- Good day there, Peter Moriarty here
and in this video we're gonna be covering
everything you need to know about Google File Stream
and what's happening with Google Drive.
(upbeat music)
Now you may have seen some concerning messages
popping up on your computer,
that Google Drive is going away,
and even the media have reported it,
as just like Google Drive is disappearing.
Well, I'm here to help dispel the rumors
and clear up exactly what changes are happening with Google,
with their new product launch of Google File Stream.
Now this is a replacement for Google Drive,
and it is aimed at business users of G Suite
who are currently using Google Drive,
and don't worry, there's no major changes happening,
but you will have to take some action
and install something new on your computer.
So listen up, while I cover off all the important details.
Now when Google Drive first came out
it was a web only product,
and that meant that it was purely, 100% online.
It was originally Google Docs
and then Google Drive kind of morphed
and evolved into allowing you to place other files online.
Now eventually Google, effectively copied DropBox
and decided to create a synchronization product
that you could install on your local computer,
and what that meant, was that your standard files in there,
they may be a Photoshop file,
it might be a Word or Excel document,
or a video, or an audio,
or whatever that file happened to be
and it would synchronize to the Cloud
and then be available on all of your different computers.
Well, that's all well and great,
although businesses over time evolved
and started putting more and more data into Google Drive,
and we know from the over a 1000 customers
that we've worked with,
that there's a lot of data in some people's Google Drives.
Now, how do we manage all that data,
and how do we make sure it all works efficiently?
Well, from up until now it was still all being synchronized
down to each person's machine,
and so for companies that had a lot of data
and we're talking about 10 gigabytes,
100 gigabytes or even a terabyte of data
in their business Google Drive.
Well, that meant that a lot of that data
was being pushed down to the local desktop level
on to people's computers.
Now, there's some workarounds and some band-aids,
like using something like Selective sync,
which pushes only certain folders down to your computer,
but you still had to be pretty clever
and pretty tricky with managing different folders
and choosing to synchronize some
and not synchronize others.
Now that works great if you've got a very small business
and you're in complete control of your IT,
but as you grow to a larger and larger team,
it's harder to manage those kind of things
on a granular basis and well,
it just doesn't really work out.
Now thankfully Google have released Google File Stream,
which is the replacement for,
not Google Drive as a whole,
but just the Google Drive that you install on your computer
and it's got some pretty damn nifty features.
First up, with the new Google File Stream
you're able to access not only everything
that's in your My Drive,
but also any of the files that are siting in Team Drives.
Now, if you haven't already started using Team Drives,
I highly recommend you take a look.
You do need to be on G Suite Business,
not the basic version.
So that means you'll be paying around $10 a month,
rather than five, per user,
but what that means is that you get access
to better levels of restrictions and permissions
for your team based folders.
Definitely wanna check that out.
What this does in Google File Stream,
is brings those Team Drives right down to the desktop
and allows you to access them there.
Secondly, and this is the big one,
File Stream lets you see the whole of your Google Drive
without having to synchronize all of that Cloud stuff
down to your computer.
It means that you've got like,
a virtual window into all of your business data,
but you only download the files as you actually open them.
So, as you go to access a file,
it's in the background,
automatically gonna download that file,
and instantly open it up for you.
Now, not to worry,
you don't have to be connected to the internet 24/7,
if there are files that you need access to,
you can select to have certain files
or folders available offline.
So those ones are always automatically kept in sync
and kept locally on your machine,
so if you need to access them offline,
you're always gonna have access without having to connect
back up to the internet.
What that also means is that
you have better access to Photoshop files,
Word or Excel files,
anything that's working on your computer with a local app,
double clicking on that file is gonna instantly
open in the native app,
instead of having to download it
from Google's web interface and open it manually
and then when you're finished working with it,
save it back in there as well.
It's truly the perfect solution to having a lot of data
online and a lot of data in your business,
but not wanting to clog up everyone of your computers
by pushing down all of that data to everyone's machine.
So, what happens to Google Drive?
Well, the Google Drive app that you know,
isn't really disappearing,
but it's getting a rebrand and a reboot.
It's now being called Google Backup and Sync.
Now it works in exactly the same way,
so if you still wanna download
your whole Google Drive folder to your computer,
or synchronize just a couple of folders,
well, you can still use Backup and Sync to do it,
in the same way that you've been doing it currently.
You will need to redownload the Backup and Sync
and this is Google's way of forcing everyone
to make a decision.
Should I use the more business focused File Stream
or the more consumer focused Backup and Sync?
Now a couple of great extra features that Backup and Sync
does have is the ability to scan your computer for photos
and automatically up them to your Google Photos archive.
Now personally, I would use a personal account for that,
instead of your business account,
but definitely a good option there
if you want it to run both concurrently,
you would sing in to your personal account
on Backup and Sync, and your business account
with Google File Stream.
The other great feature the Backup and Sync has,
is now the ability to backup additional folders
on your computer.
So, you might wanna backup your desktop folder,
or you might wanna backup your documents folder
in your My Documents if you're on a Windows machine.
what that gives you the ability to do is have
peace of mind that stuff that's floating around
your computer is gonna be backed up to Google,
even if you're not diligent enough
to save it into your My Drive.
Now, how do we switch,
if you've got an existing Google Drive set up
over to File Stream?
Well, it's just as simple as going to the Google Website,
downloading the Google File Stream app,
and we'll place a link to that one right bellow,
so you know where you're going,
and sign in with your business account,
and voila, you've got all your of your files
and information there.
Now one of the first things you might wanna do
is make sure that you select any files and folders
that you'd like to have available offline,
and choose Offline sync.
That means that even if you're not connected
to the internet, you're gonna have access
to those important files.
Once you're done with that,
you might wanna uninstall the old Google Drive app,
so it's not bothering you anymore with any warnings,
because it is gonna stop working soon.
Now if you're an active member of our concierge service,
well, you're already gonna have access to our teams help
and assistance, with you rolling out File Stream
for your company.
If you need personalized support,
or hand-holding with the roll out
and the communication to your team,
we've got all the resources to be able to help you.
Not only that, but you have access to Genius Academy
which covers training videos on File Stream,
Google Drive, and the rest of the Google ecosystem.
That means that you and your team can stay productive
with everything in the Google world.
Of course, you also get unlimited concierge access
to our support team for anything you need
for your IT Support needs.
So, if you're not already a member,
head along to IT Genius dot com,
click on the Membership tab
and you'll be able to join there.
(upbeat music)