Copsy›Back up to Google Drive

Back up camera footage to Google Drive on Mac

Written by a working DIT · Copsy · Last verified June 2026

Short answer

Copsy is a free Mac offload app that copies your camera card to an external drive and Google Drive in parallel during the same offload. Plug in an SD, CFexpress or camera card, connect Google Drive once, pick your drive and Drive as destinations, and Copsy copies to both at once, organizes by date and source, and verifies every file with ASC-MHL checksums.

You get a verified local copy plus an off-site cloud copy from one run. That's the real foundation of a 3-2-1 backup. Two honest caveats: cloud upload speed is bound by your internet, and the footage uses your Google Drive storage quota.

Download Copsy for Mac → · macOS 13+ · no account needed

Why back up footage to Google Drive at all?

An external drive on your desk is fast and convenient, but it lives in the same bag, room, or car as the original card. If that drive is dropped, stolen, lost in transit, or simply fails, your only copy goes with it. An off-site cloud copy survives those events because it's somewhere else entirely. For a lot of working shooters and editors, Google Drive is the off-site copy they already pay for and already trust.

The catch is that doing it manually is fragile: shoot, copy the card to a drive in Finder, then drag the footage into the Drive app later and hope nothing dropped a byte. Copsy collapses that into one step: drive and Drive copied together, every file verified.

How Copsy backs up to Google Drive

Copsy copies to a drive and Google Drive in parallel during a single offload. You don't run a copy and then a separate upload — both destinations fill from the same pass over the card, and every file is checksum-verified along the way.

Install Copsy (free, macOS 13 or later) and open it.
Connect Google Drive in Copsy's sidebar. You sign in with your Google account through the standard Google sign-in, and grant Copsy access. You only do this once — it stays connected.
Plug in the card. Copsy detects it by content and recognizes the source: Sony, ARRI, RED, Blackmagic, Canon, drones, audio recorders, and more.
Pick destinations: an external drive and Google Drive.
Start the offload. Copsy copies to both at once, organizes by date and source, and verifies every file with ASC-MHL checksums.
Get pinged. A Telegram message tells you it finished and verified — nothing lost.

A note on cloud destinations: Copsy keeps a single cloud destination at a time — Google Drive or Dropbox, not both at once. To switch, disconnect one cloud in Settings and connect the other. The local drive copy always runs regardless of which cloud you choose.

Why a drive copy and a cloud copy together is safer

One verified local copy + one cloud copy = real 3-2-1

Two media, two places. The drive on your desk is fast for ingest and editing; the Google Drive copy is off-site, so a single accident (a dropped drive, a stolen bag, a house fire) can't take both.
Both copies are verified. Copsy checksums every file with ASC-MHL as it copies, so you're not trusting two copies that were never checked. You're trusting two copies that were.
One pass, not two chores. Doing the drive copy and the upload manually invites the classic mistake: the upload that "I'll do later" and never quite finishes. Parallel copy means the cloud copy isn't an afterthought.
The card stays the original. Keep the card untouched until both copies exist and verify — then you have three copies (card + drive + cloud) before you ever format.

Two honest caveats about cloud backup

An off-site copy is worth a lot, but be realistic about two things:

Upload speed is bound by your internet. The drive copy runs at drive/card speed, but the Google Drive copy can only go as fast as your upload bandwidth. A few hundred gigabytes of footage on a typical home connection can take hours, and it'll keep uploading after the local copy is already done. Plan for it — start the offload early, leave the Mac on, and watch your upload.
It uses your Google Drive storage quota. The footage lands in your own Google account, so it counts against whatever storage you have. Video is large; make sure your account has enough free space before a big shoot, or you'll hit the cap mid-upload.

None of this is a Copsy limit. It's physics and your Google plan. Copsy's job is to make the copy correct and verified; the speed and the storage are set by your connection and your account.

Copsy vs general backup/sync tools (Carbon Copy Cloner, ChronoSync)

Could you back up footage to Google Drive with a general tool like the Google Drive desktop app, Carbon Copy Cloner (around $50), or ChronoSync (around $50)? Yes — and CCC and ChronoSync are genuinely good, mature tools that do have checksum verification. The honest difference isn't about quality. They're general disk-backup and sync tools, not camera-card-aware offload tools:

Feature	Copsy	Carbon Copy Cloner	ChronoSync
Price	FREE	~$50 PAID	~$50 PAID
Checksum verification	✓ ASC-MHL	✓ generic	✓ generic
Detect camera card by content (Sony/ARRI/RED/BMD/Canon/drone/audio)	✓	—	—
ASC-MHL media manifest	✓	—	—
Organize by shoot date & source	✓	—	—
Copy to drive AND Google Drive in one offload	✓	general sync	general sync
Telegram notification when done	✓	—	—
Platform	macOS 13+	macOS	macOS

Pricing and features change — last verified June 2026. Check each vendor's site for current details.

In short: CCC and ChronoSync are excellent for cloning and syncing folders or disks, and they do verify. But they don't know what a camera card is: no detect-by-content, no ASC-MHL media manifest, no organize-by-shoot. Copsy is built for that one job: getting footage off a card, verified, into a drive and the cloud. And Copsy is its own kind of tool too. It's macOS-only, with no LTO/LTFS, no NLE panel integration, and one cloud destination at a time. Use the right tool for the job.

Frequently asked questions

How do I back up footage to Google Drive on a Mac?

Install Copsy (free, macOS 13+), connect your Google Drive account in Copsy's sidebar, then plug in your camera card. Copsy auto-detects the card, and you choose an external drive plus Google Drive as destinations. It copies to both in parallel during the same offload and verifies every file with ASC-MHL checksums.

Can Copsy copy to a drive and Google Drive at the same time?

Yes. Copsy copies your footage to an external drive and to Google Drive in parallel during the same offload, so your local backup and your off-site cloud copy happen together — that's a verified local copy plus a cloud copy from one run.

Does Copsy verify the cloud copy?

Copsy verifies every file it copies with ASC-MHL checksums — the same verification standard used on film sets — so you know each file copied bit-for-bit with nothing lost or corrupted. The checksums are recorded in the ASC-MHL manifest alongside your footage.

Will it use my Google Drive storage?

Yes. Copying to Google Drive uploads your footage into your own Google account, so it counts against your Google Drive storage quota. Video files are large, so make sure your Google account has enough free space, and remember upload speed is limited by your internet connection.

Is Copsy free?

Yes, Copsy is free to download and use today, with no card limit and no account required. It runs on macOS 13 or later.

Offload your next card for free

Copsy — a free Mac camera-offload app. Verified copies to a drive and the cloud, nothing lost.

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