Can I sync Google Drive to desktop?

“Hello. I want to have a copy of all my Google Drive files right on my desktop. I did this in the past by downloading files from Google Drive to desktop manually through the website of Google Drive. Now, I want to be able to sync Google Drive with desktop automatically so that I can have a copy of Google Drive files in real-time. How to sync Google Drive on desktop? Please give me some suggestions, thanks!”

Why sync Google Drive to desktop?

Under normal circumstances, people mainly perform Google Drive desktop backup to meet their needs for the following three reasons:

Make a copy of vital files: It is a usual practice to keep important files and photos on different devices. There must be some important data in Google Drive that you need to make a copy of them and keep the copy on another location such as desktop to prevent losing all data at once.

Easily open and work on files: For instance, you can open a Word file in Microsoft Word and make changes. After saving the file, the changed version will be automatically synced back to Google Drive. This eliminates the need to download and upload non-Google files.

Access files offline: No internet connection is required to access all synchronized non-Google files. When you are online again, any changes made to these files will be automatically sync backed to Google Drive.

Easiest way to sync Google Drive to desktop

Google released an auto desktop sync tool called Backup and Sync for both Mac and Windows operating systems, which replaces the Google Photos desktop uploader and Drive for Mac PC to help users sync the files and photos between Google Drive and local so safely.

Users will just have to select the folder they want to backup and the rest will be taken care of by the Google Backup and Sync. Meanwhile, the Google automatic sync tool allows you to sync either all the contents of your My Drive, or just selected folders. These instructions are for installing the Google Drive desktop app for PC and how to connect Google Drive to desktop:

1. Access the Google Drive web interface. Negative to “Download Backup and Sync” and click on it. Once the file has downloaded, click on the name of the download to start the installation.

2. After that, a quick splash screen will let you know what the app is all about. Click “GET STARTED” to set up the app.

3. If you previously had the Google Drive app installed, Backup and Sync should automatically log in to your Google Account. If not, you’ll need to log in.

4. When you come to the “My Computer” part, you can select the folders from your computer you want to sync, and they’ll sync to your cloud storage.

5. In the “Google Drive” section, you can choose what folders to sync from your Google Drive cloud storage, and they’ll appear in a Google Drive folder on your PC. Anything you put into that folder will also sync to Google Drive.

6. Click “Start” to sync files between Google Drive and desktop.

✎Note:

☛If you are seeking instruction for how to sync Google Drive to desktop on Mac, you can also refer to the steps above to and operate on Mac.

☛If some error such as “Google Backup and Sync not working”, “Google Backup and Sync stuck” occurs, you can use a Google Backup and Sync alternative to sync files.

Backup your Google Drive to another cloud directly for data security

However, it’s worth pointing out that the files you synced from Google Drive will occupy the storage space on your desktop. With too many files storing on your desktop, your computer will run slower and slower. Therefore, if you just want to make a copy of your data in Google Drive, you are suggested to backup your Google Drive files to another cloud directly with a tool like CBackup. 

CBackup is a professional cloud backup service that can help you backup Google Drive to OneDrive, Dropbox, etc. directly. And it offers many useful backup settings to help you save backup efforts and time. What's more, CBackup is very easy to use and the cloud-to-cloud backup is free in CBackup, don't hesitate to use it.

Let’s see how to backup your Google Drive files to another cloud with CBackup:

1. Create an account for CBackup, click the download button below to install it on your computer, and sign in.

2. Click Storage, select your clouds and click “Authorize Now”. Then sign in to your account and authorize CBackup to access and manage your files on the cloud.

3. Click on the “Backup” tab at the top of the page, then, click the “Backup Public Cloud to Public Cloud” button.

4. Name your backup task, add Google Drive or some Google Drive files as the backup source, and add another cloud (e.g. OneDrive) as the backup destination.

5. Click “Start Backup” in the lower right corner to backup files from Google Drive to other clouds.

✎Note: You can click the Settings button to enjoy scheduled backup, file filter, and email notification.

Conclusion

You can follow the detailed steps above to sync Google Drive to desktop. With Backup and Sync, you can set up both two-way and one-way Google Drive sync. If you don’t want to waste your local storage, you can also backup Google Drive files to another cloud storage with CBackup to protect your data in cloud easily and safely.