Using GDrive as an external disk

I know that Insync is for synchronising local and remote copies of files on Google Drive, however I’m interested in an alternative use case: using the Gdrive as an external disk, i.e. not syncing local files but simply storing them remotely. I currently have 1TB on Gdrive and using it via Insync means I have to dedicate 1TB locally as well, often for files I only refer to very occasionally. I understand the performance penalty of doing this, and of course the occasional availability issues that might arise, but that’s a cost I would be happy with in certain situations.

As a possible variation: let the user dedicate up to X amount of local space and simply use it as a write-through cache, deleting the least recently used files when it fills up.

Is there some combination of options that will allow me to do this with Insync? Would there be any point is requesting it as a feature?

Hi @POC, you can already use the Selective sync feature to choose which files you want available locally: How to selectively sync Google Drive folders and files

Combo: You can sync/upload local files to your Google Drive and then once the file is in the cloud use Selective sync to get rid of the local copy – this is a manual process but should work for your needs.

We’re exploring different syncing options for 2.0 :slight_smile:

Thanks, I’ll try that for now. I’d still like the option of designating certain folders as “on demand” (i.e. cached up to a maximum quota) to make the process more automatic.

Downloading an index of files that fully download and synchronize only when accessed, (ie, selectively, some files on the local hard drive are named correctly but are really just a pointer telling insync to quickly download that file for use) rather than syncing entire files, could be one solution to slow behavior experienced with large databases.

It’s like just in time sync - only using resources when files need accessed. it’s an interesting thought.

That’s another possibility, but it would need to cater for flushing the
cache according to some easily understandable policy, e.g. deleting
the oldest or the largest, plus syncing any modifications.

I’ve been experimenting with insync-headless manage_selective_sync, but it has a downside that doesn’t make it useful to me. If I mark a folder as synched, but then mark its contents as not synched, the folder itself becomes unsynched. I want to be able to keep a folder structure in place even though the files in it are not synched, which doesn’t seem to be possible.

If you are conducting a survey on the importance of that feature… That alone would be enough for me to buy 2.0

I’m just a user, so no, I’m not conducting a survey.

Thanks for the input guys. The ‘on-demand’ downloading is a feature we’re looking at for future versions.

In case anyone hasn’t heard of http://www.expandrive.com/, it’s the perfect app for what you requested. It can mount stuff like google drive, dropbox, FTP, and others as external drives. I mainly use it for connecting to the filesystem on my Ubuntu server, but I have google drive and others set up in it. It’s available on Windows and Mac, although I’ve had a little bit better reliability with the Mac version.

Google seems to be adding a new service that would also address this - Google File Stream. https://blog.google/products/g-suite/introducing-new-enterprise-ready-tools-google-drive/

I’m hoping it might complement Insync as I don’t find the Google Drive app to be reliable, and it doesn’t sync multiple GDrive accounts. If File Stream works for my work account, then I could use Insync for my other accounts.

Only Windows and Mac are supported, which is ironic given that Google’s entire infrastructure runs on Linux. If they had a native (i.e. non-browser) client for Linux I wouldn’t need Insync in the first place.

Not currently offered for personal use, only within G Suite.

They probably won’t make Drive File Stream a personal use program based on what I’ve heard from the devs at Google. I’m testing it right now, and it’s great. Why not just mount your storage as a network drive? I haven’t dug into how the cache is managed though - I think it just uses a size limit based on preliminary testing.

Implementing this feature in InSync would make it massively more useful - it would also appeal to the non-business gmail users who want the File Steam function - which I would imagine is a pretty large customer base.

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We’re currently prioritizing support for Google Team Drives, but our own take on the Drive File Stream feature is in the pipeline :slight_smile:

Is there some way to access to my GDrive and see remote files and access to them from Linux.

I bought 1 TB of GDrive cause my HDD is so small but I cant see my remote files in insync. HELP ME, PLS

Try Google file drive Stream

Google only supports Drive Stream on Windows and MacOS. I’m hoping Insync support appears in due course as I have access to G Suite via a corporate account.