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Google Cuts Prices for Storage on Google Drive

If you google_drive_logo_3963[1]have been thinking about storing your ebook library in the cloud then I have some good news today; one of your options just got a lot cheaper. Google announced on Thursday that they are cutting the prices on Google Drive.

Starting immediately, the free price tier will offer 15GB for the low price of nothing, and if that’s not enough you can get 100GB for only $1.99 per month (down from $4.99). The upper tier of one terabyte  is now only $9.99 a month (down from $49.99), and if you need more you can get additional storage, in 1TB segments, for $9.99 a month.

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The new prices are considerably cheaper than some of Google’s competition. For example, Dropbox is charging $9.99 a  month for 100GB, and they only offer 2GB free.

There was a time where I had my ebook library backed up to Dropbox, but there came a point where it grew to big to fit into the free 2GB. And since I didn’t find the idea of paying for storage all that appealing (not when I am going to carry my ebook library around in my laptop anyway) I largely stopped using Dropbox.

Maybe it’s time I looked into Google Drive. I’m currently only using about 3GB of the free 15GB allotment, and that is mostly taken up by my Gmail account. That leaves a lot of room for an ebook library.

Google has Google Drive apps for Android, iOS, OSX, and Windows, so syncing your ebook library to the cloud is as easy as simply setting it up the first time.

You can find more information on the Google Drive website.

Google Blog

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Comments


Robert Nagle March 13, 2014 um 2:42 pm

One thing that remains still a competitive advantage of Dropbox premium is that their packrat feature which allows unlimited versioning. Except for Google Docs files, Google Drive only allows versioning for 30 days (even on paid versions). This might sound minor, but if you want to access a file you last edited a year ago, you have no access to previous versions.

Nate Hoffelder March 13, 2014 um 2:54 pm

Now that is a useful feature. I’m used to creating archival backups as a solution to versioning, and it would be nice to be able to stop.


Robert Nagle March 13, 2014 um 3:11 pm

Arrgh, I just see that Google doesn’t offer any official desktop client for Linux/Ubuntu. (although there are free third party utilities like Grive that can do this). I wonder if Google has any users on staff who use Linux on a regular basis….. Maybe they could hire an android developer who also happens to know something about linux…..


Jon Jermey March 13, 2014 um 4:18 pm

Copy.com also offers 15Gb storage for free, and they can synchronise with any folder on a Linux system, but their online interface is a little primitive. Maybe I’ll try Google Drive.


Fbone March 13, 2014 um 6:48 pm

Copy permits shortcuts but it seems Google Drive does not.


William Jay March 14, 2014 um 10:35 am

I was on the 25GB for $2.49 per month and am more than pleased with a 100GB plan for $1.99. I must admit when I saw the subject in the email "Changes to your Google storage plan" I feared the worst before reading.
I’ve had my huge ebook library synced to my Google Drive account for some time and it works perfectly with Calibre Cloud by Intrepid Logic on my Android Tablet. It’s very handy in the middle of those sleepless nights to download a new book to my tablet.


Purple lady March 14, 2014 um 12:15 pm

Don’t use Google Drive if you use Calibre for your ebooks – they are not compatible. See Calibre forum in mobileread.com http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205581

KaYou620 June 5, 2014 um 5:19 pm

Trying to figure out a way to store my Calibre database "in the cloud" so that I can access it from work or wherever. Trouble is, I read on my iPad (I email the books to myself to open). I’m hoping this will still work as the Calibre Cloud says you can email books to others. Any expertise you all can provide is greatly appreciated!!!


William Jay March 14, 2014 um 1:41 pm

Hi, Purple Lady, thanks for the heads up about that. I’ve now been using my Google drive in conjunction with Calibre Cloud for a few months without any problems at all and after reading the link I wonder if the way I’m doing it is a workaround to the problem. My Calibre library is stored on a hard drive in my desktop and once a day a backup program (Bvckup) copies it to my Google drive and I can then access my library without problems from my Android tablet, download any books I want using Calibre Cloud and read them with MoonReader Pro.

Purple Lady March 14, 2014 um 2:36 pm

Unless you need to restore the files on Google Drive to use with Calibre on your desktop, I think you should be fine. Google Drive can remove the numbers from the folders that Calibre needs.

William Jay March 14, 2014 um 2:57 pm

I think I’ve got it now. I only ever created the copy on Gdrive for use with my tablet and I keep another two copies of my library on a couple of external HDD which I would use to restore from if anything went wrong on the desktop. My library is now so big that I’ll make a third copy to a thumb drive soon. I’d hate to lose my collection. So many books, so little time!


iThing Users Can Now Get up to 100GB Cloud Storage for $1 per Year – The Digital Reader April 23, 2014 um 1:00 pm

[…] is perhaps the best offer short of iDrive; they recently dropped their prices to only $2 a year for 100GB of storage. Of course I am looking at it from the viewpoint of a single […]


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