Google Backup and Sync Reliability on M1

[velocityg4]

Just curious about the current state of Google Backup and Sync on M1 Macs.

While I'm aware they updated it to work with M1. From what I can find it's still not Universal and runs under Rosetta.

I'm interested in the experience of current users with M1.
- Is it reliable?
- How's the performance under Rosetta?
- How's it impacting your battery life?
- Does it have high memory/CPU usage?

 

[robjulo]

I’ve had no issues with it and haven’t really noticed any major impacts on battery life (haven’t really paid that close attention).

I find it to be far, far more reliable than photostream.

 

[Leon1das]

Google Backup and Sync is Intel based (Rosetta), but works relatively good.

Google Drive is universal app (Intel and M1) - though many users still have various issues with v47 - either its clunky installation or ocassional issues with sync.

 

[leons]

No issues here either. Works great, I forget that its there doing its job. No impact on battery life; I get 16-18 hours.
All that being said, I DO wish they would make a native app, as I would prefer to not run Rosetta.

 

[TiSde]

Basically it works but unfortunately Google Backup and Sync (at least in my case with 2 accounts to sync) has a negative side effect on disk lifetime which I noted on 3 different machines (both Intel and M1 based). The software suffers from a bug which causes the spawning of a lot of new processes, each one constantly writing few Kb of data on disk every second. I always ended up by having more than 50 Google processes which together write continuously about 0.5Mb-1.0Mb per second on disk, having in medium/long term a big impact on ssd lifespan. I have found no solution to this issue except than killing the software and restart it. I attached a screenshot which should clarify this behavior. I tested the software also in isolation with no other software running and no external devices connected but the problem remains. Does anyone has had the same problem and found a fix for this?

 

[leons]

Basically it works but unfortunately Google Backup and Sync (at least in my case with 2 accounts to sync) has a negative side effect on disk lifetime which I noted on 3 different machines (both Intel and M1 based). The software suffers from a bug which causes the spawning of a lot of new processes, each one constantly writing few Kb of data on disk every second. I always ended up by having more than 50 Google processes which together write continuously about 0.5Mb-1.0Mb per second on disk, having in medium/long term a big impact on ssd lifespan. I have found no solution to this issue except than killing the software and restart it. I attached a screenshot which should clarify this behavior. I tested the software also in isolation with no other software running and no external devices connected but the problem remains. Does anyone has had the same problem and found a fix for this?

yes and no. I am currently on 8 days uptime, there are four google processes running. I write a TOTAL of 25/GB/day (on average, so can't imagine the google process is writing much.

 

[danb1979]

It's not working on my M1 MBA here unfortunately.

Uninstalled it and re-installed it twice; it just hangs!

 

[harrisonjr98]

Looks like the new "Drive for desktop" has been released, which is apparently trying to unify the two pieces of software formerly known as Backup and Sync (personal accounts) and Drive File Stream (business accounts). Anyone want to be the guinea pig and see if it's running native or still in Rosetta?

I imagine native since it's an all new piece of software - it would make sense of why they'd leave B&S in Rosetta for the last year as well, if they had something new on the horizon.

 

[acousticbiker]

Looks like the new "Drive for desktop" has been released, which is apparently trying to unify the two pieces of software formerly known as Backup and Sync (personal accounts) and Drive File Stream (business accounts). Anyone want to be the guinea pig and see if it's running native or still in Rosetta?

I imagine native since it's an all new piece of software - it would make sense of why they'd leave B&S in Rosetta for the last year as well, if they had something new on the horizon.

Thanks, I'm currently using B & S and wondering whether I should switch. Anyone made the switch? Did you just delete B & S and then install Drive? Does it work better than B & S?

 

[zzemman]

Thanks, I'm currently using B & S and wondering whether I should switch. Anyone made the switch? Did you just delete B & S and then install Drive? Does it work better than B & S?

I am still running Backup and Sync on all my Intel Macs but never installed it on my M1 Air because I wanted the M1 to remain 100% clean with Apple Silicon software only.

Now that Drive for Desktop is compatible with consumer accounts, I installed it on my M1 and it has been working flawlessly for the past week.

