Cloud storage is a way to keep your data safe from any accident; you can also access it from any home as long as you have internet access. Another utility is to send large files to another person; you can generate a link to share, although you can also use WeTransfer and send them by e-mail. You can make copies of your photos and the files you work on or store the data you don’t want to lose. If our mobile phone or hard Drive breaks, we can rescue the copy of these files once we have solved it. So let’s see what the best cloud storage services are.
There are many cloud storage providers. You have paid or free subscriptions available, offering a few limited GB to move to a payment plan with more storage and, sometimes, with other types of complementary services. You can also store the data on your NAS and synchronize it with the cloud to have a double copy for greater security. Let’s see some of the leading cloud storage services advantages and disadvantages.
Table of Contents
Risks of NOT Being in the Cloud
Let’s look at some unpleasant examples that could happen to your file. First, has your computer stolen, and don’t you have backup copies of your children’s photos? If something like this happens to me, I’ll die, seriously. Do you have it all on an external drive? Me too, but I’d rather have another copy online just in case. Unfortunately, it won’t be the last time a power failure kills a hard drive. Thousands of hard drives die each year from accidental and natural deaths. So please don’t wait until it’s too late, So from now on, everything will be online, and everything will be in the cloud.
Cloud Storage Services
As we know, there are many options available to us. In this article, we will chat about the best cloud storage services.
1.DropBox
It offers 2GB of free space and up to 16GB free through the recommendation system to synchronize your files online (of any type) between several computers (Mac, Win, or Linux), mobiles, and tablets. If it detects a change, it syncs. If you are offline, it does it once you connect, and if the connection cuts, it can resume the transfer.
It’s fast as it only syncs the data bits that have changed, not necessarily the entire document or file, just the comma you changed, for example. On the other finger, it is likely to adjust the bandwidth of your connection that you dedicate to it not to choke it. Sharing files is child’s play since you can give access permission to several collaborators to edit the files.DropBox does not have access to your files, and its system is hacker-proof; only the shared files are accessible to the people to whom you have given access permission.
2.SpiderOak
It offers 2GB of free space for life, and more than 100GB through a paid plan, to make backup copies, synchronize files and, of course, share with friends and collaborators. It is cross-platform Mac, Linux, and Windows (even for iPhone).
Although other similar services use SSL connections and an AES-256 type file encryption system, SpiderOak goes further and does not generate the passwords from the remote server but on your computer, then generates the encrypted keys that allow the use of the passwords with the remote server.
3. Clear Drive
It offers 2GB of totally free online space to make automatic backup copies and use it as a virtual drive or a repository to archive versions of the same file.
The difficulty that I see is that it is only valid, in its free version, to make copies of a computer, although you can recover your files from another. So it is not the same as DropBox or SpiderOak.
For the rest, it works similarly, with an automatic detection system for changes made locally, every ten minutes, and immediate synchronization. On the other hand, it keeps up to 30 versions of each synchronized file, so you can quickly restore an old version.
4. Google Drive
Google offers us Google Drive, and it is none other than Google’s previous and successful online office service, Google Docs, with the ‘addition’ of file storage. As with other services in the ‘cloud,’ Google Drive automatically synchronizes all the content we have stored to work with it regardless of the device we use to access our account.
The service has applications for Windows and Mac and apps for Chrome OS, Apple’s iOS (iPhone/iPad), and Android. Another interesting aspect of Google Drive is that we can share any of our files, whatever their extension, and in an effortless way: the tool generates a ‘public’ link so that someone else can open a specific file or files.
5. Microsoft OneDrive
It is the proposal in ‘the cloud’ of Microsoft. As with most services of this type, in OneDrive, we can save and share all kinds of files up to the 15GB to which registration in the free profile entitles us. Still, if we activate the camera to save the photos automatically, we give another 3 GB. In this case, and unlike the simplicity of Dropbox, in addition to the classic file storage, we find additional services of the caliber of Office Web Apps, the Internet version of the most widely used agency suite in the world. OneDrive is the perfect storage environment for Windows 8 users, and its integration is seamless.
6. Amazon Drive
And of course, Amazon also offers various cloud storage services under the name Amazon Web Services or AWS. All AWS services are available on-demand and do not require long-term contracts or complex licensing systems. AWS proposes variable costs and pays only for what you use for as long as you need it. The higher the consumption, the lower the price.
Main Benefits of these Storage Systems
- Ease of access: you only need an Internet connection to access your files from any device and place.
- Easy to use: they are designes so that anyone can use them, even to make backup copies automatically.
- You do not have to worry about anything: the companies that offer these services in the cloud carry out maintenance and software updates and invest in infrastructure in a transparent way for the user.
- Files are less likely to disappear: almost all cloud services have mirrors. Thus, nothing would happen in the hypothetical case that the data processing center is damaged or destroyed.
- They allow economic savings: all the costs associated with these platforms (servers, maintenance, or electricity consumption) divide among the users of ‘premium’ services. Free options usually only provide a few GB of capacity, so if an individual or business requires more space, pay extra.
Conclusions
The cloud has become fashionable, or it is on everyone’s lips and storing your files in the cloud is a great option. Uploading your files online to share them with friends or colleagues and having a backup copy of your photos, documents, videos, and other personal data at any time and from anywhere in the world is attractive and increasingly popular. Popular.