
Insync
Insync is a Google Drive sync and backup client with multiple account support.
What is Insync?
Insync is a Google Drive sync and backup client with multiple account support.
- Advanced sharing without browser
- Multiple Google Drive Account support.
- Bidirectional sync of your Google Docs to one or more Mac, Windows or Linux desktops.
- View and edit Google Drive documents offline in Office format. Changes get synced back too.
- Sync any files outside your Insync directory (via symlink)
Insync Screenshots



Insync Features
Comments and Reviews
Tags
- Cloud Storage
- menu-bar
- google-drive-client
- google-apps
Category
Backup & SyncList containing Insync
Cloud Storage & Cloud Storage CombinersRecent user activities on Insync
POX added Insync as alternative(s) to Celeste GUI
- trex84 liked Insynctr
xaGe Downvoted a comment on Rclone as an alternative to Insync
Doesn't share highly-needed features like selective syncing and syncing specific local files to specific folders in cloud drives.
Here's my scenario...
Before Insync: I had Google Drive installed on a Windows platform. Only items I place in the Google Local Drive get synchronized with the Google Cloud Drive.
Problem: I have files outside of the Google Local Drive that I want synced with the Google Cloud Drive. Hard links only copied the first time; subsequent updates to the files with hard links did not get synced.
Solution (Insync): With Insync you select the folder you want synced with Google Cloud Drive via context menu (right click Explorer menu...super easy). Insync creates a link from your external folder to your Google Local Drive, which is then synced with Google Cloud Drive. Subsequent changes to the files are now copied to Google Cloud Drive. Fantastic!
Improvements: Insync mostly solves the above problem.
I have one remaining problem with GoogleDrive+Insync: The above solution only syncs at the root Google Cloud Drive. Ideally I could select which Google Cloud Drive folder to sync with my external folder.
I've been using Insync (on Windows) for 5 or 6 years now, and I'm quite surprised by all the bad comments. Agreed, Insync is sometimes quirky (sometimes it stops syncing until I restart it, which is why I give it only 4 stars), but to me it s a lifesaver : allows for scattered folders synch, on whatever drive I choose ; allows for multi-accounts, multi-provider, etc. It's so much more convenient to use than the half-baked, buggy synchronization agents (be it "Backup & Sync", "Drive File Stream" - or maybe their recent offpring "Google Drive for Desktop" which, I confess, I have not tested thoroughly yet ) that a shameless Google has been daring to produce for years. And if unfortunately Insync (or maybe Google Drive) made you loose data, a piece of advice : storing in a cloud is not a backup, so do backup, whatever syncing system you choose.
Deleted everything in my cloud. Worked great on my linux machine. Then I installed it on my windows laptop which was apparently a massive mistake. I changed the default sync directory and for some reason it didn't take. So I tried to change it. It wouldn't take the change so I uninstalled deleted the directory and reinstalled. As soon as the reinstall was done it proceeded to sync a blank directory to my cloud store and wiped everything out. Crap software that really needs to be reworked. Wouldn't trust in a professional environment. Stick with Google client.
DO NOT USE.
It is the worst piece of software I have ever used. It is mindboggingly bad and buggy for something as simple as a sync client.
You will lose data with it.
examples:
etc.
Reply written ago
Been using Insync to sync Google Drive with Ubuntu 20.04 for a year.
It’s deleted my entire harddrive TWICE and has been a giant headache for over a year. Program is full of bugs and needs to be re-installed and re-configured constantly. (literally about once a week with regular usage)
DO NOT USE THIS PROGRAM TO BACKUP SENSITIVE DATA. (I lost 30 years of data)
I wish there was an alternative for linux google drive usage. Since there isn’t, I just stopped using Google Drive. I still use Insync when my friends share google drive files with me, but this directory is unstable and I learned to keep it isolated from the rest of my system.
Do not recommend. I do not trust this company.
Between me and my wife we have several Google Drive accounts, syncing to about ten different computers. A couple of computer are Windows-based, so I use Google Drive on them. Never had a problem, even mixing Google Drive and Insync over the same cloud space. ** BUT ** There is a great BUT: Insync works flawlessly if you choose to use the 1.5.7.37371 release, which is the latest available release from the 1.5 code branch. Unfortunately that branch is dead. The current branch, which is 3.x (there is no 2.x) has a lot of problems and you can find a lot of horror stories about it. That's a pity, because Insync was really a good product at the 1.x times. The good news is that the latest 1.5 release still works perfectly. I don't understand those who say the product is overpriced. Did you understand that the price you pay is a one-time payment? You pay once and you use it for life. And once you're a customer you'll get offers for half the price at least two/three times every year, if you need to add accounts. Three stars because they cannot get it right with the new 3.x releases. Release 1.5 would deserve 5 stars.
At first it looked shiny enough, the sync was going well until I realized that since I already had some backup on Google Drive, Insync was creating doubles of all my files both on my computer and on the cloud. Thankfully I had another backup on my computer and did not have to remove the doubles by hand. But I decided to give it another go, until it just stopped working (impossible to launch, start or open) on my computer, and even a fresh install and a reboot wouldn't make it come back. So in the end, I really tried to give it a chance but Insync really doesn't work well at all, I strongly suggest using a tool that works and does what it is supposed to, like rclone.
EDIT-------------------------- This software is more like a virus. The very evening I pay for it (yes, why did I do that) it deletes half of the files of my computer. Never, ever use Insync.
[Edited by ultome, October 27]