Hello, tech lovers and cloud-storage warriors!
We all know that Google Drive gives you 15GB of free storage. Sounds decent at first… until your friends, co-workers, and group projects flood your Drive with documents, full-HD videos, and endless photos. Shared Drives (formerly Team Drives) aren’t much better—capped at just 100GB. In today’s data-hungry world, that fills up fast.
If this feels familiar, meet your new “secret weapon”: SA Drive (Service Account Drive). It’s a clever open-source solution that transforms forgotten Google service accounts into a massive, unified storage system that goes far beyond Google’s usual limits.
What Is SA Drive?
In simple terms, SA Drive is an open-source project that lets you combine the 15GB of storage from each Google service account into one giant, easy-to-manage cloud drive. Instead of being stuck with a single 15GB quota, you can “pool” hundreds—or even thousands—of accounts into terabytes of space.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Starting April 15, 2025, new service accounts will no longer come with 15GB of Drive storage. That means SA Drive is especially valuable for anyone who created service accounts before that date. Think of it as a “storage vault” for these accounts.Why Not Just Use Google Shared Drive?
Good question! Shared Drives max out at 100GB. That may sound like a lot, but with today’s rapid growth of media files, projects, and backups, it’s a drop in the bucket. SA Drive uses Google’s own infrastructure to work around that limitation—legally.
Here’s how it works:
- Every service account = 15GB of Drive storage.
- With 100 service accounts = ~1.46TB of storage.
- With 1,200 service accounts (possible under one Gmail) = ~17TB of storage!
When you upload a file with SA Drive (using its CLI tool), it automatically selects a service account with available space. That means you can upload huge files—well beyond Google’s 15GB per-account limit—without a hitch. SA Drive isn’t just storage; it’s also a smart storage manager.
Key Features of SA Drive
SA Drive does more than just combine accounts. It comes with a robust set of features that make storage management simple:
- Mount as a local filesystem: Access files directly on your computer in read-only mode, just like a regular drive. Perfect for browsing docs or streaming media.
- Simultaneous uploads & downloads: No more waiting for files one by one.
- Large file handling (>14.7GB): Automatically splits and manages big files that normally wouldn’t fit in a single Google Drive account.
- Fuzzy Search: Quickly find files even if you don’t remember exact names.
- Progress bars & ETA: Always know how uploads or downloads are progressing.
Step-by-Step Installation Guide
Getting started with SA Drive is easier than you think. Here’s how:
1. Install SA Drive with pip
pip install sadrive2. Create a config folder
Make a new folder (e.g., config_dir) anywhere on your computer.
3. Add your service account JSONs
Inside config_dir, create an accounts folder. Place all your service account JSON files there.
4. Create config.json
In config_dir, add a file called config.json with:
{
"parent_id": "YOUR_GOOGLE_DRIVE_FOLDER_ID",
"path_to_gclone.exe": "ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_GCLONE"
}
5. Set your config directory
sadrive config set-dir <absolute/path/to/config_dir>
6. Start using SA Drive!
Upload, download, mount, and manage files using simple CLI commands.
See the official documentation for advanced examples.
Real-World Use Case: Terabytes on a Single Gmail
Each Gmail account can create 12 projects in Google Cloud.
Each project can have 100 service accounts.
That’s 1,200 service accounts per Gmail account.
With 15GB each, that equals nearly 17TB of storage from just one Gmail account. Mind-blowing, right?
Things to Keep in Mind
- After April 15, 2025, new service accounts won’t include free 15GB storage. Existing ones remain valuable.
- SA Drive is open-source under the GPL-3.0 license. It has strong community backing, with hundreds of stars and forks on GitHub.
- Built mainly in Python, it’s lightweight, flexible, and constantly improving.
Final Thoughts
SA Drive isn’t just a tool—it’s a new way to think about cloud storage. By leveraging existing service accounts, you can unlock terabytes of reliable, cost-free space that goes far beyond Google’s usual caps.
If you need a flexible, scalable, and free cloud storage solution, SA Drive might just be your perfect companion.
👉 Don’t wait—try SA Drive today and free your Google Drive from limits!
For more details, visit the official SA Drive documentation or check out the project on GitHub.
