Feb 1, 2023
Google Drive for Desktop (Mac) cache file location change breaks some major functionality.
Our company is experiencing a serious problem with the relocation of the Google Drive cache directory on some of our systems but not all. Some are "controlled by the operating system" and grayed-out, other allow them to be changed (like to another drive for example).
Google Drive App version 69.0.0. (both AppleSilicon and Intel versions affected)
Google's status page lists a version 70.0 available 1/30/23 but version 69 still downloads (as of 10 min ago on 2/1/23)
Cache location Before: /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Google/DriveFS
Cache location Before: /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Google/DriveFS
Cache location after: /Users/username/Library/CloudStorage/
Before:
After:
Note that the streaming location is now grayed-out and cannot be changed.
Problems caused by this change:
1. We are unable to relocate the drive cache off of the OS disk for those with limited storage space
2. The OS (both in Ventura & Monterey) sees the new change as Google Drive being on the same drive as the operating system so if you drag a file from Google Drive to the Desktop (or any other folder) it MOVES the file rather than copying it as it would previously. Not only is the cache moved, but the OS sees it differently than it did before the change.
3. Big deal: Links in documents to other files on Google Drive (especially on our shared drive) are now different for different users and break. The new version contains the signed-in account name in the path and breaks the link for EVERYONE other than the creator. Example: Adobe InDesign and InCopy, even MS Word etc. Example link differences before and after the change:
After change: /Users/username/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-email@domain.com/Shared drives/filename.ext
Older (working) way: /Volumes/GoogleDrive/Shared drives/filename.ext
This change was pushed out with no warning other than a dialog box informing the user that their cache location was being moved.
Details
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Last edited Feb 2, 2023
All Replies (35)
Feb 2, 2023
Feb 6, 2023
v.70 under 11.6 still works correctly fwiw.
Feb 7, 2023
Feb 8, 2023
Deleted v70 and Installed Drive v68 (Mac) which was released in Dec. with no luck.
Also tried these terminal commands to chance the location which Google suggest for Admins,
But that don't work either.
I think it might be connected directly to your account as not everyone in our office is affected even though we are all with the same v70 and in the Team in Google Workspace.
This need fixing ASAP as Drive for Desktop is 100% useless right now in our workflow
Feb 8, 2023
It's an update from Apple that have changed the location of Drive folders not Google.
Google Workspace Support: I will update the engineering team if they can bypass the update
Lets hope they can find a fix soon
Feb 8, 2023
This problem occurred to multiple users in my studio without a single Apple update being applied, across multiple major and minor versions of Mac OS.
Feb 8, 2023
On Monday, our design team was able to work just fine, no changes to anyone's OS. On Tuesday, they couldn't open any Adobe files. I recommended updating to the latest Mac OS, in hopes that it would resolve, but it made no difference. Still unable to successfully open or download large Adobe files.
Feb 10, 2023
This doesn't give me the option to change the drive location, but it at least stopped google drive from maxing out and not letting me work on files.
In the finder window, under Locations, users now have to set sharing permission to "read and write" away from its default "read only" setting.
So right click the Google Drive folder in "locations", select "get info" and under "sharing and permissions" change the setting from "read only" to "read write." I don't know if it is better to set it under the "everyone" setting or the "user" setting. I just did both for good measure.
Last edited Feb 10, 2023
Feb 6, 2023
Google Drive for desktop attempts to download the Adobe file and links are broken upon opening, due to the fact that they are still cloud-based. Any file actions (copy, paste, duplicate, open, download, render, upload) is extremely slow, if it progresses at all.
The team has updated their OS, reinstalled, reconnected their Google accounts, but the issues remain. I wanted to add my reply and "vote" here, in case others are experiencing this.
Last edited Feb 7, 2023