5 ms·

I am on that team =). I won't say much publicly, but if this is the issue I think it is (customer has a huge number of files, and is trying to sync it with a 3

I am on that team =). I won't say much publicly, but if this is the issue I think it is (customer has a huge number of files, and is trying to sync it with a 32-bit client, and hitting memory issues), we are aware of the issue, and are definitely working on it. It's a tricky thing to solve in any sync client - for example, Dropbox has a cap around 300,000 files (I believe this customer had 700,000 files?): > https://www.dropbox.com/help/space/file-storage-limit https://www.dropbox.com/help/space/file-storage-limit Note: The performance of the Dropbox application may start to decline when you store above 300,000 files. Other clients may have similar limits. I'll see if I can find our docs on it. Disclaimer: I work for Google.

Nition 9y ago
I realise that you probably aren't able to contact the customer yourself, but someone needs to tell the guy clearly what Google thinks the issue is (support saying "according to an entry on the help forum..." isn't exactly conclusive although at least they're trying), refund him for the six months, and suggest any possible workaround. Because there's no direct contact from anyone beyond level 2 support, the guy is stuck in limbo without being able to know where his issue is in the realm between "about to be fixed" and "never." On the other hand, it's nice that there is actually a team on this and that it's not just support palming him off. Problem is there's no way for the guy to know that. If I keep telling you that Santa is urgently working on some presents for six months eventually you're gonna stop believing.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- icelancer 9y ago
  >probably aren't able to contact the customer yourself AKA don't have the courage to do it.
  - victorhooi 9y ago
    That's a bit disingenuous. It's also quite easy to take cheap potshots behind the anonymity of pseudonyms. The customer has unfortunately left zero details with which to contact them - my details are on HN, anybody is free to PM me, and I'm happy to see what I can do internally.
    - consz 9y ago
      Zero details? Surely you have his email? How else is the Google support person he's talking to able to reply to him?
      - Mithaldu 9y ago
        I think he means "on that list", not in actual comms with google.
        consz 9y ago
        The person I'm replying to said he works on the Google Drive team, so I presume he also is able to get the actual comms between Google and the customer.
        tomkarlo 9y ago
        Not necessarily, at least easily. Customer comms often contain PII, so they're not just widely available to anyone interested due to privacy concerns. Unless you're on a ticket related to that specific customer's issue, it's very hard to get that info (and it should be.) Even then, PII like the email address may be obfuscated in the ticket.
dpkonofa 9y ago
This is my annoyance with the OP - they're a very clear edge case and, technically, the product still works for them. They're not paying for a Windows or Mac app, they're paying for online storage and that part of the service works fine. They can still access all their files via the web browser and they can add and download files as they see fit. The issue with the app is probably exactly what you're mentioning and the person is acting like the service they're paying for is broken. It's not broken, they're just using the service in a very non-standard way. Edit: Since people seem to be voting my comments down, I'll offer an analogy. This is like a professional bowler going to a family bowling alley and complaining about the balls they provide for you to use. These same balls work for 99% of the people paying to bowl. You don't deserve a refund because you're an edge case from all their other customers since the actual bowling alley is still open and you can still bowl, it just might not be a great experience. Get another ball, bring your own ball, or stop coming to this bowling alley.
- paulmd 9y ago
  No, Google Drive is sold as a customer-facing service and customers have a basic expectation that it will do what it says on the box. If the Dropbox application didn't run, I'd be pissed too, even if it does happen to be "online storage". If someone was complaining that an Amazon S3 application was broken, that would be a different story.
  - dpkonofa 9y ago
    It does do what it says on the box. You're not required to download any of the apps in order to use Google Drive. My contention is that the OP claims that they deserve some kind of reimbursement because "they're paying for it" but the "it" here is not the app, it's the service. They're paying for online storage. There are several ways to sync your files to that service. The Google Drive app is a free option. He's paying for the service, not the app. Note that even you said "service" in your description of what it is.
    - Dylan16807 9y ago
      The syncing apps are absolutely part of the package.
rahimiali 9y ago
wouldn't it be a good idea to at least raise an error message if the client handle the number of files? it would alleviate the mystery and a lot of frustration.
sundvor 9y ago
> "... is trying to sync it with a 32-bit client". Upon reading this I got the impression that the issue was [customer] using 32 bit Windows and therefore not able to use the 64 bit version, however checking out e.g. https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-version-of-Google-Drive-in-64-bit https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-version-of-Google-Drive-in-..., and also installing google drive myself right then seeing it appear in C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Drive, there's clearly no 64 bit version of Google Drive available at present date (2017-07-10). Perhaps giving alerts when hitting usage limits would be of help to customers with such a high amount of files. Best of luck resolving it!
icelancer 9y ago
This has almost nothing to do with the technical problems and everything to do with the fact your support is a joke. The fact that was not addressed in your post only strengthens the argument.
arthurfm 9y ago
> we are aware of the issue, and are definitely working on it. I am guessing the fix for this issue would be to download the new Google Backup & Sync app [1][2] that replaces the current Google Drive client and is meant to be released on Wednesday [3]? :) [1] https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2017/06/backup-and-sync-from-google-available.html https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2017/06/backup-and-sync... [2] http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/07/01/googles-updated-drive-client-windows-mac-delayed/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/07/01/googles-updated-driv... [3] https://gsuite.google.com/whatsnew/calendar/ https://gsuite.google.com/whatsnew/calendar/
- victorhooi 9y ago
  Correct =), there are many improvements in the new client (landing soon), and there are further ones coming in the pipeline shortly after.
simonh 9y ago
> trying to sync it with a 32-bit client... How can you write that with a straight face when the 32-bit client is in fact the only client?
slededit 9y ago
A 32-bit client can only handle 300,000 files? Could you imagine if 32-bit windows fell over at that level. Is it storing every file in RAM?

