Computer and Software Gripes

[Spotted Horses]

My latest gripe, Google is supposed to be staffed by geniuses, but their software is unreliable, buggy and exasperating.

I use Google Drive: simple basic idea, it designates a Google Drive folder and when you put something in that folder it is mirrored in their cloud. If you put something in that cloud folder using another device connected to the same google drive (be it a computer, phone, tablet) that file in the cloud appears in your local google drive folder.

Today I copied a pile of jpg files to a google drive folder, substantial but not enormous, 10 GB. When it's done half a dozen files have a little exclamation point next to them and a message pops up, "could not rename file." Who asked it to rename any files? Delete the folder and those files won't go away. I restart google drive and repeat and same thing, half a dozen files "could not rename file" but they are different files this time. Again, when I try to delete the folder those files can't be deleted.

The basically functionality of copying files into a folder doesn't work?

[DavidW]

I use Dropbox which doesn't seem to have any of those problems.  I've used it forever.  But I've been thinking of switching to Nextcloud because I can then use one of my pcs as a server and I would have essentially unlimited storage.

[LKB]

My latest gripe, Google is supposed to be staffed by geniuses, but their software is unreliable, buggy and exasperating.

I use Google Drive: simple basic idea, it designates a Google Drive folder and when you put something in that folder it is mirrored in their cloud. If you put something in that cloud folder using another device connected to the same google drive (be it a computer, phone, tablet) that file in the cloud appears in your local google drive folder.

Today I copied a pile of jpg files to a google drive folder, substantial but not enormous, 10 GB. When it's done half a dozen files have a little exclamation point next to them and a message pops up, "could not rename file." Who asked it to rename any files? Delete the folder and those files won't go away. I restart google drive and repeat and same thing, half a dozen files "could not rename file" but they are different files this time. Again, when I try to delete the folder those files can't be deleted.

The basically functionality of copying files into a folder doesn't work?

A suggestion, and if you've already tried it your pardon.

Try again as administrator. It might make a difference.

[Spotted Horses]

I should have mentioned that this problem occurs on a MacOS system. The problem seems to have cropped up after an update to Google Drive.

I use Dropbox which doesn't seem to have any of those problems.  I've used it forever.  But I've been thinking of switching to Nextcloud because I can then use one of my pcs as a server and I would have essentially unlimited storage.

I use Dropbox as my primary cloud service because, as you say, it works 100% of the time, but I have the smallest paid Google Drive primarily because it is more practical for sharing content with family, acquaintances, etc. I don't use it to archive anything, but it is a pain if it is constantly throwing spurious error notifications up on my screen.

Nextcloud sounds interesting, but I would be skeptical in the security. I had a Western Digital NAS sort of thing which came with MyCloud, which supposedly allowed you to access and share securely over the internet, but it had a confusing, buggy interface and I did not trust it.

A suggestion, and if you've already tried it your pardon.

Try again as administrator. It might make a difference.

A reasonable suggestion, but the Google Drive installs itself and runs as a service, so I think I have to trust that they set up the necessary permissions. For the copy I am just using Finder, and again, I'm not sure about running finder as Administrator.

This problem recurs every time I try the copy, with different files being effected. The files seem to be fine in the cloud, but the Google Drive App keeps getting confused about the files in question. Not 100% clear if it is a Google Drive problem or a Finder problem. I've got three things to try: 1) Copy the files with a shell command (cp) instead of Finder cut and paste. 2) Copy the files with drag and drop to the Google Derive web site, rather than on the local computer Google Drive Folder. 3) Do it on another computer where I have Google Drive configured to sync to a bona fide local folder, rather than a virtual Google Drive device.

[DavidW]

Nextcloud sounds interesting, but I would be skeptical in the security.

Google has the worst track record though.  The point of google drive, gmail etc is to harvest and share your data after all.  But in general, you shouldn't assume that any of these services are secure enough.  The best thing to do is encrypt the files that are stored in the cloud no matter what service is used.

[Spotted Horses]

For what it's worth, the problem was avoided by using a shell command (cp) to copy files to the Google Drive folder, rather than a cut-and-past in the Finder. It is apparently a finder-Google Drive interaction that is defective.

Google Drive used to work by designating an ordinary folder on your hard disc for mirroring. It would monitor that folder and anything you added or deleted would be mirrored in the cloud, and vice versa. If Google Drive wasn't running you still had access to the folder, but it wasn't being synced with the cloud. Now Google Drive creates a virtual folder which can only be accessed if Google Drive is running. When you try to access a file in that folder Google drive connects to the cloud and retrieves it for you. That would be fine if it worked. It was working until the most recent update.

In any case, Google Drive just gets worse and worse and it has reached the point that I will not consider using it for anything that isn't stored elsewhere. It is just for sharing content with other people that use Google Drive.

[Herman]

Google has the worst track record though.  The point of google drive, gmail etc is to harvest and share your data after all.  But in general, you shouldn't assume that any of these services are secure enough.  The best thing to do is encrypt the files that are stored in the cloud no matter what service is used.

Yes, just google it. Google is not there to serve yr needs.

[staxomega]

In any case, Google Drive just gets worse and worse and it has reached the point that I will not consider using it for anything that isn't stored elsewhere. It is just for sharing content with other people that use Google Drive.

They abruptly discontinued Google Bookmarks which I used to archive bookmark links. From Silicon Valley I get the impression Hooli culture was pretty much what it's like at Google- a chaotic mess.

[Spotted Horses]

Not a gripe, but a question. Has anyone used Neeva? It is a search engine that claims to harvest no data and give results which are not biased by companies paying to have their pages prioritized.

The catch is for unlimited searches you have to pay a subscription fee.

[Spotted Horses]

I have a modest collection of blu ray discs, and I don't maintain a blu ray player. I use MakeMKV to rip them (followed by Handbrake to re-encode to a more reasonable file size).

Running MakeMKV, it will find a list of programs, and the movie itself is easily distinguished from the various deleted scenes, featurettes, splash screens, by its size. Sometimes there are two or three big files representing different variations of the film, I'm presuming with or without commentary, including deleted scenes, etc.

Lionsgate has taken to including hundreds of phony programs, in which the movie chapters are scrambled, presumably to make it impossible to rip. Grrrr! Fortunately the disc includes "digitial copy" meaning there is a code that allows me to import in into iTunes/AppleTV, so I can watch it, although I can't copy it to my hard disc.

[drogulus]

Lionsgate has taken to including hundreds of phony programs, in which the movie chapters are scrambled, presumably to make it impossible to rip. Grrrr! Fortunately the disc includes "digitial copy" meaning there is a code that allows me to import in into iTunes/AppleTV, so I can watch it, although I can't copy it to my hard disc.

    I haven't run into a problem with any disc, either DVD, BD or UHD. MakeMKV just rips them all to my drive of choice. They play on my PC and my Oppo into my TV. I use the latest download and beta key.