Google might be closer to launching the Google Web Drive, allowing you to store your files on a virtual hard drive online.

In 2006 we reported on the rumors of Google launching a virtual hard drive in the cloud called Platypus:

“The Gdrive is not public and you cannot use it yet. But the Google staff can. They can use Platypus as an online disk drive, saving not only email and documents, but any types of files.”

Google is at the moment developing a lot of online services, letting users save their documents on Google’s servers instead of their own computer. This, for instance, applies to Google’s office suite: Google Docs.

Google has not, however, allowed people to upload any file to their servers. Google has not its own Box.net or Divshare.com service, allowing users to share all kinds of file with others or use Google’s hard disks for backups.

However, now a member of the MacRumors Forum has posted a screen shot from the beta version of Google’s Picasa photo program, showing the option “Google Web Drive” under the option “Move to Collection”.

Microsoft already has its own drive in the cloud called — of course — Skydrive. As a registered Live user you get 25 GB of storage.

It is not a matter of “if” Google will launch such a service, only a question of “when”.