Google Drive or Dropbox

Where to store your files in the cloud?

The 2 big boys are Google Drive and Dropbox; there are others, of course, but we’ll just look at these two today.

The best solution is to use both, but you need to know the strengths of each, so you can decide what to store where.

They both store files (documents) in the cloud for you; for backup, collaboration or sharing.

Both let you share selected documents with other people.

Both have free versions available with limited storage.

DROPBOX

• syncs just your changes so uses less data
• easy to keep local versions of your documents (handy if travelling by plane)
• you can fine-tune your sync options eg keep local copies of some of your files, but not all
• searching is not as good as Google Drive
• you have more sharing options than Google Drive

GOOGLE DRIVE

• a bit safer than Dropbox, although both are very secure
• Google Drive does have better encryption
• far better searching: Google Drive search is excellent (see image)
• will search for text and items with images and pdf’s (Dropbox now has this for Professional and Business accounts)
• Google Photos is incredible – it sorts and labels automatically, and you can set up your phone to backup all photos automatically to Google Photos
• by far the best for collaborative editing of documents. It is brilliant! You can allow people to edit, suggest or make comments on your documents.

BEST SOLUTION

The best solution is to use both! You could use Google Drive for collaboration and photos, and Dropbox for backup and when you need local versions of your documents.

You get heaps of space this way and the best of both worlds.

The one big caveat is that you MUST have a system or set of rules for what is stored where – otherwise you’ll spend frustrating time trying to remember which cloud storage each document is on.

Of course, for Microsoft-centric users there is OneDrive; and for mac users – iCloud