Cloud Storage Services

Technology
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There are a few different “Cloud Storage” services out there.

The ones that I’m aware of off the top of my head:

  • Dropbox
  • Google Drive
  • OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive)
  • Mega(.co.nz)
  • Amazon

I use Dropbox for my day to day stuff, and I’ve used it for a long time. Also considering that I have around 50gb space to play around with for a little while, thanks to my Samsung tablet. The sync program for PC/Mac works a treat, and I’ve never had issues with it. Yes, I’m aware that they had some controversy over security issues a few years ago. I’m only using 1.2% of my available space right now, so if I lose the extra space it’s not a train smash to me - although I’m very happy with their service and would be quite prepared to fork out some dosh to keep the extra space should I need it.

Dropbox

  • Basic 2Gb+ Free (You can boost your space via referrals etc, up to 16gb)
  • Pro 1Tb - $9.99 a month / $99 a year
  • Business - Unlimited Gb, $15 a month per user, min 5 users, $85.50 per month, $855 annual (includes VAT)

Google Drive

  • 15Gb Free
  • 100Gb $1.99 per month
  • 1Tb $9.99 per month
  • 10Tb $99.99 per month
  • 20Tb $199.99 per month
  • 30Tb $299.99 per month

No annual plans.

OneDrive

  • 7Gb Now 15Gb 5Gb Free (Can boost up to an additional 5Gb 10Gb at 0.5Gb per referral) + you get a “Camera Roll Bonus” of 3gb (that expires), which I assume comes from using a Windows phone. Not sure if it’s included in it normally.
  • +50gb - £1.99 per month

A rather large caveat with OneDrive, is that it cannot sync files/folders that have been shared with you to your desktop. I’m not sure if Google Drive has that facility, as I have not used their desktop client yet.

++Also, the seem to constantly reduce the available free storage.

Mega

  • 50gb free
  • Lite 200Gb Storage / 1Tb bandwidth €4.99 per month
  • Pro I 500Gb Storage / 2Tb bw €9.99 per month (If you purchase 1 year, you get 2 months free)
  • Pro II 2Tb Storage / 4Tb bw €19.99 per month
  • Pro III 4Tb Storage / 8 Tb bw €29.99 per month

I don’t know anything about this service, other than it’s from Kimdotcom, he of megaupload(?) that had everything illegally confiscated by the FBI etc etc.

Caveat with Mega is that you get limited bandwidth as well.

Amazon

  • Unlimited Everything $59.99 per year
  • Unlimited Photos (+5gb Other) $11.99 per year

Start with a 3 month free trial, billing kicks in at the end of the trial.

Caveat There’s no sync capability (BOO!). You can upload and download, but you can forget about it keeping your files in sync like the dropbox any proper cloud storage app does.

2 Likes
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I switched entirely to google drive a while back and Im very happy with it. I use it on all of my devices.
The shared stuff does seem to sync to your local google drive folder(according to one of my directors)

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Arbs, never trust what end users say, you should know that by now! haha.

1 Like
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lol yeah true story that!

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A huge problem with Google Drive is that it does not recognize links or directory junctions. It completely ignores them. They’ve been aware of the issue since 2012 and it looks like they just won’t implement that basic functionality… so Google Drive is a complete bust.

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And Microsoft’s OneDrive for Business seems to be up to no good:

Apparently the consumer version is not affected by this issue - right now.

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Updated original post:

OneDrive now offers 15gb free.
Added Mega.

1 Like
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I like onedrive, but dropbox still sync’s faster.

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Dropbox has just upgraded their Pro package to 1Tb for $9.99 a month, and it includes some nice new features:

https://blog.dropbox.com/2014/08/introducing-more-powerful-dropbox-pro/

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The new MS marketing is pretty cool.

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I’ve updated my original post with updated and new information.

The gist is that Dropbox is still tops in my opinion.

Some comparison articles, includes more services:

1 Like
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Currently running onedrive for business as it integrates with sharepoint. It doesnt sync as fast as dropbox but the beauty is that you can store the files locally on your sharepoint server (or a server on the same network) instead of the cloud or you could use the on-premises server & the cloud, pretty flexible. It’s 1Tb (entry level) comes with office 365 license.

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Have to use it for work. Sharepoint sync.