Google Drive: 5 things you need to know!

 

Gone are the days when Dropbox was the definitive choice for our cloud storage solutions. Since then a host of services have launched. Google Drive is the latest. It offers users up 16 terabytes of storage to rival fellow cloud storage services Dropbox and Microsoft SkyDrive. Is Google Drive really any different? Here are 5 things you need to know.

From how much space is on offer to the latest technology powering its features: here are five things worth knowing about the latest cloud storage service on the block. 



Up to 16 terabytes of storage


 Google Drive will offer users up to 16 terabytes of storage for movies, photos, documents and more. The first 5GB are free. Once users upgrade to a paid account their Gmail storage automatically expand to 25GB. Users can upgrade to 100GB, 1TB or 16TB.

Collaborate on and share documents

Google Drive lets users store documents, spreadsheets, drawings and stay organised, also letting users share and work on items simultaneously. Changes to work are saved in real-time so you’ll never lose any saved work no matter how many others are working on the same project.

Optical Character Recognition tech: Scan in documents and search keywords within them

Using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology users can upload an image of a newspaper or magazine clipping to Google Drive and be able to search and filter keywords within the article(s).

Google Drive has already made rivals sit up and take notice

Rival service Dropbox now lets non-members access files via links without having to sign up to the service, letting more users use the service with less hassle.

What about iPhones?

Google Drive can be installed to Mac, PC and Android smartphones and tablets letting users access their files wherever they are. A mobile version for Apple iOS devices is in the works, and should be arriving in the coming weeks.