The idea of this project comes from Unlimited Drive Storage (UDS). It uses OSXFUSE.
Update as of June 1st, 2021: Google has patched this work-around by making Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Jamboard, and Drawings take up space in your Google Drive quota, making this project useless. It is thus discontinued.
UFS is a Mac application which mounts an Unlimited File System. It is backed up by Google Drive.
UFS exploits the fact that Google Docs, especially Sheets, don't take up any space from your quota (from here).
This does not seem to be explicitly forbidden by Google's terms, but it is still not recommended to use at a large scale.
UFS and its developers can not be held liable for any file loss or action taken by Google.
- Install OSXFUSE.
- Download UFS.
- Launch the UFS application you just downloaded.
- The first time you open the application, you will be asked to login to your Google account.
- Once logged in, a new drive will appear in your Volumes.
- Each time you want to access your drive, launch the UFS application. You can add it to your Login Items on macOS.
- You can create, edit, delete, move and transfer files just as on your regular hard drive.
UFS acts just like a NAS, or a bit like an external drive/USB key.
When you create or copy files in this drive, they are converted to text using a Base64-like algorithm.
The generated text is then compressed and optionally encrypted before uploading, to secure your data.
It is then written inside a Google Sheets document which is uploaded to your Google Drive.
Details and benchmarks available soon™
- Automatic compression of your files before uploading
- Automatic encryption of files on your Google Drive
- Obfuscation of directory structure and file names
- iOS application to access unlimited storage on-the-go
Although your files are stored on your Google Drive, they are in a special format that makes them bypass your storage quota.
Unfortunately, because of this special format, you are not able to read or download them directly from Google's official applications.
To access your files from a different computer running macOS, you can install this application and login with the same Google Account you used to store them.
On a phone or on a computer which doesn't run macOS, you can't access your files yet.
This might change, as applications for other platforms are on the way.
You can share your Google account, and the files you stored with UFS will automatically synchronize.
If you have encryption enabled, you will have to share your encryption keys for the files to be readable.
Tutorial available soon™
Beware that sharing your Google account also allows access to emails, all Google Drive files, and many other.
Per-file sharing is currently not supported and is not planned to be added in the future.
Report bugs and suggest new features through GitHub Issues.
Of course, help is always greatly appreciated.
You can create a pull request and implement features in the Upcoming features section.
You can also open an issue/pull request if you wish to develop something new in the app.