Grab 2GB of permanent Google storage by completing a Security Checkup

Martin Brinkmann
Feb 8, 2016
Updated • Jan 4, 2018
Companies, Google
|
30

Complete the Google Security Checkup today to add 2 Gigabyte of additional permanent storage to your Google Account.

Google runs a special promotion on Safe Internet Day -- just like it did last year -- that awards Google account owners with an increase of 2 Gigabyte of permanent storage if they complete the company's Security Checkup.

The checkup takes less than a minute to complete and will net you another 2 Gigabyte of storage to your account.

You may remember that Google ran the same promotion last year as well.

Security Checkup

Visit the Security Checkup website with a click on the following link: https://security.google.com/settings/security/secureaccount

You are asked to sign in to your Google account if you are not logged in already. The checkup consists of several parts that you go through to verify important account and security related information:

  1. Check your recovery information - Verify your recovery phone, recovery email and security question. You may remove recovery email and security question, or edit the phone number associated with the recovery of the Google account.
  2. Check your connected devices - Google lists the current and the last device used to access the Google account. Additional information, like the browser and location used are provided as well to make it easier to identify individual devices.
  3. Check your account permissions - This displays apps, websites and devices that are connected to the Google Account. You may remove access for select items or display additional informatino about them that include the date of authorization and the permission type.
  4. Check your 2-step verification settings - This displays the main phone number used for verification, backup phone and backup codes.

Google informs you about the storage additional directly after you complete the Security Checkup process.

To help celebrate Safer Internet Day 2016, we added 2 GB of free Drive storage to your Google account because you completed the Security Checkup.

Visit Google's Drive Storage page to verify that the 2 Gigabyte of free extra storage has been added to your account.

There you need to hover over the pie chart to display used and total space. Total space includes the current plan, and all permanent or temporary promotions that added extra storage to the account.

security checkup bonus

The new 2 Gigabyte of storage are listed as 2016 Security Checkup Bonus under total storage.

Closing Words

Since it is usually a good idea to verify security settings regularly anyway, it is probably a good idea to do it today as it nets you an extra 2 Gigabyte of storage. It takes less than a minute to complete the checkup -- provided that you don't need to do any modifications -- and the extra storage is awarded directly to the account without any delay. (via Caschy)

Now You: How much free storage do you have currently?

Summary
Grab 2GB of permanent Google storage by completing a Security Checkup
Article Name
Grab 2GB of permanent Google storage by completing a Security Checkup
Description
Complete Google's Security Checkup today (it is safer internet day), and get 2 Gigabyte of extra permanent storage added to your Google account.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Fer said on February 13, 2016 at 8:18 pm
    Reply

    didn’t work today

  2. Anonymous A said on February 13, 2016 at 4:51 pm
    Reply

    Hi there, sorry does this security check how time limit or region limit? Cos im still unable to get that 2GB :(

  3. Jerry Strickland said on February 11, 2016 at 9:24 pm
    Reply

    Every thing is going well with Google Nexus 6p. Thanks for all the help and the 2GB.

  4. Vinícius said on February 10, 2016 at 11:57 am
    Reply

    19 GB of free storage. Thanks for the tip!

  5. Adithya FRK said on February 9, 2016 at 11:07 am
    Reply

    I missed it. :-(

    1. Wally said on February 9, 2016 at 2:12 pm
      Reply

      I think it still works today.

  6. Subhankar said on February 9, 2016 at 8:42 am
    Reply

    1.01 TB :)

  7. dwarf_t0ssn said on February 9, 2016 at 6:12 am
    Reply

    Cool. I use Gdrive with Gamesave Manager to allow for cloud backup of those games steam doesn’t support, and the occasional doc or three.

  8. S2015 said on February 8, 2016 at 10:49 pm
    Reply

    If you’re fan of file sharing or data syncing, take action quickly, as this could be a limited time offer:) one more thing is… Microsoft, yes, MS’s OneDrive “Free” storage decreases from 15GB to 5GB. generally, it’s marketing strategy.

