How much space is there on Google Drive? Cloud data storage: pump and store more files

As you probably know, Google recently combined all the quotas allocated to users for storing files in its services into one disk space of 15 GB. Thus, if you are actively using one of the Google services to store your data, the space allotted to you may very quickly run out. In this article, you will learn how to clean up your Google drive and free up precious space in the clouds.

In order to find out how much space you have already used from your allocated Google Drive, you can go to this link and hover over the pie chart. A tooltip will appear that will show the layout for each of the services.

Cleaning Gmail

If you are an experienced user of an email service, then you probably have accumulated a significant archive of letters. By itself, each letter takes up insignificant bytes, but if you have thousands and thousands of them, and even with large attachments, then they can take up quite a lot of space. The soft cleaning method is to search for all emails that have large attachments. This is very easy to do and we wrote about it here.

The second method is more radical and involves refusing to use the Gmail web interface in favor of the desktop one mail client, such as Thunderbird. Set it up to receive mail from your account and enable the option to delete emails from the server. As a result, you have empty space in Google Drive and your mail archive in local form, which can be very useful from the point of view of ensuring privacy.

Converting files to Google Docs format

Google slightly confused us all by denoting two different services with the same name: the online office suite, which we sometimes call Google Docs, and cloud storage for files like Dropbox. But here's what you need to know about Google Drive from the point of view of reducing the space of files stored there:

• Files in Google Docs format - documents, spreadsheets, presentations, presentations, forms - take up no space in the cloud at all. So store as much data there in Google-native formats as you want.
• All other files, such as PDF, images or documents Microsoft Word, occupy the corresponding place in Google Drive.

From this we can conclude that if you want to save cloud disk space, then when uploading any files, check the option to convert them to Google Docs formats.

Removing previous versions of files

Google Drive retains previous versions of files and they may consume additional space. If you have already finished editing the file, you can delete previous versions to free up space.

To check availability previous versions, right-click the file and select Version management. In the window that appears, you can delete all revisions that you no longer need. Note that Google Drive automatically deletes old versions every 30 days or when the number reaches 100. So there's no reason to specifically do this unless you need to free up cloud space right now.

Watch the photo size

Your photos from Google+ can also take up space in cloud storage, but here you need to know the following nuances:

• You can upload photos with a resolution of up to 2048×2048 pixels. Photos of this size or smaller do not count towards the remaining amount. disk space at all.
• Videos up to 15 minutes can also be stored on Google+ without counting toward your cloud storage quota.

This means that when uploading photos to Google+, you should not exceed these sizes, unless, of course, you want to save space. It's very easy to do. Open the Google+ settings page, scroll down to the section Photo and make sure the option Upload photo in full size not marked. In this case, all your uploaded pictures will be automatically compressed and will not consume storage space. The same thing can be done in the Google+ Android app, if that's how you upload your photos to the clouds.

You can also view photos already stored on Google+ and reduce them to the size offered for free storage. It’s very easy to do this now using .

Download Google Drive to your computer

How to download Google Drive for PC?

To do this, go to your Gmail and click on the appropriate link at the top:

Gmail: go to Google Drive

Well, there everything is also clear:

Download the Google drive program to your PC

The program downloads quickly, if everything went well, the following window will pop up:

Downloaded Google Drive

Click “Login” and enter your Gmail account information.

Next you have to go through an easy installation and synchronize Google Drive with a folder on your PC. In the 2nd step, you can click “Advanced settings” and configure some things. For example, change the folder that will be synchronized, and also uncheck (or leave) "Start Google Drive automatically when you turn on your computer".

After all the minor settings, click "Synchronize". If no files were downloaded to this disk, then synchronization will occur instantly. Running indicator Google programs drive serves as a new tray icon (bottom right):

Google drive icon

When loading files to disk, this icon flickers a little.

Now let's look at what you can do using the Google Drive program.

Google drive program - its features

To be honest, there are no special features. Moreover, the most important (in my opinion) function is missing, for which these cloud programs are needed: the ability to upload a file to a synchronized folder, receive a link and give it to anyone.

