Google is officially deprecating Drive for Mac/PC it launches Drive File Stream. This was formally announced in a blog post by Google saying that it will no longer be support it as from December 11th, 2017. It also said that it will shut down completely on March 12th, 2018.
Google is not shutting down the Drive without providing an alternative. It is in the same breadth Google has launched Drive File Stream, a new desktop application that allows you to quickly access all of your Google Drive files on demand, directly from your computer, meaning you use almost none of your hard drive space and spend less time waiting for files to sync. This application was launched to early adopters in March this year.
Google officially turned on Drive File Stream for all customers on the 6th of September but it will only show download links in the Drive interface if you currently show them for Backup and Sync / Google Drive for Mac/PC.
You should see settings in the Admin console for Drive File Stream (located at Apps > G Suite > Drive and Docs > Data Access). However please note that these settings won’t go into effect for your users until Tuesday, September 26th, when Drive File Stream becomes generally available.
A few things to note though;
- In October, Drive for Mac/PC users may start seeing messages in the product notifying them that Drive for Mac/PC is going away.
- If a user is running both Drive File Stream and Backup and Sync on the same machine, they’ll be prompted to stop syncing My Drive with Backup and Sync in order to save disk space.
- Team Drive editors won’t be able to edit their Team Drive files when they’re opened in Drive File Stream; they’ll only be able to view them. To edit these files, they’ll need to open them in Drive on the web.
Here is a comparison between Drive File Stream and Backup and Sync
