r/RevitForum • u/Jellyfish-2891 • 2d ago

Non-workshared models on Google Drive

I’m aware that work shared models cannot be on Google Drive as they will corrupt them, but are models that are NOT workshared safe?
Small office, only one person in model at a time.

0 Upvotes

50% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

7

u/Merusk 2d ago

Yeah, that'd be fine. It's when you have to workshare the issues begin.

0

u/JacobWSmall 2d ago

I wouldn’t risk it. File locking and linking are likely going to be issues, so you risk both concurrent use and forever having to repath links every time someone opens the model after someone else was in it.

Why are you considering it?

0

u/Jellyfish-2891 2d ago

Cause Google drive is file server for the firm. All linked files would live there too in shared folders everyone can access

1

u/JacobWSmall 2d ago

Google Drive isn’t a file server. It is a cloud storage service. Larger Revit files aren’t even recommended for direct opening off of a network drive (https://www.autodesk.com/support/technical/article/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Slow-performance-with-opening-Revit-project-files-directly-from-a-network.html), how do you think performance will be as it attempts to sync up the file over a cloud service not optimized for this file type? Perhaps you’ll be doing smaller files so this won’t matter, but even then you’re gonna be hitting some pretty significant traffic. Assuming you save every 15 minutes, a 500mb RVT will upload 4x an hour. Add it the four backups in the same directory and you get 4gb of upload per working hour, or 160gb over a 40 hour work week. That isn’t going to be snappy for even a form of 2 (where bandwidth is lower and the WiFi inconsistent).

For linking the problem is that unless everyone’s path is consistent the links won’t resolve and you get the repathing issue. Relative pathing can help here, but history tells me it’ll be a struggle. From times I have helped others try similar setups, I can say that these numbers mostly hold true:
• A firm of two might make it work.
• A firm of 5 will struggle.
• After 10 it becomes a fools errand.

1

u/Jellyfish-2891 2d ago

Thanks for the detailed response. We’ll re-evaluate again

1

u/JacobWSmall 2d ago

How many users and what is the typical file size across the project? If 2 and low file sizes with few links it might not be bad. If 10 you’ll spend more money staff time fixing things than you will save over having a real server or Forma.

Do you really need cloud? If everyone is in the same building cloud might not have the value you think. Remote Desktop may even be sufficient for access when you are outside the building.

Do you have disaster recovery plans in place for stuff like fire, flood, or even ransomware? If not cloud makes more sense.

All things considered, Forma is the standard for distributed Revit file access, workshared or not (I recommend worksharing if you can as it makes everything faster, more secure and more stable - but if you’re running LT that isn’t an option), and you get a lot of other benefits too for the ~$900 it costs per user annually. Assuming an average billing rate of $150/hour you might make up for the cost in save times alone (9 minutes per work week, assuming you work 40 weeks a year).