How to mount cloud storage as drive letters / mapped network drives

ComputerGeek · 12 Nov 2017

I'd like to mount Google Drive as a mapped network drive. (Then use the drive letter for programs so I can get the size of files/folders in my cloud storage, search for specific file/folders as well as able to search for file dups).

I've searched online and found a handful of products offerings including

NetDrive
TNT Drive
Cloudberry Drive
ExpanDrive
CloudMounter
SME

Does anyone have some real-life, hands-on experience with any of these (or other products) they might recommend? Of course, something free would be ideal but I don't mind paying something (reasonable) for s/w that meets my needs
I'll also be adding OneDrive down the road so would like support for that as well

Thanks for any feedack/information!!

Brink · 12 Nov 2017

Hey mate, :)

If you haven't already, you might see if this below may meet your needs any.

Add or Remove Google Drive from Navigation Pane in Windows 10 General Tips Tutorials

ComputerGeek · 12 Nov 2017

Hi Brink

Thanks for the very quick response! I only skimmed the article you mentioned but don't think it meets my need. I can easily access / search the Google Drive folder on my PC. BUT my issue is that I store many GB's of data in the cloud ONLY (nowhere on my PC). So it's not in myGoogle drive folder or elsewhere on my PC).

So I'd really like to be able to map a drive letter to the Googe Drive cloud storage (not the Google Drive folder) so i can search files on stored in the cloud.

cereberus · 12 Nov 2017

ComputerGeek said:

Hi Brink

Thanks for the very quick response! I only skimmed the article you mentioned but don't think it meets my need. I can easily access / search the Google Drive folder on my PC. BUT my issue is that I store many GB's of data in the cloud ONLY (nowhere on my PC). So it's not in myGoogle drive folder or elsewhere on my PC).

So I'd really like to be able to map a drive letter to the Googe Drive cloud storage (not the Google Drive folder) so i can search files on stored in the cloud.

Onedrive has exactly that feature now with Files On Demand. I am not aware of anyway of doing it with any other Cloud service.

For only £6 a month, you can get 1TB of Onedrive space, and as a bonus, you get the full MS Office chucked in free (actually it is other way round - you lease MS Office and get 1TB free).

Nothing else comes close to it in terms of value, and you get Files on Demand.

No contest really.

You get 5GB free anyway. Suggest you play with that and then decide if you want to go for MS Office deal.

Samuria · 12 Nov 2017

Google drive app for pc is ending in December so you will need the new apps Google Is Replacing the Desktop Google Drive App With Two New Apps - ExtremeTech

cereberus · 12 Nov 2017

cereberus said:

Onedrive has exactly that feature now with Files On Demand. I am not aware of anyway of doing it with any other Cloud service.

For only £6 a month, you can get 1TB of Onedrive space, and as a bonus, you get the full MS Office chucked in free (actually it is other way round - you lease MS Office and get 1TB free).

Nothing else comes close to it in terms of value, and you get Files on Demand.

No contest really.

You get 5GB free anyway. Suggest you play with that and then decide if you want to go for MS Office deal.

Interesting - this sounds like Google's version of Files On Demand. I wonder if it will have an android version?

Edit: the more basic app is not like files on demand. You need a G suite account for the FOD equivalent. Not impressed!

ComputerGeek · 12 Nov 2017

@cereberus and @Samuria
Thanks for the info! I had been looking at products like NetDrive and ExpanDrive that (fyi) allow you to selectively mount any or all your cloud services (Amazon, Google, Dropbox, OneDrive, SFTP and more) so each gets a drive letter and each looks to Windows like a network mapped drive. That would then allow a plethora of standard file/folder tools to access cloud storage which otherwise couldn't.

However, as I'm only concerned with Google Drive and OneDrive, I'll take a closer look at what you mention to see if it's sufficient for my needs. It will certainly be free! Thanks!

cereberus · 13 Nov 2017

ComputerGeek said:

@cereberus and @Samuria
Thanks for the info! I had been looking at products like NetDrive and ExpanDrive that (fyi) allow you to selectively mount any or all your cloud services (Amazon, Google, Dropbox, OneDrive, SFTP and more) so each gets a drive letter and each looks to Windows like a network mapped drive. That would then allow a plethora of standard file/folder tools to access cloud storage which otherwise couldn't.

However, as I'm only concerned with Google Drive and OneDrive, I'll take a closer look at what you mention to see if it's sufficient for my needs. It will certainly be free! Thanks!

In the end, free usage is fairly limited in capacity and really only suitable for critical data eg photos, word docs.

For big stuff eg videos, images you will need to lease capacity. Then onedrive comes into its own with MS Office lease.