If you’re a G Suite user, you should know that the Google Drive app you may be using on your Mac and PC is going away soon. But Google has a brand new alternative for it, one that’ll let you quickly access all your files from the cloud. It’s called Drive File Stream, and it’s what you should be using going forward.
The regular Google Drive app will be shut down by next March, so the faster you move to Drive File Stream, the better for yourself and your business.
Google explained in a blog post that starting Thursday, Drive users will see settings for the Drive File Stream app appear in the Admin console. The settings won’t go into effect until September 26th when the app becomes available, and links will be shown in the Drive interface only if you see them in Backup and Sync or Google Drive for Mac and PC.
If you’re a G Suite admin managing Google products for a company, then you’d better get acquainted with the new Drive File Stream and use it instead of Google Drive and Backup and Sync.
Regular Google users will be better off getting the consumer sync client announced a few weeks ago, the Backup and Sync tool that’s already available to download. Businesses can also use Backup and Sync, though they should pick just one solution to manage their files — the Drive File Stream app is optimized for enterprise use, and may be the better choice.
You should pick one or the other soon, as Google Drive is going away for good, and there’s nothing you can do about it.