Google Drive is still one of the best free cloud storage options out there — 15 GB shared across Gmail, Drive, and Photos is generous if you know the tricks.
At Fireytech Tulsa, we’ve used Drive (and its successor tools) for company-wide file sync and backup since day one. It’s reliable, fast, and works great… until you hit that 15 GB wall and realize half of it is “ghost” data Google never deletes for you.
Here are the biggest gotchas in 2025 — and exactly how to clean them up.
**The Good (Why We Still Recommend It)**
- Seamless sync across Windows, Mac, phones, tablets
- Real-time collaboration on Docs/Sheets/Slides
- Strong integration with Gmail and Google Photos
- “Storage saver” mode for Drive files (stream instead of download)
**The Dirty Secrets That Eat Your 15 GB**
1. **Trash never auto-empties** – Deleted files sit in Trash forever, still counting against your quota.
2. **“Recent” tab is a storage vampire** – Even files deleted from Trash can linger here for months/years.
3. **Gmail attachments & Google Photos originals** all share the same 15 GB pool (unless you use Photos’ “Storage saver” compression).
4. **Shared-with-me files** sometimes count if you add them to “My Drive.”
**How to Reclaim Your 15 GB in 5 Minutes (Tested November 2025)**
1. Go to https://drive.google.com → click “Storage” in the left sidebar
2. Click “Clean up space” suggestions first (usually finds several GB instantly)
3. Empty Trash (right-click Trash → Empty trash)
4. Go to drive.google.com/drive/recent → select all (Ctrl+A) → Remove (this doesn’t send to Trash again)
5. Repeat until “Recent” is truly empty (refresh the page — Google loves hiding files)
6. Optional: Turn on “Storage saver” in Google Photos (compresses originals, frees GBs with almost no visible quality loss)
Pro tip: Use the official storage manager → one.google.com/storage/management — it shows exactly what’s eating space (Gmail, Drive, Photos).
**Paid Plans Are Actually Reasonable Now**
If you’re a photo/video hoarder:
- 100 GB → $1.99/mo
- 2 TB → $9.99/mo (most popular)
- 5 TB+ plans available
We have customers who went from “constantly over quota” to 2 TB bliss for less than a Netflix subscription.
Need help cleaning up your Drive, switching to unlimited business plans, or setting up proper backups that actually work when disaster hits?
**Call or text Fireytech at 918-258-FIRE (3473)**
We’ve been keeping Tulsa’s data safe (and Google Drive accounts under quota) since 1997.
#Fireytech #GoogleDriveTips #FreeUpGoogleDrive #CloudStorage #TulsaComputerRepair