Okay you’ve likely seen both of these products. So what’s the diff?

Google Drive can be used by both non-commercial (free Gmail) and commercial (G-Suite) users. And in Google’s mind, these two types of users require different things out of a cloud storage solution.

Understanding Google’s assumptions about these two classes of users helps explain why there’s a schism in the product-line and not just one huge universal application for Mac’s and PC’s called Google Drive.

Non-Commercial Users - Google Drive Backup and Sync

Now, Google presumes that non-commercial users just need a convenient way to back-up files on their computer and that’s what Google Drive Backup and Sync does.

When a file is added to the user’s desktop (or any folder of their choice), the user’s data is instantly backed-up to the user’s Google Drive. When a file is changed on the computer, it’s sync’d with Drive; if a file is changed in the cloud, then it’s sync’d with the computer. Those files then follow the same rules as any other file found in the user’s Google Drive.

So this is a common backup and sync process. It offers some degree of convenience in that users can access their critical files anywhere through Google’s ecosystem - even through the Google Drive App, for example.

However, Backup and Sync’s main purpose is disaster recovery. If the PC gets lost, stolen, or destroyed, all the user would need do is install Google Drive Backup and Sync again and their critical files would be restored to their new machine. Easy peasy.

Still, we can’t ignore Google’s business model when examining this product. Backup and Sync is an up-sell opportunity for Google. The more data a user is backing up through Backup and Sync, the more cloud storage they’ll need, the more storage they have to buy, and the more storage that’s populated with juicy consumer data, the more it can use that data for marketing (remember: non-commercial users are offered a free application for a reason). Like many things on the Internet, Google is offering a utility that extends value and convenience to their users at the price of their privacy.

Commercial Users - Google Drive File Stream

Google Drive File Stream works a bit differently.

It creates a virtual disk drive that redirects to the user’s Google Drive. In this case, the file isn’t actually stored on the user’s computer or sync’d when there’s changes. File Stream just presents files in a way so that they can be streamed to the user on demand from the cloud.

This makes a lot of sense in corporate environments.

For starters, corporations tend to have many more files than what a typical PC could store on its own disk drive. Backup and Sync is impractical for this purpose since its function is to synchronize files between the PC and the Google Drive; so much corporate data would quickly fill up the hard drive of a PC especially in the age of SSD’s (Solid State Drives).

Secondly, corporations have a security concern. They don’t want to leave files on uncontrolled endpoints (like PC’s) where they could be read or copied. Corporations want to rotate a user’s password and deny access; File Stream allows for that.

Thirdly, Goggle presumes that the non-commercial user doesn’t need to share their files to others in real time, unlike the corporate world where two or more people may be trying to access the same file at once. There needs to be a means of managing file contention for binary files like Word, Excel, PowerPoint or PDF files, and that’s only provided by Google Drive File Stream.

Finally, corporate users have centralized file shares that they want to make available to their team. File Stream gives the user access to the G-Suite domain’s Shared Folders.

When to Use Both

Practically, the G-Suite user could use both applications - Backup and Sync to protect the data on their local hard drive and File Stream to access their Google Drive and their company’s Shared Folders. G-Suite users are covered under a different End User License Agreement that retains the confidentiality and privacy of their data, unlike non-commercial users.

That’s not a bad strategy for the G-Suite user, particularly if the user doesn’t have any other form of file backup on their computer and if the user wants to centralize their cloud activities to Google and leverage that storage investment.