Of course, you can upload file(s) to this folder, but you cannot quickly get a link to them, as, for example, in Yandex.Disk. In it you can simply right-click on the file and get the so-called. public link— it can already be given to people for downloading.

More details about Yandex.Disk:

• (if you're tired of it).

Opening the web interface

and there you have to tinker a little to get links.

This is the second time I've posted this video about this service, but, as they say, “neither add nor add”:

Download Google Drive for PC and get links

As you can see, the usual procedure for obtaining links to files is somewhat difficult here. Unlike Yandex (where the link to the .mp3 file opens the online player), music format files cannot be listened to online.

But you can watch an online video - a player starts up that looks very similar to the player from Youtube and, moreover, You can get a code to embed this video on your website. Yandex doesn’t have this (yet)

But good old Dropbox has a lot:

Unfortunately, Google drive does not provide direct links to files (like the Yandex service), which, again, can be “compensated” with this:

In addition, the video files are not located on the server on which the site is located, so there is no need to waste time transferring additional files.

Is it possible to increase the size of Google Drive?

Yes, but only for a fee. Quite a strange approach. All competitors offer to at least slightly increase space by inviting new users via a special link. There is no such thing here:

Expanding storage space in Google drive

Perhaps because Google focuses its service on large business clients, for whom it is easier to immediately pay for free space or something else... In the meantime, 5 GB is available free space.

Deleting files from Google Drive folder

If you delete files from a folder on your PC, they will all go to the “Trash” - you can view it in the browser and there you can restore the files or delete them forever. Everything is the same as with other cloud services.

In our rapid multi-gigabyte time“When the use of cloud data storage becomes an indispensable condition for a modern dynamic person, one of the main questions after, is the question how to increase the disk space of this service for free?

How to increase disk space on Dropbox for free.

In this review, I invite you to consider, dear readers, how to increase disk space on Dropbox for free and what could be the pitfalls in this. Certainly, Dropbox It was not in vain that it was chosen for our review. At the moment, despite the fact that such giants as Google Drive, SugarSync or Yandex.Disk are breathing down their necks, Dropbox is still the leader among cloud data storages, allowing users to store their data on servers and share it with other users on the Internet. The popularity of Dropbox is associated with many factors, such as convenience, security, wide range of applications, but one of the main factors in the popularity of Dropbox is its diverse Possibility of expanding free disk space. Initially, Dropobox gives new users 2 GB of free disk space, but this is, so to speak, a “starting point”, with the right procedure you can increase your free disk space up to 48 GB. Let's look at different ways to increase disk space on Dropbox for free:

Method #1: 7 Steps for a Dropbox Newbie

To obtain 48 GB of free disk space, you need to complete 7 steps:

• view a review of Dropbox (+250 MB);
• install the Dropbox program on your computer;
• put files in the Dropbox folder;
• install Dropbox on other computers you use;
• provide general access friends and colleagues;
• invite your friends to Dropbox;
• install the Dropbox program on your mobile device;

Method #2: Invite a friend

For each friend (referral) you invite, you receive + 500 MB free disk space. note that It’s not enough to just click on the referral link, you need your friend to not only register on the Dropbox service, but also download Dropbox to his computer. This way you can increase your free disk space up to 16 GB.

Method number 3: Mobile devices

Dropbox actively partners with a variety of brands to help you get even more promotional free space. True, there is a small trick here - as a rule, such promotional free disk spaces limited in time- usually from 1 to 2 years. This is how the promotional bonus free disk space for new owners currently works HTC And Samsung.

Method #5: Camera Upload

In recent IOS versions And Android applications both Mac and Windows desktop applications include new feature entitled ( Camera Upload) , which automatically downloads all your photos and videos that you took with the camera on your devices to your Dropbox. When using this action Camera Upload Dropbox gives + 500 MB free space on Dropbox for every 500 MB of data you download. In this case, you can get up to 3GB free free disk space. It's important to understand that simply copying your photos and videos to a Dropbox folder will not give you the free disk space listed above! This bonus space only applies to automatically uploaded photos and videos from Camera Upload.

