MomentBackup

MomentBackup & Google Drive

Last updated: June 2026.

What MomentBackup is

MomentBackup is a personal backup and recovery app for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It automatically saves a browsable history of your files — so you can step back to any earlier version — on an external drive, a NAS or network share, your own Google Drive, or your own S3-compatible cloud bucket. On Windows, it can also keep a recoverable image of your whole computer on a local or external drive, or a connected NAS. MomentBackup is software you run on your own computer; no MomentBackup account is required and there is no hosted MomentBackup storage.

Why MomentBackup connects to Google Drive

Google Drive is a File History destination. If you connect it, MomentBackup writes your File History backups into your own Google Drive so you have an off-site copy you control — and can restore files from it later. It does not store whole-computer images; Windows system images require a local or external drive, or a connected NAS. Connecting Google Drive is entirely optional.

Exactly what MomentBackup does in your Google Drive

When you choose Google Drive as a backup destination, MomentBackup does only the following, and only inside a single folder it creates:

  1. Creates one folder named MomentBackup/<your computer's name> in your Google Drive. That folder is the only place MomentBackup ever writes.
  2. Uploads your File History backup into that folder as a set of deduplicated, content-addressed data files plus a small index and a list of snapshots. When encryption is turned on, each file is encrypted on your computer first, so Google only ever stores ciphertext.
  3. Lists the files in that folder to see what it has already backed up, so each later backup uploads only the parts that changed.
  4. Downloads files from that folder when you browse earlier versions of a file, when MomentBackup verifies a backup's integrity, and when you restore files or a whole snapshot.
  5. Deletes files from that folder only when your retention settings age old backups out (for example, "keep daily backups for 30 days").

That is the complete list of what MomentBackup does with Google Drive. MomentBackup requests Google's drive.file scope, which by design grants an app access only to files it created itself — so MomentBackup cannot read, list, open, or change any other file in your Google Drive, and never attempts to. It also never reads your Drive activity, sharing, or account settings.

The Google scopes we request, and why each is needed

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file — to create the backup folder and to write, list, download, and delete the backup files inside it (steps 1–5 above). This scope is limited to files MomentBackup created, which is exactly what a backup destination needs and nothing more.
  • openid and email — to show which Google account a connected backup destination belongs to, so you can tell connected accounts apart and connect more than one. Your email address is displayed only as a label inside the app on your own computer. It is not used for marketing, is not added to any mailing list, and is not shared with anyone.

What MomentBackup does not do with your Google data

  • It does not read, browse, or back up files in your Drive that it did not create.
  • It does not send your Google data or backup contents to any MomentBackup server — there is no MomentBackup server in the path.
  • It does not sell, rent, or share your Google data, and does not use it for advertising.
  • No human at MomentBackup reads your Google data; access is limited to the app running on your device, solely to provide the backup feature you turned on.

Where your sign-in and data live

Authorization happens directly between your computer and Google. The access and refresh tokens are stored in your operating system's keychain on your own device — MomentBackup never transmits them to us. When encryption is enabled, your files are encrypted on your machine, with keys only you hold, before they are written to Drive. You can disconnect Google Drive at any time from within the app, which removes the stored tokens.

Limited Use disclosure

MomentBackup's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs to any other app will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Learn more

See the full MomentBackup home page for everything the app does, and our Privacy Policy for how we handle data generally. Questions? Email [email protected].