To further head off any confusion, let's talk about Drive File Stream, a tool mentioned in that post. So this wasn't even intended for everyday consumers. The funniest part about last week's Google Drive fake news: Google announced the date of Drive's demise in a blog post for IT administrators who offer Google's G Suite productivity tools to employees. If you're new to it, however, check out ' Get started with Google's Backup and Sync app.' What is Drive File Stream? It's a pretty easy tool to use, especially if you were already syncing with its Drive app predecessor. You can use Backup and Sync to back up the contents of your entire computer, or just selected folders. Google's free utility replaces both the Drive and Photos desktop apps for Windows PCs and Macs. If you fall into that camp, this news isn't news at all nothing to see here, move along. Rather, they access Drive in a browser (and/or on phones and tablets), in which case there's no additional sync software required. Which is totally fine, because Google released Backup and Sync back in July.īut before we delve further into that, it's worth noting that many users don't even bother with Google's desktop apps. Just to be totally clear, only the Google Drive apps for Windows and Mac are approaching end-of-life. Here's what you need to know about the future of Drive. Rather, it's the Google Drive app that's being terminated, and that's only because it's being replaced. For fans of Google Drive, the headlines last week seemed alarming: 'Google Drive shutting down in March!' 'Google Drive is dead!'Īlthough Google does plan to make a change early next year, the Drive service itself isn't going anywhere.

Google drive desktop going away