Google Drive Overview & Install
As we use Google Apps, we strongly recommend Google Drive for your storage and backup requirements. Google for Education gives us unlimited space, so Google Drive will be perfect for storing your documents and other items you do not want to lose.
This makes Google Drive far more beneficial than Dropbox, especially as the core features between Google Drive and Dropbox are the same. Added to this, is that Google Drive and your HCHE Gmail account are connected as they are part of the same group of applications. Same account, same password.
Understanding Google Drive:
One of the biggest problems with using Google Drive, is people don’t understand the concept or practically grasp what is going on with Google Drive and the “Cloud”.
Let us try help you with your understanding: When you store files on your computer, they are just stored on that physical computer. Now, if you install Google Drive on that same computer, Google automatically uploads the files and folders that are on your computer in the Google Drive folder, up into the internet. They are now also stored online, in your secure Google account. So, they are in two places. They are still on your computer, but they are also in the cloud, online in your personal secure Google Drive account.
There is a continual synchronisation occurring between your computer and your personal secure Google account. Whatever you add to your Google Drive folder on your computer, is automatically uploaded to your Google Drive account on the internet. The same happens if you had to add files to your online Google Drive account. If you add any files to that, then those files will be automatically synchronised, or downloaded to your physical computer.
The same would happen if you had any number of devices. For example, if you had a PC, a laptop, and an Apple Mac. Three different devices, anywhere in the world. Each device installs the Google Drive client software, and you then log in on each device with your personal secure Google Drive account.
Now, whatever files and folders are in your Google Drive folder, they will all be synchronised between each device. So, the PC, the laptop and the Apple Mac, will all have the same files and folders on their physical hard drives. If you add a file to any of the devices, that file will be automatically added to the other two physical devices. Here is an example scenario, you can add some files to your computer at work, and then when you get home, those files will be automactically on your computer at home. If you lose your laptop, then all the other devices, including your secure Google Drive account in the cloud, will have those same files. Even if you lost all your physical devices, all your files are still available in your secure Google Drive cloud account.
Use Google Drive not just as a backup folder, but use it as your My Documents folder: Many people use their Google Drive folder as a backup location. So they save their work in their documents folder, then every now and then, they copy various files and folder they would like to backup, into the Google Drive folder.
Our recommendation is to use your Google Drive folder as your main documents folder. So do not save your work in your documents folder, instead, save it in your Google Drive folder. When you do this, you will not have to worry whether you have backed up your work or not. If you save in your Google Drive folder, you just need to be connected to the internet, and your work will be automatically uploaded to the cloud.
How to install Google Drive
Windows Computer:
> Login to your HBC Google Account, such as your email.
> Navigate to your Google Apps selector, and then select Google Drive.
> Once the Google Drive window is open, select the “cog” on the far right, and download Google Drive. You will be taken to a download site, and you can download from there.
> Once it finishes download, install the file. Just choose next and okay for the questions that it asks. You will be required to login with your HBC Email username (full email address), and password during the installation process.
Here is a video on the how to install Google Drive:
