Google Drive Down Worldwide: Averting Problems with Google Drive Backup

Here’s the scenario: you get to work, ready to pull up the spreadsheet you’ve been working on from Google Drive. But there’s a problem: Google Drive is down. You wait. Check again. Google drive is still down, and it stays down. For over an hour. What are you going to do now? The answer: keep waiting, even as you waste time. While there is certainly nothing wrong with using Google Drive to back up your G Suite apps, recent issues like this one prove that Google Drive alone is not reliable enough to be your only backup. CloudAlly’s G Suite/Google Apps Backup gives you the security that your data will be protected, even if Google Drive fails.

Right now, Google Drive aims to simplify G Suite users’ storage and file sharing in the cloud, but the program regularly has its snafus.

Case in point about Google Drive’s unreliability: on the morning of September 7, Google Drive users started receiving error messages from the file storage service. Users around the world could not load their files.

At 10:37am EST on September 7, 2017, Google announced that it was working to resolve the issue:

“We’re investigating reports of an issue with Google Drive.” Google Drive was down for an entire hour. By 11:38am EST, the program had been restored for some users, but it was still down for others.

Google issued another message that users could “expect a resolution for all users in the near future,” but the company could not provide a concrete timeline. Only by 12:24pm EST – nearly two hours after Google started working on the problem – was Google Drive restored for all users. The tech giant apologized for the inconvenience and said that it planned to develop “continuous improvements to make our systems better.”

Sure, Google says they’re working to make Google Drive infallible, but what if they don’t deliver on their promise, like they most likely will? If Google Drive fails when you need important data, you’re stuck, waiting until Google recovers. Without a third-party program, there is nothing you can do about Google Drive’s unreliability.

You might think, Google Drive was down for a few hours. So what? The problem speaks to a common issue of unreliability with the service. Just a few days after the first issue, on September 11, nearly 3,000 people reported issues with Google Drive again.

Sure, Google Drive is helpful. But it is by no means complete.

Google Drive’s Unreliability?

Google Drive does back up your files and data. However, the protection it provides is not enough.

Take malware and ransomware. Does Google Drive protect your files from these malicious viruses?

Nope. Even if your files are stored on the Google Drive cloud, your data could be infected. Only a third-party software like CloudAlly can protect your Google Drive files from corruption or ransom.

But, you might think, at least Google Drive will be around forever, right?

Again, the answer isn’t certain. Google Drive’s future is at risk. In early September 2017, users feared that Google Drive was shutting down altogether. While this turned out to be hype, Google is shutting down its Google Drive app for Windows and Mac, replacing it with a new backup up.

Right now, though, take a breath. Google Drive is still accessible to all users through browsers on all devices, but this replacement demonstrates Google doesn’t love Google Drive enough that they’ll never change or replace it. Google Drive may not be around forever, and while Google Drive will likely not shut down without notice, it still makes sense to have a third-party software like CloudAlly to back up all your data.

CloudAlly’s G Suite/Google Apps Backup

Returning to the interruption of Google Drive on September 7.

Google Drive users without third-party backups just had to wait. And click to see if Google Drive had come back online. And wait. And click.

But if you were using CloudAlly, you could have exported critical documents instantly. You wouldn’t have wasted any time. CloudAlly lets you export your data to any and all of the programs or devices you need using efficient zip downloads. Instead of waiting for Google to repair Google Drive on September 7, you could have kept on working like nothing was wrong.

Besides, CloudAlly’s Google Apps Backup does more than protect your Google Drive files, too. It backs up all your G Suite apps, including Gmail, calendar, contacts, tasks, and chats on an automated, daily basis.

Don’t put your data safely entirely into Google’s control; take matters into your own hands! Want to see for yourself how CloudAlly is more reliable than Google Drive? Try our free backup for 15 days.