Greetings, friends! Cloud storage is very popular now. Their main purpose is to store and access information from any device at any time, as well as the ability to share this information (documents, photographs, and other files) with other people. In addition, popular cloud services provide a number of other useful functions for users – creating and working with documents online, sharing, etc.

On my blog I have already posted instructions on two large cloud services - and. And I dedicate today’s article to one more thing – Google Drive. Until recently, I didn’t use it so actively - I mainly relied on Yandex.Disk. But, due to recent events, I started thinking about backup options.

I suggest you understand the interface and main functions of Google Drive. Let's talk about how to use it - upload and provide access to files and folders, perform other actions on files, work with documents and applications online.

If you prefer video format, then you can view my detailed tutorial below:

How to log into Google Drive?

The disk is linked to your Google account, and to get inside the cloud, you need to log in to your account - enter your login (gmail) and password.

You can access Drive from this page www.google.com/intl/ru/drive/

Or go from mail by clicking on the “Google Apps” icon at the top right.

How much disk space?

15 GB are provided for free. This space is divided into files on the disk itself, files and letters in Gmail, as well as Google Photos. By the way, the latter automatically includes images that you upload to posts on the Google Plus social network. You can remove them from Google Photos so that they don’t take up space, but they remain in your posts.

If you need more space, it can be purchased for money. There are a few tariff plans with monthly or annual payment up to 30 TB of memory.

You can also have several Google accounts and each will have its own disk with free space.

Cloud storage interface

Let's go over the main sections, buttons and Google settings Disk.

Via the “Create” button in the upper left corner you can upload files and folders from your computer to your disk. And also create folders and documents directly in the cloud. You can create text documents, tables, presentations with slides, Google Forms (for surveys, questionnaires, recording Skype consultations), drawings, maps and websites.

Below this button is panel with the main Disk partitions.

In the "My Drive" section contains all files and folders uploaded to the cloud, as well as documents and folders that you created in the cloud.

By selecting a particular file/folder with the mouse, you can perform various actions on it; I’ll talk about this later. To select several files at once, hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and click on the desired files.

The display of files on Disk can be sorted by name, by date of modification, by date of viewing.

In the "Available to me" section files from Google Drives of other users to which you have access are displayed - for example, you followed a link to this file, or you were sent an invitation with access. To open a file, double-click on it.

In the "Recent" section– files that you have recently worked with (opened, downloaded, edited, etc.) are displayed.

Google Photos section– This is where the images you've uploaded to the Google Photos app appear. Also, pictures uploaded to posts on Google Plus are automatically saved here. You can get into the application itself by clicking on the Google applications icon from disk, mail, home page Google Chrome browser.

In the application settings, you can check a useful box so that photos and videos do not take up unnecessary storage space.

To do this, go to Google Photos, click on three vertical stripes top left, go to settings.

And check the appropriate box:

"Tagged" section– files and folders that you mark as important to you go here. Marking is very simple - select the file, right-click, and select “Add mark” from the list that opens. To remove a file from “Marked”, right-click again and select “Unmark”.

Basket- it contains files that you delete from your Google Drive. The Recycle Bin can be emptied, then the files are permanently deleted. You can also restore any file from the Recycle Bin by selecting it with the mouse and clicking “Recover from Recycle Bin”.

There are several more useful icons in the upper right corner of Google Drive.

You can configure the display of files in the cloud as a list or grid. By clicking on the letter “i” in the circle, you can view the history of your actions on the disk, as well as the properties of any file by selecting it with the mouse. Clicking on the gear will open an additional list of tabs.

In the “Settings” tab:

You can change the interface language.
Enable offline access (saving Google documents to your computer to work with them without an Internet connection). On this issue, you can read the separate instructions.
Disable automatic downloading of photos from Google Photos to a folder on disk.
Choose an interface option – spacious, regular or compact.

