So, you start to notice your PC or your mobile device is running out of memory. Like me, you may have asked yourself “How do I get 100GB free on Google Drive?”.
Let’s face it, 100GB is enough to hold approximately 100,000 photos, 24 movies, or around 240,000 documents. That’s probably adequate for most.
With so much data today, it is essential that you have the right backup system. Hard drives do a good job of providing additional storage.
But what happens if your hard drive gets damaged? It is very difficult to recover your data. It’s also not convenient to take the hard drive everywhere.
Cloud storage is an excellent solution that allows you to access your data from any device with an internet connection.
If you already have a Google account of some kind, it makes sense to ask about this cloud service.
How do I get 100GB free on Google Drive?
What is Google Drive?
Google Drive is a cloud service that allows a user to backup all of their important files. Your Google Drive account can be accessed from Android, Windows, iOS, and Linux.
This includes laptops, computers, smartphones, tablets, and Smart TVs. It supports any file type including videos, photos, and music.
You can backup Word, Excel, and PowerPoint presentations. Naturally, Google Drive is very handy if you already use Google products like Gmail and Google Docs.
The Google Drive app is pre-installed on many devices, including the new Chromebook. If not, you may need to download it and then set up your Google account.
You can then set up your Google Drive account as the default location for a file type, or all files.
Perhaps you want all of your photos to be saved straight to your Google Drive app. This way, you can save storage space on your smartphone.
Table of Contents
- How do I get 100GB free on Google Drive?
- Understanding how much additional storage you need
- And now, how can I get 100GB free on Google Drive?
- What happens when you run out of Google Drive storage?
- How can I make the most of my free Google Drive storage?
- Are there any Google Drive storage space offers?
- Which cloud service offers 100GB for free?
- Why don’t more cloud storage providers offer 100GB of storage for free?
- Wrap Up
What is the file size limit for Google Drive?
For documents, the maximum is 1.02 million characters. If you convert it into a Google Doc, it can be up to 50MB. Spreadsheets can contain up to 5 million cells. If you convert your presentation into Google Slides, the file can be up to 100MB. All other files can be up to 5TB.
Before answering the question of how to get 100GB of storage free on Google Drive, we are going to take a closer look at your storage needs.
Understanding how much additional storage you need
It’s a common mistake to look at things like unlimited storage and even 100GB and wonder how much this is. Are you going to need that much Google Drive storage space?
Google experts are saying that there may be a crackdown on accounts that were inactive or those accounts that are over the storage limit.
This can result in not being able to store new files or Gmail users not receiving emails.
For this reason, it’s best to calculate how much cloud storage space your need. A good rule to calculate your cloud storage needs is to add up all of the files you currently have on your computer.
If you get, for example, 6 GB, you should at least double it. If you have 6 GB, you will need at least 12 GB, so you would probably require 15 GB of free storage.
You also want to think about the file type you want to store. Is it for work and mostly documents? Will it be for movies?
The larger the file type you intend to backup, the more you will need. That being said, it’s always better to start off small and then increase how much storage you need.
And now, how can I get 100GB free on Google Drive?
Over the years, there have been several changes in Google’s pricing plans. When Google Docs was released, it came with 15GB of free cloud storage.
The first version of Google Drive offered 5GB of free storage space. In 2015, Google released Google Photos with unlimited storage.
When Google Drive, Google Docs, and Google Photos merged, we were all excited about 100GB of storage for our data.
Sadly, the 100GB storage of Google Drive space is no longer available for free.
The current free cloud storage with Google is 15GB. This is still around 5000 photos. Any Google user gets 15GB of storage space for free. There are also 3 paid plans:
- 100GB of cloud storage costs €1.99 a month or you can pay in advance for the year for €19.99. That’s a saving of 16%;
- For 200GB of storage, it is €2.99 per month. Again, for 16% savings, you can prepay €29.99 annually;
- If you need more, 2TB of Google storage is €9.99 a month or €99.99 per year. The saving is a little more at 17%.
