Get 2GB of Google Drive space for free (again!)

Want to earn an extra 2GB of storage space on Google Drive for 2 minutes of your time? Read on to find out how.

Same as last year, Google is now offering an additional 2GB of Drive storage for users who complete the Account Security Checkup, in honor of Safer Internet Day. This year, you only have until February 11, 2016, to complete the checkup.

Right now users can do the same checkup (it's been spruced up a bit) and receive 2GB of space in addition to any previous offers you've obtained on Google Drive. So if you're interested, act fast.



To get started, head to the Security Checkup tool that Google provides for your account. You'll need to verify your backup information, including phone number, recovery email address and backup security question. These fields must be filled out for this portion of the security checkup to be considered complete

Recent activity on your Google account.Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET

Now you'll be able to check your connected devices that have recently signed-in to your account. If you have any mobile devices attached to your Google account, you will see them in this list. If something looks wrong, you'll be prompted to change the password on your account to make sure the device in question can no longer connect.

Google account permissions.Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET

This next section might be a long one if you've used Google to log in to many devices or websites. Each device and site will be listed with a Remove button to the right, allowing you to cancel access right now. You can always come back to this at a later time if you change devices or no longer want to use a specific website/service. This is the end of the security checkup if you are not using two-step authentication.

App-specific passwords.Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET

If you are using two-step authentication on your account, you may notice that some devices do not support the authentication code. For these, you would have used an application-specific password. This section allows you to revoke any of the devices you no longer want on your account.

Two-step verification settings.Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET

The final section of the security checkup includes your 2-step verification settings, which should include a backup phone number and backup codes. The phone number will help you work out access to your account with Google if you lose other methods of logging in, and the backup codes serve as one-use passwords if you lose the authenticator.


After finishing, you'll see a "Nicely done" page load, with the message that 2 GB of Drive space will be awarded to your account to celebrate Safer Internet Day. So hurry, and grab your free gigs now!

Via CNET