how to use google drive in finder on a mac
by sumit paul · last updated
there are two ways to get google drive into finder on a mac. google drive for desktop, google's free app, shows your whole drive and downloads each file when you open it. feather drive adds a drive in finder that streams files instead, so big files open in about a second and never fill your disk, but it only shows the files you put in it. use google's app for your everyday documents and feather drive for large files you'd rather not keep on your mac.
with google drive for desktop
- download google drive for desktop from google and sign in.
- in its preferences, choose stream files (files stay in the cloud until you open them) or mirror files (every file is also kept on your mac).
- google drive appears under locations in finder's sidebar.
with stream files, opening a file downloads it in full and keeps it on your mac; you can free that space again by removing the offline copy. it's free and shows everything in your drive, shared drives included.
with feather drive
- download feather drive, open it, and sign in with google.
- switch on the file system extension when asked: system settings › general › login items & extensions › file system extensions › feather drive.
- feather drive appears in finder's sidebar, with a google drive folder inside.
- drag files in. they upload to your google drive and stay there; on your mac they take zero bytes.
when you open a file, feather drive reads only the part the app needs from google drive. a 3 GB video starts in about a second, and a 92 GB file opens even with 10 GB free. optional end-to-end encryption means google only ever stores scrambled data.
feather drive uses google's drive.file permission, so it can only see files it put in your drive or that you open with it. your existing documents and photos stay out of its reach. that keeps it private, and it's why it works best as a home for big files rather than a view of your whole drive.
which to choose
- you want every file in your drive, offline access and shared drives: google drive for desktop.
- you want big videos, raw photos or archives in finder without them ever filling your disk: feather drive.
- both can run side by side.
related
- how to open any file from the cloud on a mac without downloading it
- feather drive vs google drive for desktop, side by side
- how to use dropbox in finder without filling your disk
- how to open a large video from google drive without downloading it
common questions
can i mount google drive as a normal finder folder on my macbook?
yes. google drive for desktop adds google drive under locations in finder, and feather drive mounts it as a drive in finder's sidebar. both behave like a normal folder: drag files in, rename them, open them with any app. the difference is that google drive for desktop downloads a file in full when you open it, while feather drive streams only the part an app reads.
does mounting google drive use space on my mac?
with google drive for desktop in stream mode, files you open are downloaded and kept until you remove the offline copy; in mirror mode everything is on your mac. with feather drive, files show their real size but take zero bytes on disk.
is there a way to mount google drive on a mac without google's app?
yes: feather drive, rclone, mountain duck, cloudmounter and expandrive all mount google drive in finder. rclone is free and command-line; the others are desktop apps with their own pricing.