As part of the campus's agreement with Google, Berkeley Law (and all UC Berkeley) students receive a large amount of free cloud storage on Google Drive (aka "bDrive," following the campus bConnected naming scheme) while they are enrolled at UC Berkeley. We strongly encourage our students to make use of this storage to back up their essential files and in-progress schoolwork/documents. This can help protect you against data loss in the event of a computer crash or failure, and may save you while working on exams or other important papers!
Google provides the Google Drive app (for Mac and Windows computers), which allows you to automate your file backup/syncing, meaning that (so long as your computer is connected to the internet) you should not need to think about making sure you back up your important work/files - Google will do it for you automatically. The app also allows you to access all files you've manually stored in bDrive directly from a folder on your computer rather than having to visit the website.
You can also always manually access your files, and back up files by uploading or dragging/dropping them on the page, by visiting the Google Drive website while logged into your @berkeley.edu Google account:
Other cloud storage services (such as Box, OneDrive, and Dropbox) also perform similar automatic backups if you prefer to use a different service. The most important thing is that you are backing up your work somewhere! The advantage of Google Drive is that you have a large amount of storage available for free while enrolled, and you're already using your campus Google account for your campus email, calendar, and other services.
You can get started by downloading and running the Google Drive app (https://www.google.com/drive/download/) and following the prompts to install and configure it. Make sure to log into the app using your full @berkeley.edu email address (this should trigger a CalNet login prompt).
Google maintains instructions and lots of detailed information about installing and using the Google Drive app:
If you run into problems or have any questions about installing and configuring the Google Drive app after perusing these instructions, feel free to reach out to Student Computing for advice/assistance via email or chat.
Email computing staff at studentcomputing@law.berkeley.edu.
Chat with computing staff HERE during remote support hours.
Walk-in support available in the LL131 computer lab (labtechs).
The computer lab is open (to Berkeley Law students only) whenever the Law Library is open (but not during the Main Reading Room-only hours). Please consult our hours here or reach out to us through email or chat for technical assistance.
