I recently purchased 2TB of space on Google Drive and tried to install it on my computer. I wanted to sync my 'Documents' folder and my 'AppData' for sharing files with my laptop, but I could only successfully sync 'Local' and 'Roaming' folders, not 'LocalLow'. Suddenly, my computer started acting weird. My taskbar shortcuts turned blank, I couldn't access them, and all the shortcuts from my quick access disappeared. My browser accounts got disconnected, all saved passwords vanished, and apps like Discord and Steam wouldn't start. Even after reinstalling Steam, it said my games were corrupted. I tried a Windows restore to a week before, which fixed some issues, like getting back my shortcuts and enabling Steam to recognize some games, but I'm still facing black screens with certain games. Plus, my browser hasn't restored my saved accounts and passwords. I'm really frustrated because I expected Google Drive to help, not mess things up!
2 Answers
It sounds like the issue isn't with Google Drive itself but rather how you were trying to use it. Google Drive is primarily for storing files like documents and photos, not for backing up system files or applications. Syncing live data used by your OS can lead to corruption because it’s not meant for that kind of usage.
Right, using a service like OneDrive would be better for backing up a Windows PC! Google Drive just isn’t designed for that.
But wait, didn’t you just click 'sync' on those folders? I get it might be confusing, especially if English isn’t your first language. It’s easy to think it would back everything up like you wanted, but those services have their limits. You were just trying to make things easier for yourself.
Exactly! It's not intuitive sometimes. You expect it to work one way, but it can impact your system adversely if you're not careful.
Yeah, it's frustrating, but I can see how that could happen. Hopefully, you'll get your saved accounts back!
Totally agree! People often confuse cloud storage with complete system backups. While Google Drive does sync and save changes, it might mess with your running apps and files.