A Resumable, "Guwahati-Proof" Google Drive Downloader in Python

The Backstory: I needed to download 1,024 high-res images from a Google Drive folder for a family project. The browser kept crashing, Google’s "Zip" feature was failing at that scale, and my local internet connection wasn't stable enough for a massive, single-stream download.

The Solution: I wrote a Python script using the Google Drive API v3 that prioritizes reliability over raw speed. Key Features:

True Resume Logic: It checks local disk storage before every request. If you lose power or Wi-Fi, just rerun it; it skips what you have and picks up exactly where it left off.

Network Resilience: Implements exponential backoff for [SSL: WRONG_VERSION_NUMBER] errors and socket timeouts, which are common on fluctuating connections.

Sequential Stability: While multi-threading is faster, this script uses a sequential approach with a 60s timeout to avoid "choking" the local network or getting flagged by the API rate limiter.

Progress Dashboard: A simple CLI dashboard that shows exactly how many of the 1,024 files are collected vs. remaining.

The Code: Github: https://github.com/Jyotishmoy12/Google-drive-image-downloade...

What I Learned:

Google Drive API nuances: Folders are treated as files with a specific mimeType, and you have to filter them out manually if you just want binary content.

SSL Handshakes: On older laptops or unstable Wi-Fi, opening 10+ concurrent SSL connections often leads to handshake failures. Slow and steady (sequential) actually finished the job faster than "Turbo" mode which kept crashing.

I'd love to hear how others handle large-scale media migrations from Drive without using expensive third-party tools!