  9. trek100 said on February 8, 2016 at 8:28 pm
    Reply

    Thanks for letting us know, Martin!
    Ghacks is super…

  10. Georige said on February 8, 2016 at 8:08 pm
    Reply

    I tried, and added a phone number, got a verification code, and nothing.

    1. lolz said on February 9, 2016 at 9:03 am
      Reply

      try add fingerprint scan and eye retina image

      1. not_black said on February 9, 2016 at 10:02 am
        Reply

        this tbh fam

  11. Paranam Kid said on February 8, 2016 at 7:12 pm
    Reply

    Thanks Martin. Simple & useful. Please remind us again next year, please.

  12. DComedian said on February 8, 2016 at 5:40 pm
    Reply

    Thank you Martin

  13. Henk van Setten said on February 8, 2016 at 5:10 pm
    Reply

    The question at the bottom of this article was: “How much free storage do you have currently?”

    My answer: Zero. Nil. Nada. Nothing. Niente. Nichts. Because this kind of free cloud storage is paid for with loss of privacy and loss of data security. I don’t even have a Gmail account anymore (except for a dummy one, which unfortunately is hard to avoid if you want to keep your Android software up to date).

    But of course I do understand that this Google action is good news for many. We all are free to decide if we want to pay for our conveniences in money, or in a more roundabout way.

    1. Andrew said on February 8, 2016 at 6:55 pm
      Reply

      “My answer: Zero. Nil. Nada. Nothing. Niente. Nichts. Because this kind of free cloud storage is paid for with loss of privacy and loss of data security. I don’t even have a Gmail account anymore (except for a dummy one, which unfortunately is hard to avoid if you want to keep your Android software up to date)”

      You just completely contradicted yourself. You said you don’t have any free cloud storage and not have a gmail account, then you said you have a dummy google account, hence you have free cloud storage, even if you don’t use it.

      Also, you don’t necessarily “need” a google account to keep your android software up to date, it just makes it more convenient having one and using Google play.

    2. Gabriel said on February 8, 2016 at 6:01 pm
      Reply

      Encrypt whatever you upload or make password protected rar archives.

  14. ps said on February 8, 2016 at 4:46 pm
    Reply

    Thank you for this tip

  15. RG said on February 8, 2016 at 4:43 pm
    Reply

    Done, thanks Martin

  16. Jon said on February 8, 2016 at 4:43 pm
    Reply

    This works each year as I received 2 GB in 2015 and just received an additional 2 GB for 2016.

    1. T800 said on February 8, 2016 at 5:20 pm
      Reply

      me too
      now 19 GB for theee google account

  17. Gabriel said on February 8, 2016 at 4:35 pm
    Reply

    Thanks Martin! Got my free 2gb on all my gmail accounts and this also made me check some of my security settings so win-win.

  18. Saffroel said on February 8, 2016 at 4:23 pm
    Reply

    Thanks. Simple tips. Now I get 2gb storage for free.

  19. Andy said on February 8, 2016 at 4:05 pm
    Reply

    Thanks!

  20. tim said on February 8, 2016 at 3:59 pm
    Reply

    Is it mandatory to have a recovery phone number and/or 2-step verification?

    1. Kostas said on February 8, 2016 at 4:50 pm
      Reply

      It does not appear to be, I just skipped through both options for one account and I got the 2GB.

    2. Lucio M said on February 8, 2016 at 4:31 pm
      Reply

      It is not mandatory, but from my humble opinion as a common user, it is strongly recommended.
      It adds a higher level of security to your account.
      Plus it’s free.

    3. Martin Brinkmann said on February 8, 2016 at 4:00 pm
      Reply

      I don’t know. I had both set up previously, but I would guess that you only need to complete the checkup process to get the 2 GB of storage.

      1. tim said on February 8, 2016 at 4:20 pm
        Reply

        I tried and I can confirm that it works without adding a phone number.

        Although the main Drive UI (https://drive.google.com/drive/my-drive) still doesn’t show the extra 2GB, but it will probably just take a bit of time (I can see it here: https://www.google.com/settings/storage).

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