Update 2017-10-16: major update to article following the release of Backup and Sync; no longer require bindfs

Google Drive allows you to sync files/folders (to use the terminology from the support page) on your Mac/PC with Google Drive on the web. That is to say for example, a Mac OS X user can connect their Google Drive account such that files/folders stored locally on the OS hard drive are automatically synced with the contents of Google Drive on the web.

As of September/October 2017, Google released two replacements for the old Google Drive application: Backup and Sync (aimed at personal accounts) and Drive File Stream (aimed at business customers who have G Suite accounts). It turns out that, despite the apparent distinction, Backup and Sync can also be used for “business” accounts (i.e. users of G Suite accounts). Drive File Stream can only be used by G Suite users, and presents a virtual file system that syncs files on demand.

This article focuses on the use of Backup and Sync for either personal or business (G Suite) accounts.

Whilst it is possible to be signed in to multiple Google accounts at once in a browser, with Backup and Sync on your Mac/PC it is only possible to be signed in to one account at a time, i.e. you can only sync one account’s files/folders at any given time. This is something of a restriction for those of us who have multiple accounts for genuine reasons, e.g. multiple work accounts and a personal account, where sharing across domains is either not possible/desirable, and where sync access to files from the same machine is desirable.

There are various solutions elsewhere on the web that involve opening up permissions etc. but I could never truly get these to work (and to be honest the thought of chmod 777 on anything made me rather ill). Hence the alternative that I have laid out below. With thanks to @Moose for a great contribution in the comments.

WARNING

The following instructions have not be heavily road-tested, so please follow with caution. Use at your own risk, etc.

Let us assume:

  • We are using High Sierra (only tested under High Sierra, may well work under other versions of OS X)
  • Tested using Backup and Sync v3.36.6721.3394
  • The Mac OS X user who wants to connect and sync two Google Drive accounts is user_1
  • user_1 has access to both user_1@gmail.com (personal account) and user_1@work.com (G Suite work account - could equally be another personal account)
  • user_1 has followed the standard Backup and Sync setup to connect and sync user_1@gmail.com to "/Users/user_1/Google Drive"
  • user_1 wants to be able to connect and sync user_1@work.com to "/Users/user_1/Google Drive - work"
  • You have configured your system so that user_1 can run sudo commands

Steps

Let’s assume you are already logged in as user_1 (lines in code blocks should be run in the Terminal):

  1. Create a new Mac OS X user called user_2
  2. Switch user (do not logout) to user_2
  3. In a Terminal: mkdir "$HOME/Google Drive" && chmod 700 "$HOME/Google Drive"
  4. Setup Backup and Sync as the user user_2 to connect user_1@work.com, syncing to /Users/user_2/Google Drive (the default)
  5. Let this sync complete
  6. Switch user back to user_1 (again, do not logout)
  7. sudo chown root:user_2 /Users/user_2/Google\ Drive
  8. sudo chmod 770 /Users/user_2/Google\ Drive
  9. sudo chmod -R +a "user:user_1 allow list,add_file,search,add_subdirectory,delete_child,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity,writesecurity,chown,file_inherit,directory_inherit,delete" /Users/user_2/Google\ Drive/
  10. sudo chmod -R +a "user:user_2 allow list,add_file,search,add_subdirectory,delete_child,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity,writesecurity,chown,file_inherit,directory_inherit,delete" /Users/user_2/Google\ Drive/
  11. ln -s /Users/user_2/Google\ Drive/ /Users/user_1/Google\ Drive\ -\ work

Done. This should now allow you to read/write/etc. files in "/Users/user_1/Google Drive - work" as user_1. These changes will get written as if you were user_2, which allows the Backup and Sync sync process for user_2 (linked to user_1@work.com) to proceed as if the changes had been made by the user_2 Mac OS X user.

Conclusion

This approach appears to work and doesn’t interfere with the normal operation of Backup and Sync for Mac OS X (it just thinks it’s running for another user). However, this has not been heavily load/road tested.

As of this latest update (2017-10-16) even Spotlight works for user_1 for the files synced via user_2.

One thing you will need to remember, if you restart your computer you need to: switch user to user_2 to ensure Backup and Sync is started (should start by default on login).

Comments/thoughts on this approach welcomed below.

 

Older revision history

Update 2015-09-25: clarify the term ‘switch user’ and emphasise that logout/login is not equivalent
Update 2015-04-18: updated bindfs command to use --xattr-none to avoid extended attribute problems when creating files using Finder
Update 2015-06-09: updated bindfs command to use -o volname="XYZ" to set a custom name for the mount (as opposed to the ugly default). With thanks to Dennis Jarvis for highlighting this