How to make sure your Google Photos sync to Google Drive

The new ‘upload from drive’ feature which Google introduced recently can be rather confusing for users, especially if your backup has been on auto-pilot since you set up your Google Photos and Drive account (which was probably years ago). But in case you weren’t aware, Google Photos is a cloud service offered by Google to store all your photos and videos that worked in automatic sync with Google Drive before this new change.

Before this new feature was introduced, everything that used to be backed up on Photos would also automatically be backed in Google Drive and vice versa. That’s not the case now. Google Photos and Drive have become separate entities from July 10, 2019.  So you now have to ensure that photos from your phone are backed up in Google Drive as well as Google Photos because the backup won’t happen on its own anymore.

RELATED: How to back up your Android device

How to ensure your photos are backing up to Google through Photos app

The process is fairly simple. Just follow these steps:

Step 1: Open the Google Photos app on your phone.

Step 2: Tap the menu button on the top-left.

Step 3: Go to ‘Settings‘.

Step 4: Select ‘Backup & Sync’.

Step 5: Enable the ‘Backup & Sync‘ option

You’re good to go! All your photos will resume backing up from Photos to Drive after this.

Why should you save photos to Google Drive

Google Drive offers you the ability to seamlessly backup your photos to your Google account which is a handy feature to backup your photos. These backed up photos can then be accessed and downloaded by you through the web, the desktop app or the mobile app. Saving your photos to Google Drive is an easy way of ensuring that you do not lose track of your memories in case you end up losing your phone or other devices in the future.

Additionally, you also get the ability to access your photo library from multiple devices simultaneously which makes it easier for people that own different devices. If you are a photographer, then this feature can be exceptionally handy to you as it eliminates the need to carry your library on a physical Drive in case you need to transfer it between devices for further editing.

Hence saving your photos to Google Drive is an easy way of backing up your photos and accessing them from various devices without the need for a physical storage device.

How to add more photo folders to sync

To add more photo folders to sync online, open your Google Photos app, tap Library > View all (in front of Photos on device) > select a folder > Toggle on the Backup and sync option.

How to add any folder to sync to Google Drive

Google does not allow you to natively sync external local folders to your Google Drive automatically but there are many third-party apps out there that you can use for this purpose. We recommend using Autosync Google Drive by MetaCtrl. Download the app and grant the necessary permissions to get you started.

You will then need to connect your Google Drive account to the app, if you have multiple Google accounts signed in to your Android device, you can select the one you want to use for backup during this step. After the setup is complete, simply tap on ‘Choose what to Sync’ and get started. The remote folder is the field where you want your backup to be stored on Google Drive while the local folder field will let you select a folder on your device to automatically sync to the cloud.

Simply tap on save next and your local folder will automatically be set up to sync to your Google Drive account. You can even modify your sync intervals in the settings menu of the app which will let you decide how often your folder gets synced to the cloud.

How to check how much Google Drive space do you have?

Checking your storage space on Google Drive is a fairly simple process. Simply open up your Google Drive app and open the sidebar using the menu icon in the top right corner of your screen. You will see your storage details at the bottom of the sidebar which will show you your total storage as well as how much space you have left in Google Drive.

If you do not have the Google Drive app, you can use this link to directly download it to your smartphone from the Play Store.

How to buy more storage on Google Drive

Head over to your Google Drive app and open the sidebar using the menu icon in the top left corner of your screen. At the bottom of your sidebar, Google will display the amount of storage you have used in Google Drive.

Tap on it, and the app will redirect you to a storage page where you will be able to acquire additional storage on your Google Drive. Simply select the plan that best suits your needs and make the necessary payments using your favorite payment method.

Should you sync Videos too on Google Drive?

Yes, why not! Google Drive virtually lets you sync any file to the Drive without any file format restrictions. As long as your video does not exceed the free storage space in your Drive, you can sync it to the cloud directly from the app itself.

You can also use Google Photos to sync your videos and in case they are stored in a compressed format, you can always use a service like Autosync for Google Drive to sync it to the cloud.

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