These paid plans are called Google One. They come with access to Google experts, and you can add up to 5 family members to your plan. Extra member benefits for a user with a paid Google account may also receive Google Play credits or discounts on hotels.
The only way you can now get unlimited storage with Google is by changing to Google Workspace – formally known as G Suite. The Enterprise plan has unlimited storage, enhanced support, and up to 250 participants in video meetings. There are also lots of advanced security features.
What files count towards my 15GB of free Google Drive space?
This is where things get more complicated. Google has always allowed certain file types to not count towards your storage quota. This would include your Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings.
With Google Photos, if you converted photos or videos to high-quality, they wouldn’t count towards your free storage. Essentially, you had unlimited free storage if you changed your photo settings.
Starting June 1, 2021, this will not apply anymore. Google Docs, Sheets, etc. created after this date will count towards your 15GB of free storage. If you edit an old Google Doc, it will now count as part of your free cloud storage.
Photos and videos you back up to Google Photos will also count towards your free storage, regardless of the file format. Photos and videos uploaded in high quality before this date won’t count.
This is a bit of a game-changer. It will now be more difficult to take advantage of the free Google Drive space. More people might be forced to subscribe to a paid plan.
It is worth knowing what happens when you run out of cloud storage with free Google Drive storage.
What files don’t count towards my 15GB of free Google Drive space?
After 1 June 2021, the only things that won’t count towards your free cloud storage are Google Sites and file sharing. If someone shares a file with you, the file is part of their storage and not yours.
What happens when you run out of Google Drive storage?
There are three things that may happen if you go over your free storage space. They are related to the 3 main apps, Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos:
- Gmail- it will be impossible to send or receive emails. If someone tries to send you an email, it will be returned;
- Google Drive- You won’t be able to create a new file in Google Docs, Sheets, etc. You also won’t be able to sync or upload any new files;
- Google Photos– You won’t be able to upload photos or videos in original quality. For now, you will have to convert photos to high-quality ones.
After 1 June 2021, if you are inactive for more than two years, or if you go over the storage limit, you risk losing files. Your Gmail, photos, videos, and productivity files could be deleted.
How can I make the most of my free Google Drive storage?
Knowing that you can’t get 100GB storage for free, there are two options. You can pay €1.99 a month, or you can make the most of your free 15GB storage.
My advice would be to carry out the following tips and tricks as soon as possible. At least before the end of May 2021.
Upload all of your photos and videos now. Make sure you upload them into high-quality file format instead of original quality.
Then change all of your existing photos and videos into the lower resolution file type. It’s important to for this before the end of May because after, they will count towards your storage – high or low resolution.
Keep on top of your Gmail. Especially those with large attachments. Make sure you are regularly deleting emails. Remember that moving emails to the trash doesn’t free storage space. You need to empty your trash to permanently delete them and save cloud storage.
View your files by size. In your Google account, you have a menu bar on the left-hand side. At the bottom, there is “Storage” and below, how much of your storage space is used. Click on storage and a new list of your files will appear. The list will appear from largest to smallest. This makes it easier to delete larger files.
Search for orphan files. This is a great little gem I recently discovered. When you delete a folder from your drive space, it doesn’t delete all of the files in it. But you can’t see these files. They are known as orphan files. Use the search button to type is:unorganized owner:me. This will provide you with a list of files you can delete.
Remove hidden data from apps. You can do this by entering your Google Drive app and clicking on settings. Then choose Manage apps. A list of apps will appear and below each one, it will tell you if there is any hidden data. On the right-hand side, there is an “Options” button. Click on this and select Delete hidden app data.
Empty your trash. Whether it’s photos and videos, Gmail, or files, clicking on delete isn’t enough. You need to follow up and empty your trash bin to see the reflection on your storage space.
If you do all of these things and you don’t see a difference in your free space, try signing out of your Google Drive app and then back in again.
If this doesn’t make a difference, you might need to wait for up to 24 hours before the additional storage is available. If not, then you should contact a Google expert.
Are there any Google Drive storage space offers?
