This article explains how to sync Google Drive to Desktop and Smartphone. They say every day brings new choices. That’s true with respect to changing technology, which delivers new things every day. Cloud storage is one such platform where the options for users are plenty. Google Drive is one of the popular cloud storage service providers, and this article will guide you on how to sync Google Drive to a computer or smartphone without causing any sync errors.
How to sync Google Drive to Desktop and Smartphone?
Download the Backup and Sync application onto your computer to start using Google Drive. Follow these steps to learn to sync Google Drive to a computer:
- Sign in
- Download and Install Backup and Sync on your computer
- Open the application and click on Get Started to setup Google Drive Backup and Sync.
- Sign in with your email ID and password.
- My Laptop
- The backup and Sync window appears under the Choose folder to continuously backup to Google Drive; three folders ( Desktop, Documents, and Pictures ) will be displayed
- Check the folder from which you want to Sync with Google Drive
- If you want to add folders of your choice, Click on Choose folder and add the folder
- Next, you can choose the quality of photos and videos between Original quality or High Quality
- Select Google Photos if you want to upload Photos and Videos to Google Photos.
- Network Settings
- Click on Network Settings to manage Proxy Settings
- Choose Proxy Setting, select Auto Detect, and click OK to let Google Drive start its operation.
- Google Drive Settings
The settings in the Backup and Sync for Google Drive will let you decide what you want to store on Google Drive. There are two options for you to determine what to sync onto Google Drive:
- Sync Everything in My Drive: Choose this option if you want everything on your computer stored on Google Drive.
- Sync only these folders: This option allows you to choose the folders you want to sync with Google Drive.
After choosing the right option that suits you, click on Start. That’s it. You have successfully finished the setup. Your computer will automatically sync to Google Drive. It is a common practice to keep a backup of phone data on the computer. This is a good practice to back up your data, but this good practice might create duplicates on your Google Drive. Duplicate files result from syncing the same files from both your computer and Phone. Imagine you have 3 to 5 gigabytes of duplicate content on Google Drive. Finding duplicate files is a time-consuming job and deleting duplicate files from Google Drive is another time-consuming process. To avoid duplicates on Google Drive, open your Backup and Sync app on your computer and deselect the folders containing the files copied from the phone.
How to Sync Google Drive to phone
With the exponential growth in smartphone usage, the amount of data generated is enormous because of the features that smartphones promise. It’s normal for a smartphone to run out of space because it performs tasks that were once meant only for computers. If a smartphone runs out of space, it directly affects the system’s performance. Hence, the cloud has become an easy choice to store all your data.
Steps to sync Google Drive to phone:
Most Android phones have the Google Drive app pre-installed, or you can download it from the Play Store. If you are an iPhone user, you can download the app from the App Store.
- Open the Google Drive app and tap on the Add + button
- Tap on Upload; you can select the files that you want to upload
- Files will be uploaded and will be shown under My Drive
You can access the uploaded files from any device using your Google account. With 15 GB of free space, you can rely on this to ensure your important photos, videos, and documents are safe.
Now that you know how to sync Google Drive to a desktop and smartphone, keep this point in mind when you sync a computer or smartphone with Google Drive to avoid creating duplicates: You have a choice to select folders that need to be synced with the computer, so do not select the folders that contain the files copied from your phone.
