Google Drive with Free 5GB Storage

25/04/2012

Google launched its personal cloud storage system, Google Drive today which offers a free 5GB storage. The service is expected to be available worldwide although the service is yet to be accessible for some users in Malaysia.

With Google Drive, users can create, share, collaborate, and store all of their files, including videos, photos, Google Docs, PDFs and beyond.

In a blog post Google said that with Google Drive, you can:

Create and collaborate. Google Docs is built right into Google Drive, so you can work with others in real time on documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Once you choose to share content with others, you can add and reply to comments on anything (PDF, image, video file, etc.) and receive notifications when other people comment on shared items.
Store everything safely and access it anywhere (especially while on the go). All your stuff is just… there. You can access your stuff from anywhere—on the web, in your home, at the office, while running errands and from all of your devices. You can install Drive on your Mac or PC and can download the Drive app to your Android phone or tablet. Google is also on a Drive app for your iOS devices. And regardless of platform, blind users can access Drive with a screen reader.
Search everything. Search by keyword and filter by file type, owner and more. Drive can even recognize text in scanned documents using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. Let’s say you upload a scanned image of an old newspaper clipping. You can search for a word from the text of the actual article. Drive also uses image recognition so that if you drag and drop photos from your Grand Canyon trip into Drive, you can later search for [grand canyon] and photos of its gorges should pop up. This technology is still in its early stages.

Users who want more storage can opt to upgrade to 25GB for US$2.49 per month, 100GB for US$4.99 per month or 1TB for US$49.99 per month. The paid Google Drive account will also upgrade user’s Gmail account to 25GB.

Google said that third-party developers can also develop apps and services for Drive to allow users to send faxes, edit videos and create website mockups directly from Drive.

Google Drive apps are available for PC , Mac & Android with plans for iOS in the future.