Two gigabytes of free Google Drive storage is only a security checkup away

By Adrian Diaconescu Published February 10, 2015

secure your google account and get 2 gb of drive storage checkup — Image used with permission by copyright holder

In an attempt to once again raise the free cloud storage bar above its number one competitor, Microsoft OneDrive, Google is celebrating the 12^th Safer Internet Day by offering two extra gigabytes of Drive space, no strings attached.

All you have to do is take a couple of minutes to complete a simple Security Checkup. This will help you ensure your Google account recovery information is up-to-date, review recent sign-in activity, and confirm apps and devices with access to personal data.

Bottom line, it’s a non-intrusive, hassle-free, totally safe and practical “procedure,” and at the end of it, you’ll be sure you’re protected against external threats, and score a permanent 2GB bump in your Google Drive storage plan.

That’s right, from February 28, when the complimentary space will be granted automatically to everyone, until the end of times, you’ll have 17GB available for no charge, 102 at $1.99 a month, or 1,002GB for $9.99, and so on.

Meanwhile, Redmond has just kicked off a promotion where OneDrive users can nab an additional 100 gigs of free cloud capacity on top of the 15GB normally furnished. But you have to be willing to constantly replace Google searches with the Bing alternatives. Google’s offer requires no long-term commitment.

Sorry, Microsoft, but the Goog seems to be cutting us the better deal. This is a limited time offer, however: the security checkup must be complete by February 17th.

Topics

Google

Adrian Diaconescu

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Adrian is a mobile aficionado since the days of the Nokia 3310, and a PC enthusiast since Windows 98. Later, he discovered…

Computing

Watch out: Google Drive may have lost months of data

Google Drive in Chrome on a MacBook.

If you're using Google Drive to back up your files, you may need to make sure everything's in order -- and perhaps even back those files up again somewhere else. While cloud storage is typically considered to be one of the safer methods of storing data, several users have reported that Google Drive may have misplaced their files. In some cases, the data loss goes as far back as May 2023. Here's what we know, and how you can protect yourself.

Over the last few days, multiple complaints started cropping up on the Google Support forums. It appears that Google has a pretty worrying problem on its hands, and it was first reported by user Yeonjoong. Files are suddenly vanishing for some users, with seemingly no way to get them back. The user said that their drive seems to have gone back in time to May 2023, including files and folder structure.

Computing

I finally upgraded my Google One storage. Here’s why I might never do it again

Google Drive in Chrome on a MacBook.

As a technology journalist and food photography enthusiast, I can collect thousands of images at a rapid pace.

And if you’ve also spent a considerable amount of time online, there’s a good chance you’re connected to some sort of paid cloud storage. For me, that system is Google One. I got sucked in back when Google storage was free, but around 2019, the paid Google One subscription service was established. At $20 per year for 100GB of storage, it was a no-brainer for someone like myself, who stores a ton of data online. But a few years on, I'm in the exact same situation I was before. I need more storage space.

Computing

Google just made this vital Gmail security tool completely free

The top corner of Gmail on a laptop screen.

Hackers are constantly trying to break into large websites to steal user databases, and it’s not entirely unlikely that your own login details have been leaked at some point in the past. In cases like that, upgrading your password is vital, but how can you do that if you don’t even know your data has been hacked?

Well, Google thinks it has the answer because it has just announced that it will roll out dark web monitoring reports to every Gmail user in the U.S. This handy feature was previously limited to paid Google One subscribers, but the company revealed at its Google I/O event that it will now be available to everyone, free of charge.