There are also alert settings.

And the ability to connect different Google apps to your disk.

Clicking on the tab “Install disk on computer”, you can download the application for PC, as well as for smartphones on Android or iPhone. Here, keep in mind that the PC application is synchronized with the online cloud and all files end up on your computer, taking up space. Since this does not suit me, I prefer to use only the web interface. The only advantage of synchronization is the ability to quickly send a large file to the cloud or save all files from the cloud to your computer at once, and then disable synchronization.

Actions on files and folders in Google Drive

To upload files and folders from your computer to the cloud The "Create" button is used. You click on it and select the corresponding menu item - a window for selecting files on your computer will open. To select multiple files at once, hold down the Ctrl key.

When the file is selected, click on the “Open” button, and it will begin downloading to Disk. Information about the process will appear in the lower right corner.

An alternative download option is to minimize the Google Drive tab to a smaller window and drag files from your computer to the “My Drive” section with your mouse.

You can do a number of things with files, folders, and documents on the drive. To do this, select with the mouse required file(or several) and right-click. A list of available actions appears. The same actions are duplicated on the panel above.

The contents of the file can be viewed by clicking Preview. If you want to edit the document, then select "Open with". The drive will offer you an application through which you can open the file.

To open the contents of a folder– click on it 2 times. You can perform all the same actions on files and documents in a folder.

You can give access to any file, folder or document on the disk to another person. To set up sharing, click on the corresponding menu item.

In the window that opens, you need to enter the gmail email of the person to whom you want to give access. Click on the pencil icon to indicate the access type. This can be commenting, viewing and editing.

If you have granted commenting or viewing access, you can prevent the user from downloading, copying, or printing the file. Just tick the boxes you need. Don't forget to save your changes.

Then click "Submit". The user will receive a letter informing them that you have granted them access to the files. He will see this file on his disk in the “Available to me” section.

To block access, you again need to right-click on this file, select “Sharing”. In the window that opens, click on the user name.

Access is denied, the user will see this message:

You can also configure access settings. The default is view. Also, using the link, the user will be able to download the file or save it to his disk. You can also enable commenting or editing.

If you click “More”, you will see other settings. For example, you can enable access for absolutely any user on the Internet, that is, the file will be available through search. Or disable access via a link and send an invitation for shared access to a specific user via email (we discussed this process above).

The next point of action on files is "Move". It can be used to move files into folders. This is convenient if you have a lot of files and want to organize them. You can also move files by dragging them with the mouse.

Creating folders on disk is easy. Click on the “Create” – “New Folder” button.

By the way, you can change the color of the folders.

Paragraph "Add a note" useful if you want to add favorite files to the Starred section for quick access to them.

Paragraph "Rename" will allow you to change the name of a file or folder.

Paragraph "Show properties"– to view the properties of a file and the history of actions on it.

Paragraph "Versions"– it is available for those files that you upload to Disk.

Let's say you downloaded an archive of materials from your computer and shared a link to it with subscribers. Then you needed to make edits to this archive, you downloaded it to your computer again and edited it. Then we re-uploaded it to Disk with the same name so that the link to the archive did not change. By the way, when downloading again, you can choose how to save this file - separately (the link to it will change), or as new version, which will replace the previous one.

However, the previous version will not be deleted immediately (by default, it is saved on disk for another 30 days). But, you can delete it manually or check the box so that previous versions are not deleted. This is done precisely through this “Versions” item.

The remaining actions on the files: create a copy, download it to your computer and delete it in the trash. By the way, to delete the file in the trash, you can drag it with the mouse to this section on Google Drive.

So, we figured out the main points of the Google Drive web interface. Now a few words how to download to your computer or save to disk a file that was shared with you via a link from another Google Drive.

If you followed the link and are logged in to your Google account, then you will see a Google Drive icon at the top, by clicking on which you can save this file to your disk. Nearby there is an arrow for downloading the file to your computer.

