Deploy Google Drive File Stream on Mac and Windows

Drive for Desktop vs Google Backup and Sync

As you know, Google Drive File Stream (Drive for Desktop) and Backup and Sync are both desktop app for Google Drive, Drive File Stream is for Google G-Suite users, and Backup and Sync is for Google personal users. But now Drive File Stream and Backup and Sync are unified to Google Drive for desktop, which allows to sync data across devices and provides some features like making files in Drive available offline, uploading photos to Google Photos directly, and so on.

There are some differences between Google Drive File Stream and Backup and Sync, let’s take a look.

Comparison	Drive File Stream (Drive for Desktop)	Backup and Sync
Users	Organization (Work or School)	Personal
Supported OS	Windows 7/8/8.1/10, Server  2012 and higher Mac: El Capitan (10.11) and up High Sierra (10.13) or newer	Windows 7/8/8.1/10 Mac: Sierra (10.12) and up
How Store Files	Store files in the cloud	Store files locally
Use Files in My Drive	√	√
Use files in shared drives	√	-
Sync files/folders to Google Drive	-	√
Upload photos and videos to Google Photos	-	√
Real-time edit presence in Office	√	-
Use your work or school Google account	√	-
Use your personal Google account	√	√
Files Available Offline	√	-
Control automatic updates	√	√
Integrates with Microsoft Outlook, Meet scheduling	√	-
Use native apps, like Microsoft Office & Photoshop	√	√

 

As you can see from the chart, Google Drive File Stream has many advantages for organizations. Therefore, how to deploy Google Drive File Stream for collaborations. This is what we will show you in the following words.

How to Deploy Google Drive File Stream?

To verify your organization could get Google Drive File Stream to work, please do the following things.

1. Use Supported Operating System

Ensure you have the following supported operating system:

• For Windows: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10. Windows Server 2012, 2016, 2019.

• For Mac: El Capitan (10.11) and up. High Sierra (10.13) or newer.

Note: If you want to use Google Drive Files Stream on macOS High Sierra (10.13) or newer, please open Google Drive for Desktop, go to Apple icon > System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General, then click Allow the option “System software from developer ‘Google, LLC’ was blocked from loading”.

2. Use a Supported Browser

The supported browser includes:

• Chrome

• Firefox

• Microsoft Edge

• Safari

Note: Please turn on the cookies and JavaScript for your browser.

3. Uninstall Google Backup and Sync (Optional)

If you have installed Google Backup and Sync app before, it’s recommended to uninstall Google Backup and Sync before installing Google Drive File Stream.

However, please make sure all files you want to sync to Google Drive have been synced. Then uninstall Backup and Sync. And you could delete the Google Drive folder at \Users\%USER%\Google Drive.

Now, you could deploy Google Drive File Stream with the next step.

4. Download and Install Google Drive File Stream (Drive for Desktop)

• For Windows, you could download the file named GoogleDriveFSSetup.exe.

• For Mac, just download the file: GoogleDrive.dmg.

After downloading Google Drive File Stream, double click the file you downloaded and follow the on-screen guide to install it.

Note:

• If you have an ARM-based Windows laptop or tablet, and you cannot use the Drive File Stream, including the Microsoft Surface Pro X.

•  If you have problems installing Google Drive File Stream, please restart the computer and try again.

Once you installed Google Drive File Stream successfully, it will automatically create a drive named Google Drive File Stream, and open it, it has two folders: My Drive, Shared Drive.

• My Drive contains all the content in My Drive at drive.google.com.

• Shared Drive contains all the files located in Shared with me at drive.google.com. You could use it to store, search, and access files with a team.

5. Open Google Drive File Stream

Click Google Drive for Desktop (Google Drive File Stream) icon to open it.

• Windows: Click it at the system tray section (the bottom right corner of your screen).

• Mac: Click it at the top right corner.

Then you could do the following things with Google Drive File Stream:

• Keep My Drive Files available offline.

• See who’s editing Microsoft Office files in real-time

• Send and save files with Microsoft Outlook.

• Switch Google Drive account.

• Pause syncing.

• Disconnect Google Drive account.

• Change Google File Stream offline files location.

What If Google Drive File Stream Storage Full?

After a period of time, you might find the Google Drive File Stream (Drive for desktop) is taking up space and your storage is almost full, what should you do? If you have multiple Google Drive accounts, it’s highly recommended to merge Google Drive accounts via the free cloud backup service CBackup to gain free extra storage space.

Step 1. Please create a free CBackup account, and sign in to the CBackup desktop app.

Step 2. Tap Storage > choose Google Drive, and hit Authorize Now. Then follow the steps to allow CBackup to access Google Drive.

Step 3. Edit the Cloud Name, and Storage Path, then tick the "Note: Please do not change the path directly in the third-party cloud disk, or modify or delete the backup file." option, then hit OK.

Step 4. Just repeat the 2-3 steps to add other Google accounts. And then click Storage > + Add Combined Cloud to merge multiple cloud drives and combine their storage.

Now, just backup files to Google Drive freely without worrying about the limited storage space.

Besides, you could download the CBackup desktop app to backup files to the secure yet cloud storage CBackup Cloud.

The End

The Google Drive File Stream deployment is easy and makes sure your organization meets all the requirements to deploy Google Drive File Stream on your Windows computer or Mac. And most importantly, you can merge Google Drive accounts for free with CBackup. Just try it and explore more useful functions now.