Google announced today that it will stop counting your WhatsApp backups on Google Drive against your storage quota. Users that sign up for a Google account receive 15GB of free storage, however, rather large backups of your WhatsApp media history can eat up into that rather quickly.

Under this new agreement, while your WhatsApp backups will be accessible to you on your Goole Drive, they will no longer take up any of your personal space on Google Drive. Google did mention that any WhatsApp backups that have not been updated in more than a year will automatically be removed from storage.

This new policy is expected to into effect for all users on November 12, 2018, though some users may see the quota benefits earlier. To avoid the loss of any backups, Google recommends that people manually back up WhatsApp before November 12, 2018.

This decision only affects Android users of WhatsApp as iOS backups are stored in Apple's iCloud account.

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Over the next few months, starting in the US, all paid consumer Google Drive storage plans will become Google One plans, Google announced Monday. This doesn't apply to business customers using Google Drive as part of G Suite.

The update makes Google's consumer storage plans more competitive against options like Dropbox and Microsoft's OneDrive.

Pricing for Google One starts at 100GB for $1.99, 200GB for $2.99, and 2TB for $9.99 per month. The existing Google Drive plans include 1TB for $9.99 -- those plans will be upgraded to 2TB at no extra cost.

Google One will offer plans with up to 30TB per month, and pricing for plans larger than 2TB will remain the same (30TB will cost you $299.99 per month).

In addition to the new pricing, Google One lets customers buy family plans. Customers can add up to five family members under one bill, with each family member still getting their own private storage space.

Google One also comes with "one-tap access" to Google experts for help with consumer products and services. Customers also get perks like credits on Google Play or deals on certain hotels found via Google Search.

Consumer Google accounts come with 15GB of free space, but as Google noted, people are using more and more storage thanks to mobile phone use and the rise of 4K video and high-resolution photography.

The update, with some cheaper pricing and more perks, makes Google's consumer storage plans more competitive against options like Dropbox and Microsoft's OneDrive.

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Google Drive on the web is staying, however purchasers are being urged to introduce the substitution Drive application, called Backup and Sync. (Picture: Google) 

Google has propelled Drive File Stream, a newish record stockpiling administration for all G Suite clients that will supplant the Google Drive desktop application. 

Google has now censured the Drive application for Mac and PC both for shoppers and the undertaking. It will close down the application for good on March 12, 2018. In October, clients may see a message in Drive that the customer is "leaving" and Google will drop bolster for it in December. 

Google Drive on the web is staying, however purchasers are being urged to introduce the substitution Drive application, called Backup and Sync, which Google propelled in July as a customer for going down and synchronizing photographs and documents. It likewise supplanted the Google Photos uploader application. 

For the venture, there's Google Drive Stream, which streams documents to a machine from the cloud instead of synchronizing them between the gadget and the cloud. Google has been trialing this with a few clients since declaring it in March and will move it out to all G Suite clients this month. 

Drive File Stream is intended to save money on neighborhood plate space and removes delays while records match up. Starting yesterday, administrators will see another setting for Drive File Stream, enabling them to setup the framework for their clients. Drive File Stream will turn out to be for the most part accessible to G Suite end-clients on Sept. 26. 

Drive File Stream has various venture and coordinated effort includes that aren't accessible in Backup and Sync, for example, the capacity to get to records in Team Drives, a device for making bunches with access to pertinent drives, and controlling who can get to and alter certain documents. 

This component is intended to limit the danger of representatives downloading organization information to their PCs. 

Endeavor clients can at present introduce Backup and Sync, however in the event that they run it close by Drive File Stream they'll be incited to quit adjusting My Drive with Backup and Sync. 

Google is foreseeing some perplexity among end clients. To enable them to comprehend the contrasts amongst Backup and Sync and Drive File Stream it has posted an examination diagram. 

It's even posted a specimen email that administrators can use to clarify what Drive File Stream is and why they should utilize it.

Google's table is intended to demonstrate the part of Backup and Sync versus Drive File Stream. (Picture: Google)