A disk space map for Google Drive

If you've ever freed up a full hard drive, you've probably used one of the classic disk space maps: WinDirStat or TreeSize on Windows, Disk Inventory X, GrandPerspective or DaisyDisk on a Mac. You point them at a disk, and a few minutes later you can see exactly where the space went. Google Drive has nothing like it.

What those tools do well

Every folder added up, so the biggest folders rise to the top, however deep they sit.
A map (a treemap): each file is a rectangle sized by how much space it takes, grouped by folder, so one glance shows where the weight is.
A list you can act on: click from a big folder down to the files that make it big.

Why they can't see Google Drive

They measure what's on your computer's disk. With Google Drive for desktop in stream mode, the default, your files mostly live only in the cloud and your computer holds placeholders, so a disk map sees too little or nothing. In mirror mode they'd work, but only after downloading the whole Drive, which for a large Drive means terabytes and days.

They also can't see the things that only exist in the cloud: the Drive trash, files that are duplicates by Google's own checksum, or how much storage Google counts for a file.

The same idea, for the cloud

TidierCloud started as exactly that wish: a Disk Inventory X for Google Drive. It was built for a Google Workspace of about 90 TB across two accounts, where nothing else could show where the space had gone.

Instead of reading a disk, it asks Google for your Drive's file list (names, sizes, dates, folders and checksums, never the contents) and builds the same views in your browser:

the biggest folders, with every subfolder added up
a treemap of the whole Drive
the biggest files
exact duplicates, matched by checksum rather than by name
the trash, counted on its own

It only reads, so like a disk map it can't delete anything: every line links to the real file in Drive, and you decide there. Scans of very large Drives can stop and pick up where they left off.

When a desktop disk map is still the right tool

For files on your own disks, including a mirrored Drive folder, a desktop tool is quicker and works offline. Use the desktop tool for local disks and TidierCloud for the cloud copy.

Questions

Is there a WinDirStat or Disk Inventory X for Google Drive?

Not from Google. Desktop disk maps can only measure files that are on your computer, and Google Drive for desktop streams most files from the cloud. TidierCloud gives the same kind of view for Google Drive itself: every folder added up, a treemap, the biggest files, exact duplicates and the trash, in the browser, read-only.

Can WinDirStat or TreeSize scan Google Drive?

Only the files Google Drive for desktop has actually put on your disk. In the default stream mode most files are placeholders, so the totals are incomplete; in mirror mode they work but only after the whole Drive has been downloaded.

Does a Google Drive treemap need to download my files?

No. TidierCloud builds its map from Google's list of file names, sizes and folders. It never opens or downloads the files, and the list stays in your browser on your computer.

See it for your own Drive

TidierCloud scans your Drive and shows all of this in one place: the biggest folders with every subfolder added up, the biggest files, exact duplicates and the trash, on a map of where the space goes. It only reads, and nothing leaves your computer.

Open TidierCloud

Free beta · 50 places · nothing to install