I Installed Apple Silicon version from here: https://support.google.com/a/answer/7491144

Note: I have not switched any mac from B&S to Drive yet, so cannot comment on the transition itself. Waiting for others to test it out first, or for Google to force the switch on me.

 

[harrisonjr98]

I am still running Backup and Sync on all my Intel Macs but never installed it on my M1 Air because I wanted the M1 to remain 100% clean with Apple Silicon software only.

Now that Drive for Desktop is compatible with consumer accounts, I installed it on my M1 and it has been working flawlessly for the past week.

I Installed Apple Silicon version from here: https://support.google.com/a/answer/7491144

Note: I have not switched any mac from B&S to Drive yet, so cannot comment on the transition itself. Waiting for others to test it out first, or for Google to force the switch on me.

Did you confirm that the new “drive for desktop” is running native? Activity monitor has an “architecture” column now that should tell.

 

[meson]

Yes, it is a native Apple Silicon App. It quietly updated to Version 50.0.11.0, but I took some screenshots for another thread a little over a week ago.

My experience over the last few weeks since getting my M1 MBP is that Google Drive is working quite well on Apple Silicon. I've had no issues. In the past I've had to stop/start syncing when swapping back and forth between a couple Intel based machines. Not sure if it was a previous update over the summer or when it happened, but now changes seem to sync faster for me.

 

[Javi74]

I moved from Chrome OS to Mac OS in December, and tried it. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to choose what folders from Gdrive to sync with the Mac (I'm not saying you can't do it, just I didn't find how to), and I migrated to Microsoft Onedrive.

 

[harrisonjr98]

I moved from Chrome OS to Mac OS in December, and tried it. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to choose what folders from Gdrive to sync with the Mac (I'm not saying you can't do it, just I didn't find how to), and I migrated to Microsoft Onedrive.

This is absolutely a feature in backup and sync, but I believe it’s removed in Drive for desktop in favor of all or nothing.

Yes, it is a native Apple Silicon App. It quietly updated to Version 50.0.11.0, but I took some screenshots for another thread a little over a week ago.

My experience over the last few weeks since getting my M1 MBP is that Google Drive is working quite well on Apple Silicon. I've had no issues. In the past I've had to stop/start syncing when swapping back and forth between a couple Intel based machines. Not sure if it was a previous update over the summer or when it happened, but now changes seem to sync faster for me.

View attachment 1817757View attachment 1817760

Nice, looks like the M1 drive release we were all waiting for. Now to determine if I should risk trying to migrate from backup and sync or wait till the 14” mbps come out and handle it then.

 

[gank41]

I've noticed the M1 Google Drive app actually creates a new partition or volume as opposed to just utilizing a folder like all other Sync apps? This is currently the one thing keeping me from using it. I don't want a new volume created that syncs my Google drive folders, I just want the folders to sync to folders..

From Google's Support about this:
”Drive for desktop operates as a virtual mounted drive to operate, it needs to remain mounted to work. If you don’t wish to see it, your operating system will have instructions for hiding a virtual or mounted disk. Do not eject it to avoid any issues.”

 

[acousticbiker]

Since the migration from Backup & Sync to Drive for desktop, my photos are no longer syncing to Google Photos. There are others also experiencing the same and Drive support has asked folks to submit feedback via the app:

Google have requested that any user affected by this issue leave in-product feedback quoting the reference b_205138801 at the start of the text.​

1. On your task bar, click Google Drive
2. Click the Gear icon
3. Scroll down and select Send feedback

Start the text with b_205138801 followed by any observations you would like to share.​

 

[velocityg4]

I've noticed the M1 Google Drive app actually creates a new partition or volume as opposed to just utilizing a folder like all other Sync apps? This is currently the one thing keeping me from using it. I don't want a new volume created that syncs my Google drive folders, I just want the folders to sync to folders..

From Google's Support about this:
”Drive for desktop operates as a virtual mounted drive to operate, it needs to remain mounted to work. If you don’t wish to see it, your operating system will have instructions for hiding a virtual or mounted disk. Do not eject it to avoid any issues.”

I've noticed this. But I think this has to do with Apple deprecating some kexts in macOS 12.3. Which these companies have known about for a few years. I expect Google just got it out of the way with their new app. It looks like Onedrive does the same know as Onedrive shows up as a location. I expect others will follow suit.

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