A preliminary discussion on Google Drive and Dropbox

1. Google Drive™ and Dropbox™
A Primer
Derek Van Buer
dvanbuer@gmail.com
815 793 4451

2. Cloud Storage
 Google Drive™ and Dropbox™ started off as cloud storage
 Google Drive™ and Dropbox™ were developed initially for the consumer
market
 Google Drive™ and Dropbox™ are part of an application platform that
Forrester Wave™ has labeled File Sync and Share, which there are a
number of vendors

3. Business Versions
 Dropbox for Business™
 Google Apps for Business™
This discussion is on the consumer versions of Dropbox™ and Google Drive™

4. Different Functionality for Platforms
 Computers (PC & Mac) automatically sync files and store files locally
 Mobile devices (phones and tablets) do not automatically store files locally so
there is not an automatic sync of all files

5. Computer Platform
 Create an account
 Download and install software (for Google™: Google Drive for PC™ or Google
Drive for Mac™; Dropbox™ – Download Dropbox™)
 Installation program will ask where to place folder (Google drive™ or
Dropbox™) - Select “My Documents” for Windows computers and
“Documents” for Macs
Tip: Create a business and a personal account on Dropbox™ or Google Drive™.
Create two accounts on your PC or Mac – one for Business and one for Personal,
and you can associate the appropriate Dropbox™ and Google Drive™ to the user
account on the computer.

6. Mobile Platform
All files in Dropbox™ or Google Drive™ are not stored locally on your phone or
tablet. You can select individual files to be downloaded to your mobile device, and
these files will be synced with the cloud. There are some 3rd party apps to enable
full or some folders sync for android devices, but not for Apple™ devices.
In most cases, you will require either a wifi or 3G/4G connection to access all your
files stored in either Google Drive™ or Dropbox™.

7. Offline Access - Mobile
 Google Drive™ provides native offline access to files by selecting the checkbox
next to Available offline
 Dropbox™ provides native offline access to files that you have selected as a
favorite

8. Android Apps
 FolderSync™ (supports both Dropbox™ and Google Drive™)
 DropSync™ - free and pro versions (supports Dropbox only)
 DropSpace™ (supports Dropbox™ only: works only for files on SD card)

9. Versioning
 Google Drive™ and Dropbox™ both provide versioning
 Dropbox™ keeps all versions of a file for the last 30 days. To see previous
versions, click on the file using a browser, and select “Previous versions” to
display a list of versions
 Google Drive™ may prune your revisions for a particular file if the file
becomes too large, or it was created a long time ago. You can see what
revisions other collaborators made to the file, and you have the ability to
restore from a previous revision. Similar to Dropbox™, you access the file
using a browser to display the version list.

10. Sharing Files – Dropbox™
If a person has a Dropbox ™account that you wish to share files with, the folder
that you shared with them is displayed in their Dropbox™ account. What that
means is that those files are added to their account, and hence, counts against
their account storage capacity. Also, it means that if the person moves the file
from their Dropbox™ folder to their local drive (not in the Dropbox™ folder), it is
deleted from your Dropbox™ account. However, you can recover the deleted file
easily (using the version feature).
If the person doesn’t have a Dropbox™ account, you can still share the file with
them. You send them a URL link to the file. There is no security prompt for them
to access the file.

11. Sharing Files – Google Drive™
 You can share a single file or a folder
 You can share the link via email, Goggle+™, Facebook™, or Twitter™
 You make the access Private (only people listed can have access), Anyone with
the link (allows people to forward the link to other people), Public on the web
(anyone on the web can find and access the file)
 Editors can be allowed to add people and change the permissions or the
owner can define only the owner can make these changes
 Sharing folders and files are similar. If you remove a file form a shared folder,
the file is no longer available to the people with access to the folder

12. Scenarios
 For individual access to files, both Google Drive™ or Dropbox™ work well
 For a shared repository of files (everyone using the same account),
Dropbox™ is better because there are not other applications associated
with the account like Google™ (email, voice mail, etc)

13. Demo
How a law firm uses Dropbox™