One Way File Sync Software for Google Drive Cloud Storage Sync
Want to sync files in one way between Google Drive and a local device or between Google Drive and another account time-savingly for free? You can follow this article carefully to find the most suitable way of one-way file sync for Google Drive.
May 31, 2022 | 4 minutes read
One Way Sync vs Two Way Sync
- One-way sync: Replication will occur from source to destination, but if files are added or revised in the destination, the changes will not be reflected in the source.
- Two-way sync: All file modifications and revisions made in the source will be replicated to the destination. Likewise, all file modifications and revisions made in the destination will be replicated back to the source. This creates an exact copy of data in both places.
To make it simple, one-way Google Drive sync Windows and Mac is to sync files like photos, videos, documents, etc. between Google Drive and another account or between Google Drive and local devices. Any changes that happen to source files like adding new contents, deleting waste items, adjusting incorrect descriptions, and so on will trigger one-way sync for Google Drive and duplicate changes to destination files.
Why Need Google Drive One Way Sync?
Since Google Drive offers 15 GB of free storage for you to store and share Google Drive with someone online, you can perform one-way sync to Google Drive and benefit a lot from the following aspects.
- Free up local storage: By syncing files from local to Google Drive, you can then delete your local files to largely save your local storage.
- Put double security on your data: No matter if you sync Google Drive in one-way with another account or with a local device, you can always save the same file in two different places to prevent data damage or loss.
- Share files in an easier way: After the Google cloud storage sync, you can easily share files online from Google Drive and other cloud services without any difficulty.
You will get two different ways to achieve Google Drive files one-way synchronization. The first way can help you sync between Google Drive and local devices in one-way. And the second way allows you to sync 2 Google Drive accounts or sync between Google Drive and other clouds in one-way seamlessly with a single click.
Google Drive One Way Sync: from Local to Cloud
Usually, cloud drive users not only want to save their local files to cloud storage but also want to save the changes made to local files immediately to the corresponding cloud. Therefore, you may need to sync target files from local devices to the cloud accounts manually. Furthermore, if you do not want the changed files on the cloud to be synced back to local, you have to adopt one-way sync from local to cloud storage.
As for Google Drive, to carry out google drive sync one way from local to cloud drive, you can make use of its official one-way file sync software: Drive for desktop. With the help of this one-way sync software, you can easily achieve Google Drive files and folders one-way sync.
Step 1. Download and install the app on your computer. Then sign in with your Google Drive or Google Workspace account.
Step 2. Open the "Preferences" from the gear icon.
Step 3. On the "My Computer" page, click "Add Folder" to choose a folder that you want to sync to Google Drive.
Step 4. If you want to enable Google Drive to local device one-way sync, you can move to the "Google Drive" page and choose "Stream files".
Google Drive One Way Sync: from Cloud to Cloud
If you want to sync files with Google Drive in a smarter way while saving your local storage, you can rely on a free web-based multiple cloud storage manager, MultCloud.
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MultCloud is one of the best cloud file managers and one-way file sync softwares that offers a great interface for you to add all your clouds to one place for efficient cloud file management. It now supports more than 30 leading clouds, including Google Drive, Google Workspace, Dropbox, OneDrive, Amazon S3, NAS, etc., and offers the Cloud Transfer, Cloud Sync, Cloud Backup, and Team Transfer functions for you to transfer data across clouds without any risk of data loss or long time waiting.
Here we take how to sync between Google Drive accounts in MultCloud as a brief example.
Google Drive One Way Sync with Another Account via MultCloud
Step 1. To make use of MultCloud, you should first create an account of it through its official website.
Step 2. Add your Google Drive accounts to the MultCloud platform. In the main window of MultCloud, click “Add Cloud” in the left menu and select “Google Drive” in the right cloud list. Then, follow the easy guide to authorize MultCloud with the right to access your Google accounts.
Tip: You can only add one cloud account at one time. To add all related accounts, you have to repeat the operation.
Step 3. Now you can sync files from one Google Drive to another. In the Cloud Sync tab, choose one Google Drive account or files and folders in it as the source, then choose another Google Drive account or a folder in it as the destination.
Step 4. Here, you can define the task name and choose the sync method. The default method is “One-way Sync” of the Simple Sync type, but you can change the type by clicking the “Options” in the lower left.
Tips:
- For free users, you can use the Simple Sync and Real Time Sync in one-way and two-way.
- For subscribers, you can use the basic modes and also enjoy another 6 advanced modes as you want.
- You can order an email notification when the synchronization finishes and close the web before the task is done. Because MultCloud supports offline sync.
- Also, you can set up a "Schedule" to one-way sync between Google Drive accounts automatically with a daily, weekly, or monthly plan.
Step 5. Finally, when all settings are done, click “Sync Now” to start Google cloud storage sync immediately.
In the End
As you can figure out from the above contents, if you want to one-way sync files from local storage devices to cloud drive accounts, you can make use of cloud service built-in applications like Drive for desktop. If you need to sync files from cloud A to cloud B, but not from cloud B to cloud A, you can rely on one-way sync software, MultCloud.
What's more, MultCloud also provides a great function for you to backup Google Drive automatically with another cloud by using the Cloud Backup function. After the Cloud Backup task is done, you can easily access every version of your backups in MultCloud and quickly view or delete one of the versions without any difficulty.
