Google Drive vs Shared Drives: The Essential Guide
TL;DR executive summary
An immutable backup is a backup that the storage layer refuses to let anyone change, encrypt, or delete during a set retention window. Not the admin who created it. Not the API token your CI runs under. Not the ransomware payload that landed on your file server last night, and not even the AI agent your dev team handed production access to last quarter. It used to be a niche feature most teams left to compliance. In 2026, it is quietly the part of your backup posture that actually has to hold when something else doesn’t.
Read the comprehensive Google Drive™ vs Shared Drive™ comparison, learn about the price, functions, and possibilities, and decide, which one you need!
Both the Google G Suite Shared (Team) Drives and the individual My Drive are built on the same Google Cloud infrastructure. Both Shared Drive™ and My Drive allow businesses and individuals to have many benefits not afforded by keeping files on-premises or carrying data on removable storage.
But what is the difference between using Google Shared Drive™ and sharing Google Drive™ files in terms of data storage? What are the pros and cons of Google Drive™, and what are Shared (Team) Drives? What aspects of the Shared Drive™ cater to businesses, and how does the individual My Drive compare with these features? Let’s clarify the distinction.
What’s the Difference Between Shared (Team) Drives and Google Drive™?
The easiest and most intuitive difference between the Shared Drive™ and My Drive storage offering is that Shared Drive™ is an offering that is included in the Google Workspace™ (former Google G Suite) Software-as-a-Service offering. My Drive, on the other hand, is your personal separated storage.
Shared Drive™ are used by organizations for storing file data essential for all employees or for members of a certain team within a company.
What Are the Pros of Shared Drive™:
1. Simplify sharing
For example, you have created or uploaded file that you want to share with all your team. When a new employee comes, you need to give them access to this file. This is ok until you have dozens or even hundreds of files like that.
Providing access to a Shared Drive™ can save much time.
2. Control Data
It is much easier to have a share drive that contains all the files necessary for the seamless work of your team rather than have them spread all across personal Drives.
What Are The Differences in Access Permissions?
Shared Drive™
The look and feel of Google Shared Drive™ are comparable to My Drive. However, it is designed for multiple users and different levels of permissions access on the files and folders housed in Shared Drives. Team Drive allows multiple users who have access to Shared Drives to edit and make changes to the files contained therein.
My Drive
The personal storage an individual user has access to when signing up for a Google account. It can be used as personal storage in the cloud for the individual user. Users can store basically any type of file they want to store in their My Drive storage and manage these as they choose.
What Are The Differences in Local Sync?
Both Shared Drive™ and My Drive can utilize apps that either present files and folders from the Google Cloud or syncs them locally. Google maintains two applications: Google File Stream and Google Backup & Sync.
Google File Stream is the only one of the two apps that can be used with Team Drive. It streams the files and folders so they can be used locally on an end-user client. Google Backup & Sync is the application that syncs and stores Drive content locally on your computer.
What Are The Differences in Cost Comparison?
Shared Drive™
When it comes to Google Drive™ pricing, it’s important to note that Shared Drive™ are only available with paid G Suite Business, Enterprise, or Education editions of G Suite. This means that the cost will vary depending on the option you choose.
My Drive
It is a free offering with default 15GB storage limits. You can buy more storage in case you need it anytime: 100GB for $1.99 per month, 200GB for $2.99, and 2TB for $9.99 per month.
Google Drive™ vs Shared Drive™: Other Differences
There are other differences in the way Team Drive behaves when compared to My Drive. Let’s compare these other differences.
Let’s compare these other differences.
1. Who Owns Files and Folders?
Shared Drive™: Members of the Team
My Drive: The My Drive individual owner of the cloud storage drive
2. Can I Restore Files?
Shared Drive™: Only Administrator, Content Manager, or Contributor roles can perform this function.
My Drive: Yes.
3. Can I Move Files?
Shared Drive™: Owners files and Manager, Content Manager, or Contributor in the Team Drive roles.
My Drive: Yes
4. Can I Move Folders?
Shared Drive™: It is not possible at this time to move folders from My Drive to Team Drive.
My Drive: Yes
5. Sharing Permissions?
Shared Drive™: File-level sharing is possible, but folder-level sharing is not possible. All team members will see all the files, however, files can be shared outside the team.
My Drive: Yes
6. How Long Do Deleted Files Stay in the Trash?
Shared Drive™: Only Manager or Content Manager roles can delete files. There is a 30-day window of time from when the file was deleted that it is possible to restore. Manager, Content Manager, or Contributor roles can restore files from the Team Drive trash.
My Drive: My Drive trash folder is not automatically purged.
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7. Mobile Device Support
Shared Drive™: Team Drive is supported by mobile operating systems.
My Drive: My Drive is supported on mobile devices.
Google Drive™ & Shared (Team) Drives: Which One to Choose?
Google’s G Suite Team Drive is all about collaboration. If you are looking for the right public cloud solution in the Google Cloud ecosystem that allows team members to collaborate efficiently and effectively using the same centralized storage location, Shared Drive™ is going to be the standout choice between Shared (Team Drive) vs My Drive.
However, if collaboration isn’t needed or the files that will be stored in cloud storage will simply be too diverse for a consistent theme, My Drive is going to most likely be the best solution.
Businesses and individuals alike need to consider and keep in mind that Team Drive is only available in the G Suite subscription levels of Business, Enterprise, or Education, so it is a middle to upper-tier offering and is not free. For basic, free, public cloud storage inside Google’s Cloud storage environment, My Drive will serve most use cases well enough without justifying the need for G Suite and Shared Drive™.
Also, make your life easier with 10 Google Drive™ hacks!
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Shared Drives More Secure Than Google Drive?
Shared Drives offer stronger governance because admins control membership, access levels, and retention policies at the team level.
Can I Use Both Google Drive and Shared Drives Together?
Yes — many organizations use Google Drive for personal workspaces and Shared Drives for team‑based projects and long‑term storage.
What Happens to Files If an Employee Leaves the Company?
In Google Drive, files may become inaccessible or orphaned if the user account is deleted. In Shared Drives, files remain fully accessible because ownership stays with the team.
