Google announce Google Drive - Howto installing & using

As you know about Cloud Storage servers such as Dropbox, SugarSync and Microsoft SkyDrive (I've talked in previous thread). today, Google official announce Google Drive, a place where you can create, edit, collaborate and keep your stuff, and a very strong competitor to Microsoft SkyDrive, Apple iCloud and DropBox.

Google Drive lets you easily upload files, videos, photos, PDF files, Google Docs and more. In addition to the above mentioned features, there is another cool feature available if you are a Google Docs lover. Google Docs is built right into Google Drive! So, creating, editing or managing your Google Docs is fairly simple job now.

See more information in this video:

Currently, Google Drive application is available for Windows, Mac and Android operating systems. An app for iOS devices is coming soon. And the best part of the service is that you can search everything using a keyword right from your computer.

Google Drive offers 5GB of storage for free. Power users can upgrade to 25GB for $2.49/month, 100 GB for $4.99/month, and 1TB for $49.99/month. Upgrading to a paid Google Drive account will also increase your Gmail account storage limit to 25GB. Google plans to add more features to the service in coming months. Visit the download page to begin using Google’s new service.

Visit this official announcement page for more information about the service.

Download Google Drive

Installing and setting the the client on Windows machine is fairly simple. Simply follow the given below instructions to download, install and setup Google Drive on your PC.

Step 1: Visit this page to download the web installer and then run the setup to download and install the program.

Step 2: Once the installation is complete, you will see Sign in to Google Drive dialog where you need to enter your Google credentials to login.

Step 3: Just like SkyDrive’s setup, Google Drive’s setup also creates a special folded in C:\Users\UserName directory. To select another location, click Advanced setup during installation, click on the Change button next to Folder location and then browse to the location where you wish to save the folder.

Step 4: Finally, click Start sync button to begin using Google Drive on your computer. Google Drive automatically starts with Windows. When the application is running, you will see a small icon in the system tray and a folder icon in Windows Explorer Favorites area. Simply drag-and-drop a file to Google Drive folder to sync the file.

Right-click on Google Drive’s icon in the system tray to quickly open Google Drive folder, pause or resume sync, visit your Google Drive on the web, view items shared, buy more storage space, view used storage space, and change preferences. Options to disconnect account and change default sync options are available under preferences.