Item: Google Drive
Rating: 10
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Reliable cloud storage for desktop users. The mounted drive is a great way to securely store a large amount of user data and easily share it with other users. It saves on the expense and maintenance of extra local disks or alternate file server options. It's highly available like other managed solutions, to achieve the same level of availability with your own hardware would be expensive.

Pros and Cons

Easy to mount the drive.
Easy to share files with other users.
Easy to access from anywhere.

File retrieval can sometimes feel sluggish if no local copy is cached even if the file is relatively small.
Interactions with Windows directories containing a lot of thumbnails can lock up the system.

Return on Investment

Changes CAPEX hardware purchases into an OPEX subscription but provides higher availability than you would have paid for a desktop user.

Alternatives Considered

Dropbox and OneDrive

Google Drive is more feature rich, it has stronger search capabilities and it's simple and intuitive to use.

Key Insights

Do you think Google Drive delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Google Drive's feature set?

Yes

Did Google Drive live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Google Drive go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Google Drive again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

It's a great way of providing a lot of storage to a desktop user in scenarios where you can't add storage or would prefer not to.
It wouldn't be a great storage option for performant applications if no local copy of the data exists, for example you wouldn't install an application to your drive but you would store documents, pictures etc.

Google Drive The Review

Overall Satisfaction with Google Drive