How to Backup Google Drive Data to Computer in 2024?

Google Drive is a cloud-based utility that allows you to store your doc, excel, PDF, etc files securely on the cloud so that you can access them from anywhere and any device. You can open and edit your files from anywhere and at any time (provided you have an internet connection). But, storing all the critical and confidential information in a cloud account is not a good practice. Because most Google users synchronize their accounts on multiple devices and which cloud leads to insecurity of drive data. This blog is aimed at discussing why we should take backup of Google Drive files, & a manual and an automated solution that can help you to take Google Drive backup easily.

Why You Should Take a Backup of Your Google Drive Data?

Let’s explore the user scenarios that made us think that we must back up Google Drive locally.

Scenario #1: “I have been using Google Drive for over 2 years now. I have saved all of my important data in G Drive. Now, I have this Google Drive Out of Space issue that is irritating me to the core. I cannot find a solution to this out-of-storage problem. Please suggest to me a solution to save files from Google Drive to a computer”. 

Scenario #2: “I can access all of my websites & applications using my WiFi internet connection but the G Drive says that Google Drive cannot connect to the internet. Please help me with the fix. Thanks in advance.”

Scenario #3: “All of a sudden today, I am getting this error which is: Google Drive cannot sync because the folder is missing. Everything was fine yesterday but when now it tells me that the sync cannot be done”.

Looking at the above scenarios we can conclude with the following issues which lead to the need to backup Google Drive data.

1. Google Drive runs Out of Memory or in other words, the storage space of the Drive is full.
2. The Google Drive cannot connect to the internet & shows an error.
3. Google Drive cannot sync because the folders are missing
4. To be able to access Google Drive Offline & keep a copy of it on the local drive.

Proposed Solution

The only solution to the above scenarios is to back up Google Drive locally. This would allow you to:

• Free space from your Google Drive by deleting all the files after they have been transferred to your hard drive.
• Access important files of G Drive even when you are not connected to the internet.
• Access My Drive files even in case of Google Drive errors or outages.

How to take Google Drive Backup?

After discussing the need to take a backup of Google Drive, let’s know the ways by which we can transfer Google Drive’s data offline. We can copy files from G drive to an SD card or PC using the following two approaches:

• Manually Save Drive data from Google 
• Automatically Backup Data from G Drive

Now, let us move further in the article and see both of these solutions in an explained manner. 

How to Manually Backup and Save Google Drive Data? – Manual Approach

Google provides you with an inbuilt functionality to save files from Google Drive to your computer manually. To know how, please see the following steps:

• Step 1: Go to takeout.google.com and log into your Google account.
• Step 2: Deselect all the selected items and choose the “Google Drive” tab, click Continue.
• Step 3: Select the location for the archive download link and the size of the archive files.
• Step 4: Click on the Create Archive button to continue. 
  • Google will take some time (hours or possibly days) to create the archive for drive data. The time taken to create an archive depends upon the size of the data stored in the Google Drive account.
• Step 5: After the archive is created, click on finish and download the archive.

That’s all for the manual solution. Unfortunately, this method contains certain limitations which hinder the process from becoming an optimum solution for users. Let’s have a look at the drawbacks in the next segement.

Limitations of the Manual Solution

• Using the above manual method, the user has to wait until Google creates the archive for download. Even the number of attempts to download the archive is limited.
• In case, due to the internet connection, the download fails more than 5 times, then you need to request for archive again. This makes the process way more tedious than any other.

So to make it easier for the user, we should try an automated tool to backup and save Google Drive data locally.

Read More: How to Export Gmail Contacts Using Quick Ways

Save Files From Google Drive to Computer Using an Automated Tool

An automated tool is the best solution to take Google Drive backup as they don’t require creating an archive before downloading the Google Drive data. For this, experts suggest only the best Gmail Backup Software which helps you to back up emails, contacts, calendars, and Drive metadata in an efficient & easy manner. Additionally, during the backup process, it also provides features such as:

• User-friendly Software interface.
• It is less time-consuming & tiresome.
• Saves files in a well-arranged folder-wise format.
• Download multiple files from Google Drive at once.
• Shows progress status & generates migration report.
• Incremental backup to prevent backup of duplicated data.
• Keeps the formatting of the documents, excel sheets, etc intact.
• Automatically move Google Drive files to an SD card, desktop, or hard drive.
• Export Gmail emails to PST, MSG, EML, PDF, and other popular file and document formats.

Steps to Take Google Drive Backup Using Automated Tool

• Step 1: Download the software & install it. Enter the credentials and log in to the Gmail account via the tool.
  
• Step 2: Select the export type and backup Category. If you want to download only Google Drive files, then select the document option.
  
• Step 3: Browse & select the output folder of your choice.
  
• Step 4: Click on Start to begin the process to take Google Drive backup.
  

And that’s all the steps! Following all the above-mentioned steps, you will be able to see the progress status while the download is still in process. Afterward, you will be notified once the G Drive backup is complete & you can view the output folder. 

Also Read: Use the Effective Ways to Extract All the Email Addresses From Gmail Account

Time to Conclude

In this post, we have discussed what is Google Drive and why we backup Google Drive data. We have explained both manual & and automated methods in this write-up. Now, we can say that using a trusted and efficient third-party solution to save files from Google Drive to a computer. Before buying the suggested Google Drive backup tool it’s preferable to first use the trial version to check its efficiency.

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