Google Drive File Stream is a software application that allows you to access your Google Drive data easily without losing your precious drive space by directly mounting them as a virtual drive on your local machine. You can also choose to keep the files or folders offline for editing, and the next time you connect to the internet, those changes will be synced to Google Drive on the web.
In this blog, we will look into the detailed steps to backup the Google Drive data through Google File Stream Drive using the Vembu BDR Suite.
How Google Drive File System works
Google Drive File Stream is a way to stream your Drive files to your Mac or PC directly from the cloud. Since Drive files are stored in the cloud, any changes you or your collaborators make will be modified automatically. You can render Drive files accessible for offline access as well. These stored files will sync back to the cloud when you’re online, so the new version is available on all your computers.
Deploying Google Drive File System
- Verify if the Google Drive file stream is enabled in your organization. You can enable it in the admin console.
- Turn on the organization sync and make sure to allow Drive File Stream and specify whether users can see Drive File Stream download links.
- Download the Google Drive File Stream .exe file and deploy it on their machine.
- Once installed in the .exe file, the Google Drive files will be mounted as a virtual drive in your machine.
Steps to backup Google Drive File Stream with Vembu Backup for Files and Application
Now, follow the below steps to configure the google drive file stream backup with Vembu backup for files and applications.
Step1: The Google File Stream drive needs to be shared.
1. To share the Google File Stream Drive, Right link on the Drive, and select Share with -> Advance sharing. A pop-up box open as below
2. Select the Sharing tab and enable sharing. This makes Google File Stream Drive a shared drive.
Step 2: Download and Install Vembu BDR Suite
Vembu BDR Suite is a portfolio of products designed to backup multiple environments from virtual to physical to cloud while addressing diverse and advanced use cases – all within your budget. You can protect your virtual machines, physical machines, AWS EC2 instances, files, applications, SaaS applications(G Suite and Office 365), and also get your data replicated to your secondary data center hosted either onsite, offsite location, Public Clouds (AWS, Azure, Google) or Vembu Cloud for DR.
1. Download the latest version of the Vembu BDR Backup Server here
2. Open the folder where you have downloaded the Vembu BDR Backup Server setup and run the installer with administrator privileges.
3. You can find the complete installation guide for Vembu BDR Suite here
Step 3: Log In to BDR Backup Server GUI
1. You can log in to the Vembu BDR Backup Server Web-GUI via the following options:
- Entering the URL: https://localhost:6061 (or)
- http://< IP_Address_of_Machine >:6060
2. Log in to the console using the username and password provided during the installation.
Note: The default username and password are admin & admin you can customize this during the installation of the Vembu BDR Suite.
3. The next step is to enter a unique Vembu BDR ID. The ID should be globally unique as it is with this ID that each installation of Vembu BDR is identified.
Step 4: Configure Backup repository
Navigate to the Infrastructure tab and choose the Backup Repository
- The backup Repository is where backup data is stored. You can use different storage media such as Local drives, NAS(NFS and CIFS), and SAN(iSCSI and FC) as the backup repository.
- Physical and Network shared volumes can be combined to form a backup repository.
- You can pool together multiple storage volumes and create one or more backup repositories. A single volume can be added to multiple backup repositories.
- You can add new storage volumes to an existing backup repository anytime and extend its backup storage capacity.
Click here for the complete details on configuring the Backup Repository
Step 5: Download and install Vembu Files and Application backup
1. Download the Vembu Client for File & Application Backup Installer for Windows from here
2. Run the downloaded installer to deploy the client agent in the targeted machine.
Click here for the complete guide on the installation of Vembu Files and Application Backup.
Step 6: Add the Drive as a Network Drive on Vembu Client GUI
1. Once you login to the Vembu client GUI, add the shared Google File Stream drive as a network drive in Vembu Client GUI.
To add a network drive, login to the Vembu Client GUI from a browser and type http://ipaddress:4040, and log in with default credentials (admin/admin). Then select the ‘Management’ tab, and click ‘Manage Network Drive’. Then enter the required information
- Drive Name – Provide a drive letter/name for network drive to be added.
- Drive Path – Network path of a drive to be added.
Ex: \\< MACHINE_NAME OR IP_ADDRESS >\< SHARE_NAME > - Username & Password- If the network drive requires login authentication, provide the username and password to authenticate drive addition.
2. Once the drive is added, it will be listed below
Note: A user can add ‘n’ number of network drives and can manage it via the ‘Manage network drives’ page. A network drive added can also be deleted if not required, with the ‘delete’ option alongside drives added.
Step 7: Configure backup by selecting the required folders and files
1. Go to the ‘Backup’ tab and select the ‘File Backup’ option from the top menu.
2. In the left pane of the “Select Files/Folders to backup” page, you will see the added mapped drive letter and you can expand the drive and see the listed folder and files from the Google File Stream drive. You can select the files and folders that you need to backup.
Refer to the following guide to know more about configuring file backup, https://www.bdrsuite.com/guide/vembu-bdr-suite/en/setup-on-premise-file-backup.html
Conclusion
Google Drive File Stream is the only application that can give you access to Google Drive data on your local computer without using the storage space. As long as the internet is connected to the machine you can follow the above steps to backup your google drive files through google file stream drive using Vembu BDR Suite.
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