Google Backup & Sync
The promise of free cloud backup is alluring, but Google’s offering is short on both space and features
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PRICE Free from google.com/drive/ download
Google’s Backup & Sync package is the evolution of the old Google Drive app: as well as synchronising files across multiple computers, it lets you mark selected folders for backup. Their contents will then be uploaded to Google’s cloud for safekeeping, but they won’t sync to other devices.
Google Backup & Sync’s major selling point is that if you have only a handful of files to protect, it’s completely free. Every Google account comes with 15GB of complimentary storage, and while this also has to accommodate your Gmail archives and Google Drive content, there should be a few gigabytes left over for essential backups.
If you need more space, you can step up to 100GB for a modest £16 a year, and there are plenty of larger options too, such as 2TB for £80 a year. You’ll note, however, that other cloud backup systems give you larger allowances – or even unlimited storage – for lower prices.
Next to those other services, Backup & Sync also feels rather rudimentary. There’s no way to back up your system drive, no control over encryption and no configurable backup schedule – the service simply runs continuously in the background, giving you no control over what it does or when.
On the plus side, Google isn’t short on bandwidth, and our 2GB test folder was backed up to its servers in just 29mins 39secs. The web-based file restoration process can be a drag, though: if you want to retrieve a whole folder, the web client will insist on wrapping it up into a ZIP file before befo it can be downloaded, which added a wait of nearly three minutes before our files started coming back down the line.
Still, the web interface also presents a 30-day version history of every file you upload, which doesn’t count against your storage quota. And you can store an unlimited number of images and videos, as long as their resolution doesn’t exceed 16 megapixels or 1080p (larger items can be automatically downsampled, or uploaded as they are, and counted against your storage quota). And if you’re already using Google Drive, it’s certainly neat to have the same client take care of cloud backups b ckups too.
Ultimately, however, Google Backup ackup & Sync is a pretty limited offering. If you just want to use the free service to protect a few folders then its shortcomings aren’t too offensive, but if you’re at all tempted to shell out for more storage space, you should consider investing nvesting in a more serious cloud backup ckup tool instead.