Well, I hope my Google Drive instructions will help you navigate the settings and functionality of this cloud service. Well, if you still have questions, I will be happy to answer them in the comments.

I wish you success!

Best regards, Victoria Karpova

The criteria for choosing a file storage and synchronization service may be different, and today we will focus on only one aspect, which for many is the most important. Let's see where you can get the most free space, both by default and after performing some simple actions. The volumes of modern hard drives have long been measured in terabytes, and file synchronization services in some cases still offer users only a few Gigabytes for free, which is not enough in all cases. If you are just choosing a similar service or are thinking about changing, you can find out in this material the most optimal option in terms of maximum volume.

Before proceeding to the main part, we list the selection criteria for the considered software. The software should be free, popular, and have a desktop client that allows you to store files in one or more folders directly on your hard drive.

The popularity criterion was added in order to weed out “one-day” services, which will still have to be changed over time. Yes, they can offer much more free space for storing files, but what good are they if they are closed in a year. In our opinion, this is exactly the case when a bird in the hand is better than a pie in the sky. As an example, we can recall SugarSync, which at one time ranked second, right after Dropbox, and offers more free space and the ability to increase it without restrictions using referral links. SugarSync closed this winter free version service and users had to look for an alternative. Considering that habit is a terrible force, not everyone switched to Dropbox, since it cannot accommodate the files that were placed in SugarSync.

As a result, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Yandex.Disk and BitTorrent Sync were left for comparison (we will dwell on the reasons in more detail in the corresponding section of the article).

Dropbox

Dropbox offers the least amount of free space among all members by default. Only 2 GB. And thus it ranks last in this indicator.

You can increase this volume in several ways:

1. Connecting social accounts - 500 MB (easy)

Users with Facebook and Twitter accounts can receive 2x125 MB for connecting these services to Dropbox. Subscribing to a Dropbox account on Twitter gives you another 125 MB, and a tweet about why you like this particular service will add the last 125 MB.

2. Completion of training - 250 MB (easy)

Dropbox offers new users a short training, almost like computer games, for which the account size will be increased by 250 MB. The steps are quite simple, although they will take a little time. Among them: adding files to Dropbox, creating a shared folder to use with friends, inviting friends to Dropbox.

The Carousel app automatically saves photos and videos taken on your phone to Dropbox. Using this feature increases Dropbox's capacity by as much as 3 GB, but this does not happen immediately, but gradually. After uploading the first photo from your phone, 500 MB will appear in your account, and the remaining space will be added as you use this feature. However, this process can be speeded up by filming a long video in high quality, or simply throwing a large album of photos into the photo folder on your phone.

Initially, this method added 5 GB to users, but the bonus was almost immediately cut to 3 GB.

4. Using MailBox - 1 GB (easy)

The MailBox email client for Android and iOS can closely integrate with Dropbox, for which users get 1 GB for free. To do this, you need to install Mailbox on your smartphone and link it to your dropbox in the settings. It is not necessary to use the application after this and, if desired, you can even delete it from the phone.

5. Inviting users - up to 16 GB (difficult)

Initially, inviting other users to Dropbox was the main way to increase your account, but the popularity of the service now is unlikely to make it possible to find among your friends those who are not yet registered there, and rely on the fact that using a referral link left somewhere in in social networks or on forums, a random visitor registering is practically useless.

There is indeed a way to get these 16 GB by deceiving the registration system, but this method requires an investment of time, some computer literacy, and is more likely a flaw in the Dropbox verification system, rather than a legitimate way to upgrade, so we will not dwell on it. On some forums or websites (http://dropbox18gb.com/) This service is provided for a fee. For $5-10, users get all 16 GB added to their account.

6. Coupons

Dropbox has a coupon system that differs from paid accounts in that a coupon increases the volume of the account forever and does not require a monthly payment. Coupons can be found for sale on some forums, and what is more profitable, paying $25 for eternal 5 GB or $10 for 100 GB for a month, users must decide for themselves.

