You will end up receiving three .zip files that unpack to about 5 GB total.
But just use your browser. Ctrl+A to select all files, hit the "Download" button, wait a minute for it to create a .zip file, and it downloads. Just tried it myself, works like a charm. (In past experience sometimes the .zip archive step fails -- if so, so just try a second time.)
> I also can’t make an actual copy of the files without downloading and uploading so they save some precious space.
If you're trying to make a copy to your own personal Drive, just select "Make a copy" from the context menu. That creates a copy (not a shortcut) in your Drive root folder, no downloading and uploading required. (In the mobile app that option appears only for individual files, but the Drive website allows you to do it for all selected files at once.) I just tried this now as well and it works perfectly.
Or if you want to save space on your Drive, you can drag them to "My Drive" (rather than explicitly making a copy) and it'll create shortcuts instead.
I've downloaded them and created a mirror for anyone else having issues.
Second, there's actually no way to let someone upload stuff to your drive. I needed a bunch of video footage from someone else's phone, but she couldn't upload it even though I gave her a link to a folder... because she doesn't have her own Drive. So BS #2 is to support BS #1.
I don't remember if Google double-counts stuff "shared" with you, against your Drive and the sharer's. But I wouldn't put it past them.
Unfortunately DropBox doesn't offer competitive capacity/price combos, and even worse they outright lose files. They lost an entire video job I uploaded for a client; gigabytes of files just disappeared for several days, and when they finally responded to inquiries they had no explanation. I had to sign up for Google just to get the job delivered (late).
Google products have become so user hostile at the expense of their users. I literally cannot download this folder on my phone I have to “share” each one individually. I also can’t make an actual copy of the files without downloading and uploading so they save some precious space. Must be hard for such a small company