How to Sync Multiple Computers with Google Backup and Sync?

Can I use Google Backup and Sync to sync two computers?

“I used Google Backup and Sync on my desktop to sync my files across my local computer and Google Drive. Recently, I bought a new computer and installed Backup and Sync on my new computer. Now, I wonder if I can use ‘Google Backup and Sync’ to sync my old computer to the cloud, and then sync all files that synced to Google Drive to the new computer? If it is possible, how to achieve it? Thanks for your reply in advance!?

When need to sync multiple computers with Google Drive?

As one of the most popular cloud storage, Google Drive has gained massive users. It provides users with 15 GB free cloud storage and allows them to backup or sync files to cloud via Google desktop app – Backup and Sync. Therefore, many users synced their files from local computer to Google Drive with Backup and Sync and access these files on Google Drive anywhere, at any time.

However, nowadays, many people have more than one computer and sync files on each computer to Google Drive for safekeeping. If they need files on another computer, they can download them from Google Drive. However, the downloading process may take a long time especially when the file size is large. Therefore, many users are wondering if Google Drive Backup and Sync can sync multiple computers directly that they can view and manage files among computers easily?

How to sync two computers with Google Backup and Sync?

Generally, one way to sync multiple computers is to use a single Google account across the different desktops. That approach will put all your Google files in one Google Drive account and keep them synced across your different computers with Google Backup and Sync.

As we all know, Backup and Sync is the desktop app for Google Drive and Google Photos. With it, you can backup or sync all your files, videos, images, and more across multiple computers and clouds. To sync computers with Google Backup and Sync, you can refer to the steps below:

✎Note: For this to work, you have to have a Google Drive plan that is large enough to hold that much data. Currently, the free Google accounts come with 15GB of data, which is usually far too small to hold data from one desktop.

1. Download and install Backup and Sync and log into your Google Account.

2. Then, you have to specify which folder(s) you would like to sync to Google Drive. Then, your folder(s) will now sync with your Google Drive.

3. Go to the Google Drive website and log into your Google account.

4. In the left sidebar, find “My Laptop” and then drag the synced folder into your “My Drive” folder.

5. Download and install Backup and Sync on your computer, when you are asked to choose the folder that you want to sync from Google Drive to this computer, you can choose the folder that you dragged to “My Drive” folder. Then, files will be synced between the two computers through Google Backup and Sync.

Bonus tip: Backup your important files on Google Drive in advance

It's worth mentioning that Google Drive may go down for unknown reasons. If you’re storing anything important, we recommend backing up your drive files to a second drive account or another cloud storage account entirely with a reliable cloud backup tool like CBackupper.

CBackupper is a free and reliable cloud backup service that can help you backup Google Drive files to another cloud storage like OneDrive, Dropbox, FTP/SFTP, and so on. In addition, it offers many useful and flexible backup features like Scheduled Backup, which allows you to set up an automatic backup task in specific time, daily, weekly, etc. mode. Besides that, you can also choose to exclude or contain certain types of files when backing up with the File Filter feature.

Let’s take OneDrive as an example to show you how to backup files from Google Drive to OneDrive with CBackupper:

1. Create an account and sign in. Just go to the main page of CBackupper, then get started to type your email, password, and name.

2. Click “Add Clouds” under “Clouds” tab, select your clouds (here is Google Drive and OneDrive), and click “Add”. Then sign in your account and authorize CBackupper to access and manage your files on the cloud.

3. Click on “Tasks” tab at the top of the page, then, click “Create Task” button. Name your backup task, click “Add Source” button to add Google Drive and click “Add Destination” to add OneDrive.

✎Note: Under “Settings”, you can enjoy “File Filter” and enable “Email Notification”. You can also set automatic backup under “Schedule”.

4. Click “Start Backup” in the lower right corner to backup files from Google Drive to OneDrive.

Final words

That’s all about how to sync multiple computers with Google Backup and Sync, you can try this method to put files onto the desktop of your computer remotely. Meanwhile, don’t forget to backup your files on Google Drive to another cloud storage with CBackupper in case of malfunction of Google Drive. If you have multiple Google Drive accounts, it also can help you merge Google Drive accounts into one for larger storage space and better management.