How To Backup Google G: Drive Cobian Reflector Backup

As of 2024, Cobian Reflector and Cobian Backup won't recognize the virtual G: Drive that is created by the Google Drive app.

There is a workaround that works just fine which involves a command line program called Robocopy where you copy the contents of your Google G: drive over to a temporary folder, back that folder up, and then delete the temp folder when you're done.

Robocopy
Manual: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-...
Download: It should already be in Windows starting with 10. If you don't have 10, you might have to do some digging to find it.

Steps

Note: I only tested this with files that are set to "Offline". I have no idea if the Stream Only files will work the same way.

1) Create a temporary folder where you want the files to be copied. Include an extra directory inside the folder where you want the backup to take place. This will be added and removed every time the backup kicks off. (I did this to ensure a clean copy instead of relying on Robocopy to deal with it.)

Example: C:\G Drive Backup\tmp

2) Create a Cobian backup task like normal but point the source files to: C:\G Drive Backup\tmp

3) Go to the events tab

4) In the Pre-backup events, click: Add -> Command Line
Enter: robocopy /E "G:\My Drive\{Files/Folder to copy}" "C:\G Drive Backup\tmp" (Change C:\G Drive Backup\tmp to whatever folder you created)
Put a check in "Wait for completion".

5) In the Post-backup events, click: Add -> Command Line
Enter: rmdir /s /q "C:\G Drive Backup\tmp" (Change C:\G Drive Backup\tmp to whatever folder you created)
Put a check in "Wait for completion".

6) Optional (recommended): Enter checks in the boxes: Cancel the task if some event fails and Do not execute if pre-backup events failed

7) Test the backup to make sure it worked.

Again, I don't know if the Stream Only option will copy anything of value, so be sure to check the actual backup after testing.

Hope that helps!