7. Other ways (difficult)

From time to time, Dropbox offers other account expansion options, in some cases only for a limited period of time. This includes quests, as well as promotions conducted by smartphone manufacturers and other companies. For example, if you activate a Dropbox account on some phone models, the account will receive a significant increase in free space, up to 50 GB, but the effect will be temporary, and after a year or two the user will lose this bonus.

If Dropbox holds similar promotions in the future, they will definitely be mentioned on the pages

OneDrive

Specifying the exact amount of free space for OneDrive is just as difficult as for Dropbox, but for different reasons. While Dropbox has a relatively large number of ways to increase account size, OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) has far fewer, and users start from different starting positions.

Early users of OneDrive have a kind of bonus in the form of 25 GB, but for those who registered relatively recently, only 7 GB were available at the beginning of summer. Most recently, this limit was raised to 15 GB, but the changes take effect only gradually and some users may still not see the increase. If you have ever used mailboxes Microsoft, for example @live.com, that is, it is likely that you have an increased 25 GB account. Over time, the difference between new and old users will most likely be leveled and they will be equalized.

There are only two ways to increase your OneDrive account:

Use smartphone photo uploading – 3 GB (easy)

To do this, you need to install OneDrive on iOS, Android or Windows Phone and enable automatic photo syncing.

Inviting users - up to 5 GB (difficult)

Like Dropbox, OneDrive allows you to invite other users, for whom they add 0.5 GB, but the number of invites is limited to only 10 pieces.

Google Drive

Right after launch, Google Drive provided users with only 5 GB, but later this limit was increased to 15 GB.

There are no ways to increase Google Drive for free. Basically Google owners Apps for business or education receive 30 GB instead of 15 GB, but even if some users got such accounts just like that, they are still not free in the full sense of the word.

Yandex.Disk

After its launch, Yandex provided its users with 3 GB, but now you can store 10 GB for free.

The company periodically organizes promotions that increase the size of the Disk. For example, for installing Yandex Browser. However, these and other methods are temporary and the bonuses disappear after a couple of months. On an ongoing basis, space can be increased only by inviting friends. This way you can get up to 10 GB (0.5 GB per person).

BitTorrent Sync

If you need to synchronize a really large number of files on your computers for free, and none of the above services offers enough space for this, then you can solve the problem using BitTorrent Sync.

This application differs from others in that it synchronizes files directly between computers without the presence of an intermediate server. This method has both its pros and cons. Let's list the most obvious ones.

Pros:

— The size of the synchronized data is limited only by the size hard drive and the count can thus reach Terabytes.

— Data is synchronized faster due to the absence of an additional intermediate link in the form of a server.

— All data is stored exclusively on the user’s computers.

Minuses:

— In order for files to be updated, both computers must be online

— None backups files on the server, and accordingly the ability to restore old or deleted versions of the file.

Considering the advantages and disadvantages of BitTorrent Sync, it can be considered an ideal add-on for use in conjunction with one of the above services. A small directory with important files can be synchronized using Dropbox, and large folders using BitTorrent Sync.

Results

As can be seen from the final table, it is quite difficult to point to a clear favorite in this short review. Of the traditional services, even in the minimum configuration, OneDrive wins, offering 15 GB at once. Plus, you can get another 3 GB in literally a matter of minutes, and if you have an old Microsoft account and the 25 GB that comes with it, then this is already more than any free account on other services, even after upgrading. On the other hand, OneDrive has the strictest file size limit (no more than 2 GB). And although Microsoft has been considering the possibility of changing this limit for quite some time, it has not gone away yet.

At the first stage, Google Drive is on par with OneDrive, but due to the impossibility of upgrading an account for free, it closes the table at the end.

Yandex.Disk and Dropbox are in the middle of this comparison, and even if you manage to add both easy and complex bonuses to your account, these services will still not break out of the middle of the table.

As mentioned above, the ideal option would be to link any of the four services with BitTorrent Sync, which allows you to synchronize any volume of files for free.