What you need to know
- Google has offered more details on the switch to Drive for desktop for Mac users.
- People will need to switch from Backup and Sync before year's end.
Google has today offered more details on what the switch from Backup and Sync to Drive for desktop means for Mac users. In short, they have until September to make the switch before they start to be nagged and after files will soon stop syncing altogether.
The move to Drive for desktop will bring with it a unified, easier to use sync client, Google says. That also includes the ability to sync external storage like flash drives and external hard drives to Google Drive, while users can also mirror files on their desktop, too.
The switch to Drive for desktop will apparently happen over the coming weeks, with September 2021 being the date when things will start to get ugly and files will stop syncing. I'd suggest making sure you've made the transition before then, obviously.
In the coming weeks, Backup and Sync users will begin to see prompts asking them to transition to Drive for desktop, which we recommend doing by September 2021. After this point, users will see an in-product notification notifying them they'll need to transition to continue syncing their files.
Google's Drive product is an alternative to iCloud Drive although it is perhaps best compared with Dropbox due to the different levels of integrations within macOS and apps — not least Finder. iCloud Drive is also a better option for those who already pay for storage via Apple One, too.
