In case you didn’t know, having a Google Account automatically qualifies you for a free Google Drive account with 15 GB of cloud storage and access to programs like Microsoft Office.

How to open a Google Drive account?

Google Drive can be defined as a cloud-based storage service that allows its users to upload, store, and access almost all types of files, including photos, videos, documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, and presentations.

All you need to use Google Drive is a Gmail account , and it automatically gives you a Google Drive account with 15 GB of free cloud storage.

If you have a Gmail account, you can always access your Google Drive account by going to https://www.google.com/drive/ and clicking the Go to Drive button.

On the next screen, enter your Gmail address, password, and you’ll find yourself logged into your free Google Drive account.

What happens when you exceed your free Google Drive storage?

The 15 GB of free cloud storage available in your Google account is spread across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos.

When you exceed the 15 GB free storage limit, you will receive an email from Google reminding you to free up storage space as soon as possible.

If you don’t free up storage space, you won’t be able to upload items to Google Drive, you may find that Google Photos isn’t backed up, and you may also find that incoming Gmail messages bounce back to the sender.

Tip: Google offers Chromebook (all products) buyers 100 GB of free Google Drive storage for 2 years.

Google Drive Storage Plans

If you regularly exceed the limit of the free 15 GB of storage in your Google Drive account, you might consider upgrading to a Google Drive storage plan starting at $1.99 per month for 100 GB of storage.

Google’s monthly storage plan is very flexible, you can change the plan, upgrade, downgrade or even cancel it at any time, and get back to using the 15 GB of free storage.

Another thing to keep in mind is that these storage plans are set to renew automatically, you need to make sure to cancel the service in case you don’t want to use it.

Google Drive file storage limit

Google Drive Storage Limits should be enough for most people, considering it allows documents with up to 1.02 million characters and spreadsheets with up to 5 million cells.

When it comes to presentations, Google Drive allows you to store presentation files up to 100 MB, which is enough for about 400 slides.

For more information on Google Drive storage limits, you can refer to this Google Drive help page.

Is Google Drive safe?

Google protects data stored on nearly all Google Drive servers using 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption, which is considered the strongest in the industry.

In addition, Google uses the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol to protect data while it is being transferred between the user and the Google Drive servers and to prevent it from being intercepted.

While this keeps your data safe from hackers, it’s important to point out that Google always provides encryption keys, which puts your data at potential risk of internal decryption.

Additionally, when encrypted data is shared (data at rest), it is often decrypted (data in transit), putting it at risk of interception.

Can all devices access Google Drive?

Unlike iCloud (Apple’s cloud storage service), Google Drive is accessible on all devices and platforms as long as there is an internet connection. You can upload and access files and photos on Google Drive using Windows computers, MacBooks, iPhones, Android phones, iPads, and Android tablets.

Google Drive eliminates the need to email or save files to USB drives or local storage and ensures you always have access to your documents no matter where you are.

Google Drive is more than just a storage service

Google Drive is more than just an ordinary cloud storage service, as it provides free access to Microsoft Office, a software program that can be used to create and edit documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more.

Here are the types of Microsoft Office-like software programs that are free to use on Google Drive.

• Google Docs : A program similar to Microsoft Word that lets you create documents, type letters, or write a book.
• Google Sheets: Store, sort, and organize data in Microsoft Excel, like a spreadsheet.
• Google Slides: Create presentations (similar to Microsoft PowerPoint).
• Tables: Prepare to use tables to collect and organize data.
• Drawing: Draw simple sketches and diagrams.