Follow the steps below to install and access Google Drive File Stream on a Mac:
- File Stream For Mac
- Drive File Stream Mac
- Download Google File Stream Mac
- Drive File Stream Download App
File Stream For Mac
Install
- Do you currently have Google Drive Sync installed? If the answer is yes, go to step 2. If the answer is no, skip step 2 and go to step 3.
- Uninstall Google Drive Sync.
- Open Google Drive and select 'Download Drive File Stream for Mac' under Settings.
- Select the 'Download for Mac' blue button.
- The DriveFileStream.dmg is now in Downloads and can be used to install File Stream. Execute (Open) the file.
- Sign in to Google Drive.
- Allow Drive File Stream to use the information listed.
- The process should take a couple of minutes, and you have successfully installed Google Drive File Stream.
Connecting to the Mac leads to the recognition of the device which can then be used for file transfer and sharing. USB ports are on all Macs and the user should connect the USB flash drive as seen in the picture below. Download Google Drive File Stream for Mac or Windows. You must be logged into your Google account to see this page. Run the installation package. Drive File Stream Accedi a tutti i contenuti di Google Drive direttamente dal tuo Mac o PC, senza usare spazio su disco.
Access
You can access File Stream from the Menu Bar or inside the Finder window.
Drive File Stream Mac
Launch from the Menu Bar
Launch from the Finder window under Devices
Working offline
File Stream allows end users to work offline. To work offline right mouse click on a folder or file and select Drive File Stream, Available Offline.
Complete instructions can be found under Google Drive Help - Use work or school files on your computer with Drive File Stream.
Many businesses have a G-Suite account, Google give them to non for profit organisations for free. A G-suite account includes 30GB of Google Drive space free to each user. It also has a clever permission system where certain folders can be shared with members of teams. So you can set up various teams, put people in those teams, and any files placed in a folder for that team will be automatically shared with the users of that team.
The application that you need to run on your computer to give you access to all this is called Google File Stream. It allows you to sync a G-Suite Google Drive with your Macintosh computer. It mounts your Google Drive as a hard drive onto your desktop, and then OSX treats it like any other hard drive. This is similar to dropbox in that it is an external cloud storage solution. Is it different to dropbox in that it appears on your computer as a separate hard disk (like a thumb drive would) rather than inside a folder. This means that items you place into your Google Drive are copied there rather than moved. It also means they are not backed up to your time machine backup. (With dropbox any items you place into dropbox are moved there (not copied) and your dropbox folder is backed up to time machine.)
To use Google File Stream you need to have access to a G-suite account.
Here’s how to install Google File Stream.
1, Download the installer ‘googlefilestream.dmg’ from here: https://www.google.com/drive/download/
2. Run the installer.
3. Go to your applications folder and run the ‘Google File Stream’ application. A little icon will appear in your menu bar, click on it like the picture below.
4. Sign in to your Google Account. Note – this is not a normal Gmail email account. You need to sign in to a G-suite account set up by your workplace, your own business or a not for profit organisation.
5. Your Google Drive will appear on your desktop like your normal hard drive.
6, Inside your ‘Google Drive’ will be your own Drive (‘My Drive”) which is for your own files, plus a “team drive” folder where you will find any files that shared by your organisation. (Your organisation administrator will need to specifically share those files with you for you to see them in your team drives folder.)
The folders are automatically kept up to date and synced with your online Google Drive. If you setup Google File Sync on a second computer, the files will be synced between computers. Your ‘My Drive’ file swill be synced to your other computers. Fiiles in the ‘Team Drives’ folders will be shared with anyone in your organisation who has access to those team drives.
Download Google File Stream Mac
Here is a screenshot of my own ‘Team Drive’ folder. There is a folder ‘DPC’ and any files I put in there will be shared with anyone else in the ‘DPC’ team. There is a folder called ‘Kids Church’ and any file I put in there will be shared with members of the ‘Kids Church’ team and so on.
Drive File Stream Download App
You cannot setup who is in what teams. That is done by your organisation system administrator. You will see the ‘team drives’ for any teams that you have been put in.