunch of different folders synced. What's easier? Syncing 30 folders, or creating a dedicated folder and syncing that 1 folder? Syncing 1 folder is, and it's also very easy to know what is synced and what is not. Anything that's in the synced folder is synced. Anything that is not in it, is not synced. Very easy. Very reliable. I did professional IT for 10 years. I do not recommend doing it the way you are doing it.