Google Unifies 15GB Of Shared Storage For Gmail, Drive And Google+

Google has announced that it'll be changing the way it does cloud storage across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google+. Instead of each service having it's own allotted amount of space. All three will be joined together and will share a pool of 15GB of cloud storage space, allowing Google Drive users to essentially have more free space than the previous 5GB that was originally offered.

This is essentially part of an ongoing effort from the search giant to further streamline all of its services and integrate them with one another, creating a seamless ecosystem of Google services. Instead of 10GB in Gmail for attachments and email messages and 5GB for documents and other media in Google Drive, the two are coming together to share amongst each other, as well as Google+ Photos joining the party.

This is good news for users who need more storage for one service more than the other. For example, I store a lot of photos and documents on Google Drive, but my Gmail bin is barely full. With the unified storage, I'll now have more room in Google Drive for more photos and documents without sacrificing space in Gmail.

However, this means that Google is getting rid of one of its storage plans. You'll no longer be able to grab 25GB of extra space for $2.50 per month. If you currently have that plan, Google will allow you to keep it until you cancel or change to another plan. After that, you won't be able to opt for the 25GB plan any more. The cheapest plan now is an additional 100GB for $4.99 per month, which is half the price that Dropbox charges currently.

If you're a Google Apps user, these changes will also take affect for you, but instead of 15GB of shared storage, you'll receive a 30GB pool of storage to share amongst the three Google services. To make sure that you know how much storage you're using for each service, Google will include a handy pie chart that breaks down the amount of storage your using for either Gmail, Drive, or Google+ Photos. Frankly, we're not too surprised by this move, and we've been wondering when Google would finally make a move like this. It's always been a shame that we could never use our Gmail storage for Google Drive, but finally, that's changed.

SOURCE: Google Drive Blog