How to Back Up Google Drive Files

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Sometimes backing up your data in cloud storage isn’t enough. It’s always better to have a separate copy of all the files you want to be backed up in a safe location like an external hard disk or somewhere safer than the drive. This article is about how to back up google drive files. 

Several users have experienced issues with Google Drive itself. It is important to have a backup especially when you might not be able to access them in need. So, we have created this guide that might help you out in all the ways possible to backup your data on an external hard drive, on your system, on Google Takeout, etc.

You can use several methods to back up your data; we have listed a few of those in this article. Feel free to try them all and see what works for you. 

How to Back Up Google Drive Files to an External Hard Disk

If the size of the data you want to back up isn’t large, you can simply use a portable external hard disk that can be accessed at all times. It is the best way you can surely create a backup of your google drive files and keep it secured especially when you have confidential data on your drive.

Let us look at the steps you can follow to backup Google Drive Files.

  • Open up your laptop or computer. 
  • Select your preferred browser and go to the Google Drive website. 
  • Enter your details and log in. 
  • You can select the files you want to backup manually by clicking and downloading them individually. Subsequently, you can also press the Ctrl+A shortcut on Windows. Or the Command-A shortcut on Mac to select all the files.
How to Back Up Google Drive Files
  • Now, right-click on the screen and download them all at once. 

Once the files are saved on your laptop’s hard disk, you can connect your external hard drive and transfer the zip file from your computer to the hard drive. 

This method is extremely simple and requires no special software to execute. The only two bottlenecks that this method can face are your download speed and the available space on your hard disk. 

However, you will need to manually repeat the same process every time you want to update the files or make any other changes. 

Read How to Backup iPhone to Google Drive

Using Google Drive for Desktop or Mac to Backup and Sync

You can download the Google Drive app on your PC or Mac, enabling you to backup and sync your data in real-time. First off, you’ll need to go to the Google Drive website and download it for your system.

Then you need to follow the necessary steps to install the software on your system. It hardly takes a few minutes to get things started after which you can then start backup your data on your Mac from your Google Drive.

1. Mirroring Files

You can choose to either mirror or stream your files on Google Drive. Mirroring takes up more space as the files in your Drive are also downloaded and stored on your computer’s hard disk. 

There will be a special folder, and if you’re connected to the internet, whatever changes you make in that folder will be reflected on your Drive and vice versa. 

2. Streaming Files

Alternatively, the other option is streaming your files. When you stream a file, that particular file is only uploaded to the Drive. It won’t be stored on your system’s hard disk. 

If you choose a file and make it available offline, the file will be downloaded and saved on your computer. You won’t be able to access the files that you haven’t made available offline if you don’t have an internet connection.

Once you have done the backup, your system will not automatically sync files from Google Drive to your system every time you log in to your Mac.

You can even choose to pause the process from the taskbar itself or even choose to change the folder location.

Read How to Automatically Backup Photos to Google Drive

Using Google Takeout to Transfer Your Content 

You can transfer the entire content of your Google Workspace account, which includes the files on your Drive and all the emails on your Gmail account.

  • Open Google Takeout.
  • Log in to your Google Account.
  • Click on Deselect.
  • Now, scroll down and select the option Drive.
Back Up Google Drive Files
  • Make the necessary selection about the type of file and frequency.
  • Finally, click on Create Export.

This will create a zip file of all your Google Drive files and send it to you email or any other destination you have selected.

Read How to Backup Google Drive to an External Hard Drive

Conclusion

As you can see, there are several ways you can transfer and backup the files present from your Google Drive. Furthermore, Some methods are much faster and more accessible than others. So, feel free to try each of them out. Use the one which you find the easiest and suits your needs the best.

You can do the same for all your devices whether you are using Windows or any other operating system. The process might be slightly different. But overall this is how you are supposed to backup any type of file on your devices from Google Drive.

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