How to Stop Google Photos to Sync Photos and Videos from Google Drive?

Google Photos is a popular photo and video storage service that syncs with Google Drive to back up your media. While this automatic syncing is convenient, you may want to stop Photos from syncing with Drive at times - for example, if you wish to free up storage space in Drive or keep certain photos private. Here are easy methods to stop Google Photos from syncing your media files with Google Drive.

Why You Might Want to Stop Google Photos-Drive Sync

There are a few key reasons why you may want to halt Google Photos from automatically syncing your photos and videos to your Google Drive storage:

• Save Google Drive storage space - Photos and videos can quickly eat up your free 15GB of Drive storage. Stopping the sync can free up space for other Drive files.
• Keep photos private - Any media synced to Drive can be accessed by people you share your Drive with. Stopping the sync lets you keep certain images private.
• Organize Drive files - With Photos syncing media to a single "Google Photos" folder, your Drive storage may become cluttered. Stopping the sync can help keep Drive more organized.
• Speed up Drive - Large amounts of photos and videos in Drive can slow it down. Stopping the sync reduces the media files hogging space and resources.
• Avoid accidental deletes - Deleting a photo from Drive could remove it from Photos if sync is on. Turning off sync prevents this.
• Manage storage better - With sync off, you can selectively choose to backup only your best images, rather than your entire Photos library.

If any of these reasons resonate with you, it's simple to halt Google Photos from automatically pushing your media to Google Drive.

How to Stop Google Photos from Syncing with Google Drive

Stopping Photos from syncing your pictures and videos to Drive only takes a few minutes. Here are the steps:

On Mobile

1. Open the Google Photos app on your Android or iOS device.
2. Tap on your profile icon in the top-right corner.
3. Select Settings from the menu.
4. Tap on Back up & sync.
5. Turn the switch off next to Back up & sync.

With sync now disabled on mobile, your photos and videos will no longer be pushed to Google Drive when you take or save new media on your phone.

On Desktop

1. Go to photos.google.com.

   

2. Click on the gear icon in the top-right.
3. Choose Settings from the menu.
4. Click the Back up tab.
5. Uncheck the box next to Sync photos & videos from Drive.
6. Confirm by clicking Turn off.

This will prevent any new photos you upload or edit on the desktop Photos site from saving to your Google Drive account.

And that's all there is to it! With a few quick toggles, you've disabled the Google Photos and Drive sync in both mobile and desktop. Your photos and videos will now remain safely in Google Photos, without duplicates saving to Drive.

How to Re-Enable Sync Between Google Photos and Drive

If you ever want to start syncing Google Photos and Drive again, re-enabling it is easy:

On Mobile

1. Open the Google Photos app.
2. Tap your profile picture.
3. Choose Settings.
4. Select Back up & sync.
5. Turn on the switch next to Back up & sync.

Sync will resume, pushing new photos/videos from your phone to Drive when taken.

On Desktop

1. Go to photos.google.com.
2. Click the gear icon.
3. Select Settings.
4. Click the Back up tab.
5. Check the box next to Sync photos & videos from Drive.
6. Confirm by clicking Turn on.

The Photos-Drive sync will be restored, saving any new desktop uploads to both services.

And that's it! With sync re-enabled, your Google Photos library will once again seamlessly back up to Google Drive.

Alternative: Use Google Photos Partner Sharing Instead of Drive

If you like the hands-off auto-syncing of Google Photos but don't want the media duplicates filling up your Google Drive storage, there is another option: Partner sharing.

With partner sharing, you can automatically share certain Google Photos albums with another person. This uses your Google storage rather than theirs.

To set it up:

1. On your mobile Photos app or at photos.google.com, create a new album to share.
2. Open the album and tap the Share button.
3. Choose Add partner account.
4. Enter the person's email address.
5. Set the access and permissions.

Once enabled, any photos you add to the shared album will automatically appear in the partner's Photos app. They can add their own photos too, with everything backed up to your unified storage.

Partner sharing bypasses Drive while still giving auto-sync capabilities. Use it instead of Drive to seamlessly backup media without duplicates.

Quick Tip to ensure your videos never go missing

Videos are precious memories and all of us never want to ever lose them to hard disk crashes or missing drives. PicBackMan is the easiest and simplest way to keep your videos safely backed up in one or more online accounts. 

Simply Download PicBackMan (it's free!), register your account, connect to your online store and tell PicBackMan where your videos are - PicBackMan does the rest, automatically. It bulk uploads all videos and keeps looking for new ones and uploads those too. You don't have to ever touch it.

Will Disabling Sync Delete Photos from Drive?

A common concern when turning off Google Photos and Drive sync is whether it will delete images that were previously synced.

Rest assured, disabling sync will NOT delete or remove any photos already in your Drive storage.

The photos and albums copied over from Google Photos will remain safely in Drive. Disabling just stops photos from further syncing after the setting is turned off.

So don't worry about losing any media! Sync can be disabled without harming existing files.

Can You Choose Which Albums Sync to Drive?

Unfortunately, Google Photos does not allow you to select specific albums to sync or not sync with Drive. It's an all-or-nothing setting.

Once Photos-Drive backup is enabled, every photo and video in your Google Photos account will automatically save to Drive storage too.

If you only want certain albums on Drive, your best option is to:

1. Turn off Photos-Drive sync entirely.
2. In Google Photos, go to the albums you want to also save on Drive.
3. Manually use the Share menu in Photos to copy these albums to Drive.

This will stop the full Photos library from syncing, while letting you selectively backup certain albums.

Does Sync Use Double the Storage Space?

With Google Photos syncing to Drive, does that mean your media uses double the storage space?

Thankfully, no! Google's backend systems are smart enough to avoid duplicates when files sync between products.

