Google’s online storage service, Google Drive is finally available after years of rumors. It has certain advantages over Microsoft's SkyDrive.
- Google Drive requires only a Google account.
- Installing Google Drive on your computer creates a Google Drive folder, files in there sync automatically to the cloud. Google Drive also uses tiny indicators atop your icons to indicate whether files are still syncing or fully backed up onto Google's servers, unlike SkyDrive's.
- Google Drive allows you to choose files and folders to sync selectively.
- Google Drive also syncs hard copies of your Google Docs documents to your desktop.
- Search is a pain with SkyDrive as it only peers into documents in Office file formats. Google Drive’s search is far more advanced: in addition to Office formats, search works in any format Google Docs can save to (ODF, PDF, TXT).
- Character recognition makes scanned content -- like newspaper clippings -- just as searchable.
- Google Drive comes with Google Goggles image search technology built-in, and image search results were pretty impressive.
- In order to view media files from SkyDrive, you will have to download them first. Google Drive has a great feature that generates a preview any time a video is uploaded.
- Google Drive users are given a variety of capacity options to suit their needs. The cheapest is 25 GB for $2.49 per month. Additional storage options are available to 16 TB, although that sets you back $800 each month.
