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Managing cloud storage is never fun. Up until today, Google offered 10GB of online storage for Gmail users, and for those using Drive or Google+ instant upload, 5GB of completely separate storage. To help make things a little easier on its users, Google has just announced that users will no longer have to manage separate clouds for Gmail, Drive and Google+. That’s right, starting today, Drive and Google+’s 5GB of free storage, will now be combined with Gmail’s 10GB of storage, creating a single unified chunk of cloud storage in the sky.
To help manage this, Google is also rolling out an update to their Drive storage page, making it easier to see at a glance, how you’re using your cloud storage. Need even more storage? It’s only $5 a month for 100GB. While it was announced today, Google mentions this will be rolling out over the next few weeks, so don’t freak if you haven’t seen the changes right away.
[via Google]
This is also coming to Google Apps users (in the coming weeks), who get 30 gigs of free storage. What isn’t clear, however, is what is going to happen to those Google Apps users paying $2.50/mo for 25 gigs of storage.
The announcement for Google Apps users can be found here:
http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2013/05/bringing-it-all-together-for-google.html
Well, I see the unification as inevitable because they want to make everything on Android work through Google like iCloud for iOS.
Not sure if this is that great. Wasn’t Google+ storage unlimited before? I guess this is a great move for people who mostly use Drive and don’t have much in Gmail or G+.
G+ is unlimited as well as G+ average quality photo uploads. But if you choose to upload from your Android phone full quality photos, we are capped to, I think 5 GB now?
Correct. I was hitting my limit and was on their website yesterday looking at prices.
I’m pleased to see this announcement as I have plenty of space in gmail.
Quality is not the correct term. It’s a SIZE restriction. I checked and you can upload unlimited pics if max size is 2048px.
Meanwhile in 2004: Whaaaaaaat? One whole gigabyte!!!?
Storage should of increased a lot more, going from 1 gig to 15 gigs really isnt that much for a close to 10 year span.
I think it’s being hindered by our internet speeds. Once/if Google Fiber rolls out everywhere and we can start streaming, uploading, downloading, and backing up HD+ content, storage will be forced to accomodate. That or move to the cloud.
Great for me; I’m bumping against my Drive limit but still have plenty of space in gMail. Plus is a non-issue for me, so… yay!
Same here. This is awesome.
When does this go into effect? On my drive app it still stays 5gb
They announced it today, but it’s rolling out over the next couple of weeks. Can’t say for sure when you’ll get it, but it should be soon. :)
Good to know it’s coming.. Always thought it was wiered that drive and g+ had 5gb where as Gmail had 10gb if anything it should have been the other way though glad that they are unifying it all, just makes sense.. Really liking the direction Google is going with all its services and unifying them eventually…
Next: Chrome and Android? :P
My gmail app says I only have 10.1 GB
Give it time. It’ll come…
Bye Bye Dropbox…
Except for the millions of us who took advantage of the 50GB Dropbox promo…
If memory serves me right it was time limited.
Yeah, it’s supposed to expire about a year from now for the Samsung promo, but I really do expect 50GB to be the new standard by then.
im just worried since anything uploaded to google drive practically becomes googles property. thats why i stuck with dropbox.
Awesome news!
There sure are a lot of people looking this gift horse in the mouth. This is FREE storage! You are not paying for it so quit complaining how “small” it is as compared to what you think it should be. 15GiB is more than enough space to store your important photos and popular music. If you are storing more important stuff in the cloud you may want to think twice. While it may be secure from external eyes, Google is probably making copies of all of it for later use (and/or abuse).
Why does my Drive still say I have 5gb?
you should also consider COPY! It’s a new cloud storage service starting from 20GB FREE here: https://copy.com/?r=1CYg4t after you confirm your email and install the app. but hurry up before they drop this generous launch offer. Copy is from Barracuda networks, a reliable network appliance and security company coming into data storage. it seems like a better setup to me; as long as it is not a proof of concept, I think it will last. But most important of all, Copy lets you sync ANY folder no matter where it is on your computer. Even external drives. You can’t do that with Google Drive or Dropbox.