Google Drive is one of the popular free and paid cloud storage service from Google. If you use Google Drive as your primary storage service and cloud backup service and want to access your files and folders from different locations, then here is a desktop client to keep your files in sync. ODrive is a freeware tool for Windows, Mac and Linux, which allows you to sync files with Google Drive on your laptop or desktop for offline access.
While there is an official app from Google Drive to keep it in sync, ODrive is an open source solution and it is available for free. It synchronizes your Google Drive folder with a folder you choose in your Windows PC. While it lacks advanced features, it is quite easy to set up and use.
Once you install the app, you need to authorize the app to use your Google account. Once the authorization is done you can select the folder which you want to sync with your PC. ODrive will now sync the folder in Google drive with your local folder and download all the files locally for easy access. This will take some time depending on the internet connection you have but you can monitor the progress from the main screen.
If you do not use the official app, this app is worth a try. While there are limitations that you cannot select the folders which you want to sync. You need to sync all the files in your Google drive. This app is useful only if you want to download all the files offline in your desktop.
While this app is an early version, we can expect more features coming in future versions.
Pros:
- Easy and light weight
- Simple interface
Cons:
- No option to selectively sync
- No option to keep track of synced files.
The app is available for free for all platforms- Windows, Mac and Linux.
