Google Drive File Stream Emerges To Replace Google Drive App For Mac And PC

If you are one of the many folks who have the PC or Mac Google Drive app on your desktop for easily sharing and saving files, that software is being deprecated. As of September 26 a new offering called Drive File Stream will be available for all users and will completely replace the Google Drive desktop application. 

Drive File Stream was launched to early adopters in March and is a new desktop app that gives users fast access to their Google Drive files on demand right from their computer. Google says that will allow you to use virtually none of your local drive space and spend less time waiting for files to sync.

Google knows that everyone won't want to use Drive File Stream and it is offering an alternative for these folks. That alternative is to upgrade to the new version of Drive for Mac and PC users called Backup and Sync, which debuted back in July.

When October rolls around, current Drive for Mac/PC users will likely see messages in the product to notify them that the app is going the way of the dodo. For users with both Drive File Stream and Backup and Sync on the same machine, a message to stop syncing My Drive with Backup and Sync will be given to save disk space. There is a catch for Team Drive editors. Google writes, "Team Drive editors won’t be able to edit their Team Drive files when they’re opened in Drive File Stream; they’ll only be able to view them. To edit these files, they’ll need to open them in Drive on the web."

Settings for Drive File Stream can be found in Admin console at the path Apps > G Suite > Drive and Docs > Data Access. Support for Google Drive for Mac/PC will end on December 11, 2017 and it will shut down completely on March 12, 2018.