Just a few days ago it came to light the limit that Google had imposed for file storage on Google Drive. Not only in its free plans, but also in the paid ones, which enjoy a much larger storage space. As the company had decided, each account could store a maximum of five million files.
Google decided to apply the limit without notifying its users beforehand, and those who exceeded that amount received a message that they had to delete those who exceeded the maximum in order to continue saving files in their account. As is logical, when they received the message they began to complain, and that is how it became known a few days ago that Google Drive had a file limit. But before the commotion caused by the news, those of Mountain View They have decided to go back and remove it.which they have confirmed through a message on Twitter
We recently rolled out a system update to Drive item limits to preserve stability and optimize performance. While this impacted only a small number of people, we are rolling back this change as we explore alternate approaches to ensure a great experience for all.
—Google Drive (@googledrive) April 4, 2023
From the company they assured that the limit, apparently imposed since the end of February, was due to a protection system to prevent users from making inappropriate use of the system, and that its stability and security could be affected.
But although those affected by the measure, according to the company, were few, logically they complained, and made a lot of noise. Other users, although they were not affected, worried that the measure could be the beginning of a series of measures that limit the use of Google Drive and other services of Mountain View in the future, and also expressed their disagreement.
Google has been trying to save costs by all means for a few months, and this measure, despite what they have stated, may imply that they intend to stop Drive users who make more intensive use of their resources. In this case, those that integrate the Drive API into their apps, because Drive is not just a file storage service, but through this API, developers can add cloud storage to their products and services.
If, for example, the files that a user saves in Google Drive all occupy less than 3Kb, the limit of five million files can be easily reached without even covering half of the storage space of the most advanced payment plans of the service. In addition, that the imposition of this limit modifies the contract for the use of the service in force when they signed it.
In any case, in addition to eliminating the limitation, Google has recognized its error by not communicating it when it was imposed, and They have ensured that if they have to make changes in the future, they will notify users beforehand. In this way, they will avoid the damages that have been caused to several companies, which used the most generous plans in terms of Google Drive space to store the data generated by their products.