There are various coupons and offers that can provide you with 100GB of free Google Drive storage. We will briefly take a look at some of them now.
If you have a new Chromebook, you will be offered 1 year of 100GB storage with Google for free. To activate it, you can click on the new Chromebook offers and then click on the button “Get Perk”.
Then, follow the steps to verify your new Chromebook. Once finished, you will have a Success notification and your Google account will be credited with 1 year of free storage.
You can also keep an eye on Offer.com as this site publishes Google Drive coupons that sometimes contain free space. CouponXOO is another site that may not offer free storage space but there are good discounts.
For students and teachers, there is good news. If you have a G Suite/Workspace for Education provided by your school, college, or university you get access to unlimited Google Drive storage. Just make sure you are using your provided education account and not your personal one.
While we all want to get as much for our money as possible, Google Drive really is excellent value for money. €1.99 for 100GB is a great deal and 15GB for free is also a bargain.
You also need to consider the extras that come with the Google One account. However, let’s see what other cloud storage service providers are offering.
Which cloud service offers 100GB for free?
After searching through all of the latest cloud service providers, we have found two that offer 100GB of storage for free. The first is Degoo.
This is a very simple file backup system that offers 100GB of free storage with unlimited mobiles, 1 desktop device, and end-to-end encryption.
The only downside is that there is no option to live sync your files. You also have to make sure your account remains active. If not, after 90 days they might delete files.
The second we found was FileShadow. This is another cloud storage provider that offers 100GB for free as well as a little more than Degoo.
You have file sharing, revision tracking, and advanced searching. For security features, FileShadow has secure encryption and virus scanning. The paid storage plan is €12.85 a month for 1TB. In this case, Google One is a better value for money.
One of the best deals we found for large storage capacities was with iDrive. They have an offer for new customers with 5TB of cloud backup for just €2.93 for the first year. After that, it is €58.41. iDrive is a better value than the Google Workstation Business Plus plan.
A new competitor for Google is icedrive. Their free storage is up to 10GB and monthly prices for 150GB are €1.83 paid annually at €21.99. Icedrive has good security features and various options for file sharing.
There are of course other popular cloud providers which we should mention for a fair comparison. For Microsoft Users, The Microsoft OneDrive plan has 5GB of free space with plans for up to 6TB of space.
A little bonus is the 1TB of extra space for those who have Microsoft 365. For €83.99 a year, you can get Microsoft 365 Family. This is 6TB of storage space for 6 users and all of the Microsoft apps.
Why don’t more cloud storage providers offer 100GB of storage for free?
Because the cloud is something we physically don’t see, it is easy to assume that the costs would be low. This is far from the case.
Cloud providers need to invest in servers, security, storage, and IP addresses. You also need to think of the energy to run the servers and the expert staff to create and maintain the systems.
The main idea of offering free Google Drive storage is that at some point you will use your storage quota. This leads to upgrading to a paid plan. Considering the costs, Google is actually rather generous with its free space. Out of the big names, Google Drive account holders get the most free storage.
Wrap Up
To get 100GB free on Google Drive there are three options. First, you would need to invest in a new Chromebook. Second, take advantage of being a student or teacher. And third, look for online offers and coupons.
These may not be the perfect solutions, but it has been a few years since Google handed out 100GB of storage for free.
It was teasing us slightly. To dangle this offer in front of us and then take it away. It also seems a little unfair that the changes from 1 June 2021 are going to have an impact on our free storage.
By carrying out the methods to take advantage of free Google Drive storage, I managed to free up 3GB of drive space. This is definitely a good place to start.
You might be tempted to look at an alternative cloud storage service. If you just want to use it as a backup, it makes sense to use providers that offer 100GB of storage for free.
Especially if they have great security features. One mistake you want to avoid is to risk having security problems with your data.
That being said, for €1.99 a month 100GB of storage with Google Drive is an excellent offer. When you are already used to working with Google Docs and the ease of file sharing, the cost is next to nothing.
You have Google experts at hand and security for your data. We think it’s only fair that Google asks for a small fee in return for so much.
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