I’m trying to figure out how to mount my Google Drive as a local drive with its own letter (like D: or E:) on my Windows machine. The goal is to make it easier for my batch scripts and automation tools to write files directly to Google Drive without having to use the web interface or complicated API calls.
I’ve been looking around for solutions but most of them seem pretty complicated. Has anyone found a simple workaround or third-party tool that can make Google Drive appear as a regular mapped network drive? I just need something that lets me treat it like any other drive so my existing scripts can dump output files there automatically.
Any suggestions or creative solutions would be really helpful. I don’t mind if it’s a bit of a hack as long as it works reliably.
you could try Insync - it’s a paid Google Drive client with proper network drive mapping built in. way less command line work than rclone and more stable than the subst workaround. I’ve used it for a couple years and my scripts just treat it like any regular network drive.
Had this exact problem last year automating backups to Google Drive. Rclone with the mount feature solved it perfectly. Set it up with your Google Drive credentials, then mount it as a drive letter: rclone mount googledrive: Z: --vfs-cache-mode writes. Takes about 10 minutes to configure, and your batch scripts will treat it like any other drive. I’ve used this setup for months - handles file writes reliably, though sync can lag slightly sometimes. Just run the mount command with cache settings that match what you’re doing.
Here’s what worked for me: Google Drive File Stream (if you’ve got Google Workspace) or the regular Google Drive desktop app with the subst command. Install the desktop app, let it sync your files, then run subst Z: "C:\Users\YourName\Google Drive" to map a drive letter to your synced folder. You get a virtual drive that points straight to your Google Drive. Your scripts write to the Z: drive and everything syncs automatically. You get offline access without extra tools, but you’ll need local storage space for whatever files you’re working with.