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Cloud Storage Solutions


With the dawn of the digital age comes a plethora of storage solutions.  We've upgraded from floppy disks and CDs to USB drives and even external hard drives.  But in the past few years, a new storage solution has emerged: the cloud.  Cloud-based (which simply means online) storage has been gaining popularity steadily throughout the past several years.  And when you think about it, it makes sense.  People don't like carrying around a physical device that can be lost, stolen, or damaged, especially when there's important documents and files on it.  But for a while, no one trusted cloud storage because it seemed less reliable or less tangible.  While it is less tangible, let us at DormNet assure you that it is certainly safer than carrying around all your files on an USB drive.

Cloud storage basically works by storing your files on a device known as a server somewhere in the country where the storage service provider has decided to put it.  These servers are essentially specialized computers with enormous amounts of memory, designed to connect to the Net seamlessly.  These are still a physical device that exists on the ground somewhere, but it is much more robust than a small, easily broken/lost/stolen USB drive or a cumbersome external hard drive.  And besides that, most cloud-based storage solutions will back up your data on multiple servers, further ensuring that none of your data is compromised.

But the question that remains is, what is the best cloud-based storage solution out there?  While there may not be a single one that is the "best," there are certainly lots of options, so this article is designed to help you sort out all those options.  There are several paid services out there, but for the purposes of the average student budget, only the big-name, free solutions will be discussed.  That being said, usually even the free services are limited in some way or another, so just keep that in mind as you look at the different options.


                           

Let's first take a look at Dropbox.  It's a great tool for online storage and has some nice features like plugins for Google Chrome that allow you to reach your files from directly in your browser.  It also has a nice program (called a desktop client) that, when installed on your computer, allows you to use your Dropbox folder much like you would a normal folder on your PC (such as My Documents or My Pictures).  Another plus is that there's a mobile app for Android and iOS that allows you to reach your files on your mobile device.

It does, however, have a drawback because you only get 2 GB of online storage for free.  If you want to pay $9.99/month, you can upgrade to Dropbox Pro and get 1 TB of storage with some extra features such as remote wipe and extra sharing controls.

Dropbox does have some incentives in place for you to be able to earn extra storage space. If you simply enable automatic photo backup from your mobile device, they will add 3 GB of free storage, giving you a total of 5 GB to use.  Then, if you don't want to back up your photos anymore, you can simply disable that feature and keep the extra storage space.  They will also give you free storage space upgrades of various sizes for doing things such as following them on Twitter, giving referrals, giving them a review, and sharing folders with other Dropbox users.

To find out more about Dropbox, click here.


The next solution we'll explore is Google Drive.  It is essentially the same as Dropbox as far as how its storage works, but there are several added benefits that come along with it.  One big benefit is that it allows quite a bit more storage without having to pay, with the added simplicity of it being connected to your single Google account (which allows you access to all Google services).  Normal Google accounts have an allowance of 15 GB per user for the free accounts.  With a Harding University Google account, however, all students are allowed 30 GB free of charge.  If you decide you need more storage, however, you may purchase 100 GB for $1.99/month or 1 TB for $10/month.

It also has the added benefit of working seamlessly with your Gmail account, something that isn't as simple with Dropbox, but could probably be done if you found the right browser extension.  Let's say that someone emails you an attachment.  You can simply mouse over the attachment's thumbnail at the bottom of the message and click the "Save to Drive" button, which looks like the Google Drive logo (the little triangular-shaped thing).  You can also download it to your computer's hard drive, of course, by clicking the downward-pointing arrow.

