Upgrading Google Drive Storage Quandry

September 26, 2015 9:09 AM

Google Drive wants me to upgrade my storage by the beginning of October or I will lose my data. But I have a 1 TB promo that lasts until 2017. Should I buy the extra storage? (screenshots included below)

I have received this warning. It says that after the beginning of October my 1 TB of data will go down to 15 GB.

I have 25 GB, so I am thinking I will have to upgrade. I selected the 100 GB plan and proceeded to the checkout.

However, the checkout says that I have 1 TB until 2017! But Google still wants me to upgrade.

Thanks to a Chromebook promo, I have 1 TB until 2017. Yet Google still wants me to upgrade.

Any idea what is going on?

posted by Nevin to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

It doesn't say that at the beginning of October you'll only have 15GB. You have two promos. They're letting you know that one's expiring. Obviously that comes with an upgrade offer, because that's how promos usually work, they'd like to get money out of you at some point. But as long as you're not planning on using over 1TB in that time, you're fine. Only the one promo is expiring.
posted by Sequence at 9:22 AM on September 26, 2015

Also, it says that if you're over the storage limit, you won't lose your data. So in the future when your TB promo expires, I'd you're over the limit, your data will still be there. You just won't be able to add anything else until you purchase extra storage or make some more space by deleting stuff.
posted by thebots at 9:30 AM on September 26, 2015

Thanks, guys. Your answers are super helpful.
posted by Nevin at 10:59 AM on September 26, 2015

Even more: Google drive is notorious for misleading people about how much is actually stored. Google counts ALL PREVIOUS VERSIONS against your storage limit. So, if you have a thousand versions stored of a 1 GB file, and nothing else, Google Drive will say you are using 1TB of storage. (That's just an example - typically it's more like 3 to 10 times as much as you actually "use".)

To free up this space, tell GD to delete all previous versions (assuming you are prepared for this data break, of course!). You'll retain all current copies, and drive your usage back towards numbers more like your Google Drive folder shows.
posted by IAmBroom at 4:35 PM on September 26, 2015