Is Google drive a good place to store and share videos with clients?

[Thpriest]

I'm increasingly having to share huge amounts of video files with clients (50-200gb a go). I had previously been using Myairbridge (in blocks of 50gb) but I've become tired of clients not downloading things on time etc.

So i'm looking for relatively large storage (2TB) where I can store, back up and share several projects. Needs to be fast upload/download. Google drive is 99€ per year for 2TB.

Are there any alternatives I should be looking at?

[newfoundmass]

Dropbox is roughly around that price, too. 

Google Drive though works well, and though it says you have a 2 TB limit I believe they don't actually enforce it. 

I have both, since a lot of people I work with use Dropbox and it's easier for them to use. 

[fuzzynormal]

I used to have over a Terabyte on Dropbox and found it rather easy and reliable.  Have GoogleDrive as well, but not a fan as much of how they've implemented their sharing.  Either way though, they both work.

[IronFilm]

I use Google Drive all the time myself (as in every week from shoots I'm on), but then again I'm just sharing relatively small amounts: the audio files

[austinchimp]

The big advantage for me with Google Drive is that when you send a video link to somebody it loads up in a Youtube-like player, and it's easy and fast to watch on any device.

I use it every day for a large quantity of content and edits and I haven't found anything better yet. You'll probably want to pay for a good amount of storage though.

[Thpriest]

8 minutes ago, austinchimp said:

The big advantage for me with Google Drive is that when you send a video link to somebody it loads up in a Youtube-like player, and it's easy and fast to watch on any device.

I use it every day for a large quantity of content and edits and I haven't found anything better yet. You'll probably want to pay for a good amount of storage though.

Interesting. Does that work with all video files? I'm mainly using GH5 4k mov files (10 and 8 bit)

[austinchimp]

10 minutes ago, Thpriest said:

Interesting. Does that work with all video files? I'm mainly using GH5 4k mov files (10 and 8 bit)

Yes I think so, as long as Google can read the video. It converts it to a playable stream in the same way as Youtube, so when you watch a shared GDrive video in the player, you're watching a compressed stream rather than the original file. You can download the file to watch the original.

One limitation is that videos shared on Google Drive can only play back at 1080P online. If you need to watch a file at 4k for example, the person receiving the file will need to download it to view at full resolution.

Another good point of Google Drive is the control over sharing options. I don't know Dropbox very well so can't compare, but with Google you can decide whether a file link is viewable only in your organisation, or to specific people, or to anyone with the link. Very handy when you're sending out a link to somebody specific but don't want it to get out into the wider world.

If somebody else gets hold of the link and wants to view it, you'll receive a notification asking if you want to grant access.

[Mako Sports]

I prefer Dropbox, its just what most of my clients are familiar with. 

[Thpriest]

Thanks for all your opinions