Moving Google Backup and Sync

Reinstalling windows or moving to a new computer with Google Backup & Sync.

I recently purchased a new computer and installed Google Backup and Sync. I have an external hard drive with 1TB of photos on it which is backup with Google. When I added this to the app it started backing it up again as if it were a new folder.

I searched everywhere to be able to map it to the existing backup but couldn't find anything so I had a stab for myself.

Luckily the first thing I tried worked. This will only work if you have access to the old computer.

I first made sure the path to the external drive was the same as the original computer. Then copied everything from the the C:\Users\Caleb\AppData\Local\Google\Drive folder to the new computer.

This tricked the application in to thinking it was an existing install and the external hard drive was an existing backup.

Backup and Sync had a little hiccup when I ran it but after it "Processed" (Compared the hash of my local files with the remote copies) all 80,000 files, it was all good. 

If you are a programmer, there is an SQLite DB called sync_config.db. Take a look at the data table where the entry_key = root_config 

Separately I got an error with google sync where it indicated it couldn't find my "Google drive" folder on my local machine. This is the folder which is designed to sync to multiple computers, not the computer backup section I am taking about above. I clicked the locate button and selected the folder. I then received the following message.

"The contents of the folder you selected may differ from those already synced to Google Drive in the cloud. This action may result in file duplications or collisions."

I decided to point it at an empty folder instead and received the same message so I clicked ok.

Backup and Sync then downloaded everything in to the new folder. Next time I think I'll just let it go over the top. 

Hope this helps someone out there.