I am starting to use Google Drive and I´ve been using Picasa for a while now. Some days ago Google announced that they were going to start considering Google Drive and Picasa space as one storage unit. I believe this will make things easier for the end user, but something crucial is missing.
I needed to back up my pictures and videos, they are around 80GB of more than 10 years of scanned, and digital pictures I´ve been taking since I had my first digital Epson PhotoPC 650 camera (1 Mega pixel yeah!). As you can imagine I have to get some order to the “My Pictures” folder but until I have time to do so, I really need to have a backup of everything outside my house, you know, just in case…
Uploading each folder individually or using the Picasa bulk upload feature was kind of messy, because Picasa actually creates a separate album for each folder I upload. So I decided to just move the “My Pictures” folder inside the Google Drive folder, so that everything gets synced into the cloud, yes, it is taking a while, but it works!
The problem is that there is a lack of integration between Google Drive and Picasa, yes, I can see the pictures online but I don’t have all the tools and features included in Picasa which I really appreciate.
So, now that the storage for both services is the same, my suggestion is to create a “Picasa” or “Picasa Albums” named “magic” folder on Google Drive so that every folder we add inside it will be created as a Picasa Album. Then we can go to Picasa Web and define sharing options, cover image, and permissions. Also if we could organize our albums into folders in Picasa would really help to improve the overall experience. In the end, this will allow us to check our albums and pictures on the “Picasa Albums” folder in Google Drive or online on Picasa itself! Flexibility! Yeah!
What about you? What do you use to backup your pictures and then share them with family and friends? Do you have any other suggestions for a better Google Drive & Picasa integration? Please leave your comment below 😉