Google Drive is about to get a lot more useful for road warriors

Google Drive is about to become a far more useful service for business travellers with the launch of a new Backup and Sync app.

Due for release on June 28, Google Backup and Sync will let the cloud-based storage service monitor and backup files inside any folder on your PC or Mac, rather than just the dedicated Google Drive folder on your local drive.

That could include specific project or client folders or your entire Documents folder, along with any other directories you specify – as long as your Google Drive account has sufficient space on tap.

Google's G Suite Updates blog implies the new Backup and Sync app will replace both the standard Google Drive app and the seperate Google Photos Backup app as "a tool intended to help everyday users back up files and photos from their computers, so they’re safe and accessible from anywhere."

It's clearly not intended as a complete system backup solution from which you could restore a corrupted hard drive or set up a new machine to replace one lost, stolen or totally borked beyond redemption.

However, by unshackling Google Drive from the Google Drive folder, Backup and Sync is about to become a much more useful tool for safekeeping and sharing documents while you're on the go.

David Flynn

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.