Google Drive Active Directory Integration Office' title='Google Drive Active Directory Integration Office' />Which is better for business If youd like to provide end users more storage capacity or take advantage of cloud file sharing, then you need to think about standardizing on a specific service. By submitting your personal information, you agree that Tech. RBAC_1.png' alt='Google Drive Active Directory Integration Office' title='Google Drive Active Directory Integration Office' />Target and its partners may contact you regarding relevant content, products and special offers. You also agree that your personal information may be transferred and processed in the United States, and that you have read and agree to the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy. There are dozens of players looking to be the go to storage provider in the cloud, and two of the biggest names are Dropbox and Google. When considering Dropbox vs. Google Drive for your organization, compare the pros and cons of each for enterprise use. Dropbox has been the king of the hill since the early days and now has 1. It offers up to 1. GB of free storage to anyone and has inexpensive paid options for up to 5. GB of storage. Dropbox Pro and Dropbox for Teams accounts offer even more storage and control options for IT administrators. MSDNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.msdn.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/80/70/AzureSignup/0268.ManagementDirectory.png' alt='Google Drive Active Directory Integration Office' title='Google Drive Active Directory Integration Office' />Dropbox maintains version control of documents and has easy options to share files or folders. Google Drive is a relative newcomer, but it isnt just a storage service. It also includes what used to be called Google Docs. The integration of these Software as a Service Saa. S productivity applications and Gmail lets Google offer a complete service for anyone who wants to store, share and collaborate on files. Drive offers 5 GB of free storage space with paid options that offer as much as 1. Google Drive is a free way to keep your files backed up and easy to reach from any phone, tablet, or computer. Start with 15GB of Google storage free. At a forprofit editorial outlet like Lifehacker, when we need an image for our posts, we cant just do a Google image search and slap up the first result. We have. TB for a single account. Sharing is very easy, especially if users have contacts set up in Gmail. Using drop down menus that are similar to the sharing mechanisms on Google Plus, Drive subscribers can set ownership either Owned by me or Not owned by me, collaborators and visibility. The problem is that Googles platform can be a one way street. If you live with Microsoft Office and users need to keep files intact, then you can kiss the Google Docs integration goodbye. Google Drive Active Directory Integration Office' title='Google Drive Active Directory Integration Office' />Docs can import Word and Excel files, but it will not put them back to their original format if users edit in Docs. Switching back and forth between Docs and Office and dealing with the font incompatibilities and complex styles of the Microsoft Office suite could drive employees crazy. On the other hand, if ease of use is what youre looking for, Docs is a good storage option for your company. Google continues to add more integration across its products as well. Google supports 1. GB attachments from Gmail using Drive, plus website publishing straight from Drive. Dropboxs file sharing core competency remains a dominant draw for many who still attach files to locally running applications. Dropbox also maintains a healthy third party compatibility, which makes it popular as a storage utility for many Web and mobile apps. Browser add ons such as Dropbox Folder Sync, the Jot. Form Web front end for file upload via a website, and the ability to request files easily with File. Stork are examples of Dropboxs easy access application program interfaces APIs. Thats not to say Google is devoid of third party options, but the APIs are only available to Web apps published to the Chrome Store. Popular Web options such as Slide. Rocket can use Drive, but the integration is limited to specific use cases. Both services offer Web access via a browser, plus a full complement of clients. The desktop clients for Windows and Macintosh integrate directly with your file system, which synchronizes files to and from your local hard drive. They both also have easy to use mobile apps. Google Drive is available for Android and Apple i. OS with i. Phone and i. Pad specific versions and Dropbox covers Android, i. Rebecca Lily Pro Presets. OS and Black. Berry. Drive lets users make files local for offline availability and Dropbox offers users the ability to auto upload photos from a mobile device. Dropbox vs. Google Drive security. One major concern of any cloud service is security, and file services are often a vector for hacking. Dropbox has been a victim of attack, most notably in 2. Dropbox change caused any account to become accessible using any password. This hole was open for 4 hours, and although the issue was closed fairly quickly, the incident brought to light the fact that Dropbox, not the client, held security encryption keys. In another incident, a hacker gained a list of user email addresses via a hacked Dropbox employee account. No other Dropbox accounts were hacked, but the users on that email list became victims of email spamming. Dropbox reset every users password and enabled a new two factor authentication. The service, launched in August 2. Instead of the text option, Dropbox subscribers can use a time based, one time password generator, such as Google Authenticator or Amazon Web Services Multi Factor Authentication apps to generate the code. There havent been reports of hacks for Google Drive, but Drive uses a central Google account that employees likely use for Gmail, Google Plus and other Google services, which makes Drive an easy hacking target. Gmail accounts get hacked because people use weak passwords or they use the same password across sites tied to the email account. Google Drive subscribers can use Google Authenticator for two factor authentication as well. Both providers offer business specific versions. Google has Google Docs for Business, which includes all the features of Drive but allows teams using the same email domain to easily share documents and collaborate. Dropbox has a group version called Dropbox for Teams that gives you more control with Active Directory integration, access control for links and easy device security management. Both services have strong but different feature strengths. If youll be moving toward a Google world with Docs and Gmail, heavy Chrome OS andor Android use, then Drive is a contender for your cloud storage. If yours is a more heterogeneous computer environment where you still use plenty of local applications and dont want to rely on one way Docs integration, then youll see Dropbox as a better fit. Just remember to take every security option the service you choose offers.