We all are much aware about the ransomware that prevail these days. The ransomware, that is mostly sent via a malicious attachment in an email once make its entry into the computer locks all your data. The only way to get the data back is to pay those attackers the ransom that they demand, and that is also not guaranteed that your data will be unlocked even after paying the money.
Therefore, if a ransomware enters your computer then all your computer data remains on the verge of being lost. But it is not only ransomware that is a threat to your data, crashing of your hard drive or stealing of your computer can also be some reasons that result in the unrecoverable loss of your data.
Thus, it is important to have a backup of all your data. You can back up your data on an external hard drive/network drive or use a backup utility program that stores your data on secure servers. The problem with the former method is that the backup is not synced and with the latter is that online backup services are still quite costly. Therefore, if you wish a solution for both the above stated problems then you can secure your data by backing up it to Google Drive.
How to Backup Your Computer Data to Google Drive:
In the year 2017 Google has released a tool known as Backup and Sync Tool, to automatically backup up all your PC’s data to Google Drive. Moreover, the data backed up on the Google Drive is in the same order as it is stored on your computer.
- To get started download Backup and Sync tool from here. Click on Download Backup and Sync followed by clicking on Agree and download button.
- Once it is downloaded, click on exe and click on the Yes button in the UAC that prompts.
- After the completion of installation, the Google Backup and Sync Wizard will automatically come upfront on your computer’s screen. Click on GET STARTED button to start the process.
- Now sign in to your Google account by providing your username and password.
- In case you are unable to sign in then you can also sign in with the browser, by clicking on Sign in with your browser instead.
- Once you have signed in, you will find Desktop, Documents, Pictures folders to backed up on Google Drive. You can check and uncheck the folders that you want to backup on drive. If you wish to take a backup of any specific folder to Google Drive then you can add it by clicking on CHOOSE FOLDER. You can also select the upload size of photos and video between High quality and Original quality. If you do not wish to purchase additional space on Google Drive and still want unlimited storage on Google Drive then continue with High quality, in which Google will automatically change the size of all the uploaded Photos to 16 MP. If you don’t want Google to convert the size of your uploaded photos then select Original quality. However, now your storage on Google Drive is limited to 15 GB.
- You can also adjust the bandwidth settings i.e. upload/download rate along with proxy settings by clicking on Network settings located at the bottom of the window. Now once you are done with all the settings click on Next to continue.
- The next screen will let you sync Google Drive to your computer. Also, you can either sync complete drive or some specific folders of drive to computer. However, in case you do not wish to sync your Google Drive to your computer then you can uncheck the option Sync My Drive to this computer. After making the selection click on START button located at the bottom right corner to start the backup of your computer to Google Drive.
- Note: The backup time will depend on the amount of data you are uploading to Google Drive and your Internet speed.
- Once the backup process starts a notification will pop up near the taskbar along with a cloud icon.
From now onward any changes you make in shared folders will automatically sync to Google Drive.
After the completion of backup, you can access all your data in Google Drive under Computer section.
Also, if you have more than one computer and you wish to upload the data of that computer to Google Drive then you can follow the above process. The data of one computer will automatically separate from the other computer. Special Note: Please note that you can only backup your files, photos and videos, documents to Google Drive. It does not backup the programs, system files or other apps installed on your computer.
So, guys if you aren’t using Google Backup and Sync tool till now then start using it to secure your entire computer’s data by backing it up to Google Drive. Also, it’s just initially when you have to manually upload the data as from the next time all your data from shared folders will be automatically uploaded to Google Drive.