Google Drive also has the capability to work like a local folder through its desktop client and also has Android and iOS applications as well.  Another nice feature if you're a photography lover like myself is the automatic backup feature for photos.  Although Dropbox has this as well, it is not connected to your Google+ account where you can edit the photos by applying filters, adjusting brightness, applying frames, the whole nine yards.  This is a great feature because if you need to grab a pic you took from your phone to use in reports or just on Facebook, even, they're already there automatically.  You can set it to only upload over WiFi as well (same for Dropbox) in order to keep from using your limited monthly data allowance.  Google also does fun "AutoAwesome" photos every once in a while where it takes and does fun things with the photos you've uploaded.  One time, I took a picture in the snow and it automatically made a copy of the photo that had animated snowflakes overlaying the photo.  It also recognizes when pictures were taken in rapid succession (by reading the date stamp) and makes them into an animated gif that plays them all back to back!

Another excellent feature of Google Drive is the ability to access Google Docs to create, edit, and share documents online.  For group projects and the like, this is a great way to have everyone collaborate all at once and get a whole lot done on a single document simultaneously.  Documents are saved on your Google Drive and you can click to edit them (if they're in a Google Doc format) right from your drive and don't have to open another page.

All said and done, for the photo backup/editing feature alone, Google has an advantage over its competitors.  And as an added bonus, since Android phones are powered by Google, if you have an Android, the integration of your cloud-stored files with your phone is seamless and is very easy to access, even on the go.

To find out more about Google Drive, click here.


Amazon has their version of cloud-based storage as well, called Amason Cloud Drive.  It is much the same as Dropbox and Google Drive, but it gives you 5 GB for free. Then if you want to upgrade to 20 GB, it's $10/year and for 50 GB its $20/year, and so on.

Again, like Dropbox and Google, Amazon Cloud has a desktop client and a mobile version for access on the go.  It also includes automatic photo backup, as do the other two solutions.

Click here for more information on Amazon Cloud Drive.


Another option you may choose to go with is Microsoft OneDrive.  OneDrive is not strictly a free storage solution, but it is one that is available to Harding Students who are currently enrolled and taking classes.  (See the article about setting up your Harding Office 365 account on your PC here.)

Although this service is new (and especially new to Harding), it seems to be the quality kind of program you expect to see from Microsoft.  Its storage is reliable and works very well (although with a Harding Office 365 account, it's hard to see how much storage you're actually allowed) and the integration with Office 365 is an added benefit.

Your Office 365 account, through OneDrive, lets you do things like collaborate on documents online (both in your browser or in Office programs on your PC) if you've shared a document with collaborators such as project teammates.  It works nicely in the sense that it allows you to collaborate without worrying about how the formatting will transfer over from, say, a Google Doc to a MS Word file.  It does get a bit finicky from time to time when multiple collaborators are on at the same time.  Sometimes people get locked out and can't edit the document like they should be able to.  This is only a minor issue, though, as all the changes are saved immediately to OneDrive (the same is true for Google Docs on Goole Drive).  Considering that it is a 1st generation service at this point, however, Office 365 and OneDrive do work remarkably well.

To find out more about OneDrive, click here.

                                        

Another solution you may be tempted to try is JustCloud.  DO NOT FALL FOR IT!  This service, while it may back up a file or two, will never leave you alone about upgrading.  It claims that it has unlimited storage for FREE, but don't believe it.  It's just a service that doesn't work and doesn't stop badgering you about upgrading to a paid account.  Also, those who have paid have experienced things like deleted data and terrible customer service when they've called about it, essentially telling them there's nothing they can do.  it grabbed me at first due to all its claims, but it really is too good to be true.  As a DormNet Agent, I can tell you that I know what "spammy" programs look like, and this is one of them.  Although it probably won't give you viruses, it will clog up your email inbox and annoy you with incessant marketing.

When all is said and done, it seems that you ought to stick to the big names like Google and Dropbox.  In the case of a Harding student, who already has a Google account that they get to keep and gets 30 GB along with it, it seems that the clear choice is Google Drive for a reliable, trustworthy, easy-to-access, online storage solution.

Harding Students to have one more option available to them while on campus and connected to the secure Harding networks: the Harding m-drive.  To learn more about this cloud-based storage solution and how to map it to your PC, click the link.

Happy cloud storing!

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