Once a photo or video syncs from Photos to Drive, it doesn't consume extra space. The two services reference the same file.

That means you don't have to worry about redundant copies taking up more room. Auto-sync is designed to be storage-efficient.

Can You Recover Deleted Synced Photos?

Uh oh! You accidentally deleted a synced photo from Drive, thinking it was safely backed up in Photos. Is it gone forever?

Thankfully, NO. As long as the image was previously synced from Photos, you can recover it:

1. Open the Google Photos website and click on the Library tab.
2. In the side menu, click Trash.
3. Locate the deleted photo in the trash.
4. Right-click on the photo and choose Restore.

This will pull the image back into Photos from the cloud backup, allowing you to re-sync it to Drive once more.

As long as the photo was synced before deletion, the cloud acts as a safety net allowing recovery.

Does Disabling Sync Work for Google One Users?

Paid Google One members get additional Drive cloud storage for backups. Does disabling Google Photos sync free up that bonus space too?

Yes, it does! Turning off Photos-Drive sync will stop media from consuming your entire Google Drive allotment, including any extra room from Google One.

With sync off, the additional terabytes provided with Google One remain available for other Drive file backups, rather than overflowing with your Photo library.

So disabling sync is recommended to maximize both your free and paid Drive storage limits. Keep other important files backed up using the bonus One space.

Can Synced Photos Be Accessed Without Drive?

If you delete photos from Google Drive after they've synced from Google Photos, will you lose access to them? Or can the images still be viewed in Photos?

Thankfully, deleting synced photos from Drive does not remove them from Google Photos.

The images live on independently in the cloud Photos service, even if Drive copies are trashed. You can still access them like normal from the Photos app and website.

So don't worry about losing photo access if you remove synced media from Drive. The originals remain safely in Google cloud storage, viewable on any device.

Does Desktop Uploader for Photos Still Work?

Before auto-sync, Google Photos had a desktop uploader program that copied your computer photos to the cloud. Does this still work once sync is disabled?

Yes, the desktop uploader software will still copy your local media to Google Photos, even with Drive sync turned off.

The uploader app provides an independent bridge between your computer and Photos. It does not rely on the Drive connection.

So feel free to keep using the uploader tool to transfer computer photos to the cloud. Disable Drive sync without affecting this handy backup process.

Can You See Photos in Drive on Mobile?

With Google Photos syncing albums to Google Drive, can you access the copied images directly through the Drive mobile app, even without Photos installed?

Unfortunately, no. The Drive app itself cannot display previews or open photos/videos from Google Photos folders.

It can store and transfer the files, but not actually view media. To see Drive-synced photos on mobile, the Google Photos app is required.

Google restricts media playback via Drive mobile as an incentive to use Photos instead. But files remain accessible between the two services.

Does Sync Work With Desktop Folder Uploads?

If you drag photos directly into the Google Drive desktop folder to upload, will they automatically sync over to Photos as well?

Surprisingly, no. Photos from the Drive desktop folder do NOT trigger a sync by default. Only media uploaded via Photos is mirrored to Drive.

Manually dragging images to the Drive folder uploads them only to Drive itself. The Photos service needs its own copy uploaded to also receive them.

So using the desktop folders isn't a shortcut to get media into both products at once. An upload to each is required.

Can You See Photo Details in Drive?

When browsing synced Google Photos content from within Google Drive, can you see all the rich metadata like dates, locations, descriptions, etc?

Unfortunately Drive does not import all the detailed information that Photos stores alongside each image. Only basic filenames are visible.

To access the full metadata - titles, timestamps, geotags, comments, etc. - you need to view synced photos from within Google Photos itself.

Drive provides storage and transfer, while Photos delivers the complete media experience.

Does Sync Work With Chromebook?

For those using a Chromebook instead of a Mac or Windows laptop, do synced Google photos also become accessible from the Chrome OS Files app?

Yes! Chromebooks have tight integration with Drive and Photos. Once enabled, photo sync will make your images viewable in:

• The Photos app on Chromebook
• The Drive File Stream on Chromebook
• The Chrome OS Files app

Chromebooks provide handy access to synced media from multiple entry points. Enable Photos sync to easily manage your media from any Chrome OS app.

Can You Select Sync Frequency?

Is there any way to customize how often Google Photos syncs new content over to Google Drive? Or is it always instant?

Unfortunately, Google currently does not provide any settings to adjust the frequency of Photos-Drive syncing.

Once enabled, the services automatically mirror new media instantly as it's added. There are no options for hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly sync.

For those wanting to control the timing, your best bet is to disable sync entirely and run it manually. For maximum hands-off convenience though, real-time instant sync is the only choice.

Does Sync Work on iOS and Android?

Wondering if the Google Photos and Drive sync functions seamlessly across both major mobile platforms of iOS and Android?

Yes, sync capabilities work great on both iPhone and Android devices!

The Google Photos apps for iOS and Android include the same backup & sync settings panels. Turning drive backup on or off reflects instantly across mobile, desktop, and the web.

All platforms also share immediate viewing access to any photos synced from Photos over to Drive. Moving between Android and iOS won't cause you to lose any synced content.

Summary and Conclusion

• Google Photos can automatically sync media files to Google Drive for easy cross-platform access.
• You may want to disable sync to save Drive storage space or keep photos private.
• Turn off sync in the mobile Photos settings or desktop site settings.
• Disabling sync will NOT delete previously synced photos already in Drive.
• Use partner sharing to sync selected albums between accounts instead.
• Sync avoids duplicate storage space, recovers deleted files, and works great on all major mobile/desktop systems!

I hope this detailed guide covered everything you need to know about controlling Google Photos and Drive sync! Use the tips provided to take full advantage of these interconnected storage systems.