Nition 9y ago

I realise that you probably aren't able to contact the customer yourself, but someone needs to tell the guy clearly what Google thinks the issue is (support saying "according to an entry on the help forum..." isn't exactly conclusive although at least they're trying), refund him for the six months, and suggest any possible workaround. Because there's no direct contact from anyone beyond level 2 support, the guy is stuck in limbo without being able to know where his issue is in the realm between "about to be fixed" and "never." On the other hand, it's nice that there is actually a team on this and that it's not just support palming him off. Problem is there's no way for the guy to know that. If I keep telling you that Santa is urgently working on some presents for six months eventually you're gonna stop believing.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
icelancer 9y ago
>probably aren't able to contact the customer yourself AKA don't have the courage to do it.
- victorhooi 9y ago
  That's a bit disingenuous. It's also quite easy to take cheap potshots behind the anonymity of pseudonyms. The customer has unfortunately left zero details with which to contact them - my details are on HN, anybody is free to PM me, and I'm happy to see what I can do internally.
  - consz 9y ago
    Zero details? Surely you have his email? How else is the Google support person he's talking to able to reply to him?
    - Mithaldu 9y ago
      I think he means "on that list", not in actual comms with google.
      - consz 9y ago
        The person I'm replying to said he works on the Google Drive team, so I presume he also is able to get the actual comms between Google and the customer.
        tomkarlo 9y ago
        Not necessarily, at least easily. Customer comms often contain PII, so they're not just widely available to anyone interested due to privacy concerns. Unless you're on a ticket related to that specific customer's issue, it's very hard to get that info (and it should be.) Even then, PII like the email address may be obfuscated in the ticket.

dpkonofa 9y ago

This is my annoyance with the OP - they're a very clear edge case and, technically, the product still works for them. They're not paying for a Windows or Mac app, they're paying for online storage and that part of the service works fine. They can still access all their files via the web browser and they can add and download files as they see fit. The issue with the app is probably exactly what you're mentioning and the person is acting like the service they're paying for is broken. It's not broken, they're just using the service in a very non-standard way. Edit: Since people seem to be voting my comments down, I'll offer an analogy. This is like a professional bowler going to a family bowling alley and complaining about the balls they provide for you to use. These same balls work for 99% of the people paying to bowl. You don't deserve a refund because you're an edge case from all their other customers since the actual bowling alley is still open and you can still bowl, it just might not be a great experience. Get another ball, bring your own ball, or stop coming to this bowling alley.

paulmd 9y ago
No, Google Drive is sold as a customer-facing service and customers have a basic expectation that it will do what it says on the box. If the Dropbox application didn't run, I'd be pissed too, even if it does happen to be "online storage". If someone was complaining that an Amazon S3 application was broken, that would be a different story.
- dpkonofa 9y ago
  It does do what it says on the box. You're not required to download any of the apps in order to use Google Drive. My contention is that the OP claims that they deserve some kind of reimbursement because "they're paying for it" but the "it" here is not the app, it's the service. They're paying for online storage. There are several ways to sync your files to that service. The Google Drive app is a free option. He's paying for the service, not the app. Note that even you said "service" in your description of what it is.
  - Dylan16807 9y ago
    The syncing apps are absolutely part of the package.

rahimiali 9y ago

wouldn't it be a good idea to at least raise an error message if the client handle the number of files? it would alleviate the mystery and a lot of frustration.

sundvor 9y ago

> "... is trying to sync it with a 32-bit client". Upon reading this I got the impression that the issue was [customer] using 32 bit Windows and therefore not able to use the 64 bit version, however checking out e.g. https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-version-of-Google-Drive-in-64-bit https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-version-of-Google-Drive-in-..., and also installing google drive myself right then seeing it appear in C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Drive, there's clearly no 64 bit version of Google Drive available at present date (2017-07-10). Perhaps giving alerts when hitting usage limits would be of help to customers with such a high amount of files. Best of luck resolving it!

icelancer 9y ago

This has almost nothing to do with the technical problems and everything to do with the fact your support is a joke. The fact that was not addressed in your post only strengthens the argument.

arthurfm 9y ago

> we are aware of the issue, and are definitely working on it. I am guessing the fix for this issue would be to download the new Google Backup & Sync app [1][2] that replaces the current Google Drive client and is meant to be released on Wednesday [3]? :) [1] https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2017/06/backup-and-sync-from-google-available.html https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2017/06/backup-and-sync... [2] http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/07/01/googles-updated-drive-client-windows-mac-delayed/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/07/01/googles-updated-driv... [3] https://gsuite.google.com/whatsnew/calendar/ https://gsuite.google.com/whatsnew/calendar/

victorhooi 9y ago
Correct =), there are many improvements in the new client (landing soon), and there are further ones coming in the pipeline shortly after.

simonh 9y ago

> trying to sync it with a 32-bit client... How can you write that with a straight face when the 32-bit client is in fact the only client?

slededit 9y ago

A 32-bit client can only handle 300,000 files? Could you imagine if 32-bit windows fell over at that level. Is it storing every file in RAM?