{"id":"backups.why-are-google-drive-and-dropbox-backups-slower","url":"/faq/backups/why-are-google-drive-and-dropbox-backups-slower","category":{"id":"backups","title":"Backups & restore points"},"subcategory":{"id":"destinations","title":"Where backups go"},"question":"Why are backups to Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive slower?","alt_questions":["Which cloud is fastest for Storage Studio backups?","Google Drive backup slow throttling","best cloud destination for Data Backup","Dropbox backup speed","OneDrive backup takes forever","fastest place to back up to"],"short_answer":"Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive deliberately throttle large uploads, so backups there are slower. An external SSD is fastest, and bucket storage such as Amazon S3 is the quickest cloud option.","answer_markdown":"Those services deliberately limit (throttle) large uploads, so a big backup takes noticeably longer there. They work fine as destinations — just slower, especially for the first full backup.\n\nFor the fastest results:\n- An **external SSD** is quickest of all.\n- **Bucket storage**, such as Amazon S3, is the quickest cloud choice.\n\nAfter the first backup, only changes are uploaded, so day-to-day backups to any of these are usually quick.","answer_html":"

Those services deliberately limit (throttle) large uploads, so a big backup takes noticeably longer there. They work fine as destinations — just slower, especially for the first full backup.

\n

For the fastest results: - An external SSD is quickest of all. - Bucket storage, such as Amazon S3, is the quickest cloud choice.

\n

After the first backup, only changes are uploaded, so day-to-day backups to any of these are usually quick.

","answer_text":"Those services deliberately limit (throttle) large uploads, so a big backup takes noticeably longer there. They work fine as destinations — just slower, especially for the first full backup.\n\nFor the fastest results:\n- An external SSD is quickest of all.\n- Bucket storage, such as Amazon S3, is the quickest cloud choice.\n\nAfter the first backup, only changes are uploaded, so day-to-day backups to any of these are usually quick.","tags":["speed","google drive","dropbox","onedrive"],"related":[{"id":"backups.why-is-my-first-backup-so-slow","question":"Why is my first backup so much slower than the ones after it?","url":"/faq/backups/why-is-my-first-backup-so-slow"},{"id":"backups.where-can-i-back-up-to","question":"Where can Storage Studio back up my files to?","url":"/faq/backups/where-can-i-back-up-to"}],"applies_to":"all","last_reviewed":"2026-10-01","title":"Why are backups to Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive slower? — Storage Studio FAQ","description":"Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive deliberately throttle large uploads, so backups there are slower. An external SSD is fastest, and bucket storage such as Amazon S3 is the quickest cloud option.","crumbs":[{"name":"Home","path":"/"},{"name":"FAQ","path":"/faq/"},{"name":"Backups & restore points","path":"/faq/backups/"},{"name":"Why are backups to Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive slower?","path":"/faq/backups/why-are-google-drive-and-dropbox-backups-slower"}],"jsonld":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","url":"https://storagestudio.us/faq/backups/why-are-google-drive-and-dropbox-backups-slower","inLanguage":"en","dateModified":"2026-10-01","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why are backups to Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive slower?","alternateName":["Which cloud is fastest for Storage Studio backups?","Google Drive backup slow throttling","best cloud destination for Data Backup","Dropbox backup speed","OneDrive backup takes forever","fastest place to back up to"],"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Those services deliberately limit (throttle) large uploads, so a big backup takes noticeably longer there. They work fine as destinations — just slower, especially for the first full backup.\n\nFor the fastest results:\n- An external SSD is quickest of all.\n- Bucket storage, such as Amazon S3, is the quickest cloud choice.\n\nAfter the first backup, only changes are uploaded, so day-to-day backups to any of these are usually quick.","url":"https://storagestudio.us/faq/backups/why-are-google-drive-and-dropbox-backups-slower"}}]},"fragment":"
\n
\n\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

Backups & restore points · Where backups go

\n

Why are backups to Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive slower?

\n

Short answer: Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive deliberately throttle large uploads, so backups there are slower. An external SSD is fastest, and bucket storage such as Amazon S3 is the quickest cloud option.

\n

Those services deliberately limit (throttle) large uploads, so a big backup takes noticeably longer there. They work fine as destinations — just slower, especially for the first full backup.

\n

For the fastest results: - An external SSD is quickest of all. - Bucket storage, such as Amazon S3, is the quickest cloud choice.

\n

After the first backup, only changes are uploaded, so day-to-day backups to any of these are usually quick.

\n\n

Last reviewed

\n\n

Related questions

\n

Also available as Markdown and JSON.

\n
"}