Which Cloud Storage Service Should You Use?
Have an email address? Use a computer? Is that a smartphone in your pocket? Then you need to acquire cloud storage. Having a storage location for your most important photos and files always available makes it easy to share files with friends and gives you peace of mind.
With options from every major tech company, you may find yourself attracted to one or the other depending on the technologies you use on a daily basis and what each service offers. Each option offers both desktop apps and at least one mobile app, and they all automatically download your photos for safe storage. Some come bundled with office suites, while others can act as a primitive backup solution for the lazy. Whatever your preference, here are cloud storage services you should consider before your computer’s hard drive decides to give up.
Google drive
Platform: PC, Mac, iOS, Android, Internet
Starting price per month: $ 1.99 (100GB)
Storage options: 100 GB, 1 TB, 10 TB, 20 TB, 30 TB
Google Drive is my personal choice for cloud storage thanks to the ecosystem in which it exists. To be honest, I also rely on Gmail, but every other aspect of Google Drive is attractive, no matter who your email provider is. Every Google account comes standard with 15GB of cloud storage shared across all of your Google services (such as Gmail file attachments, videos and full-resolution images in Google Photos, and files stored in Google Drive). Google Drive also works on almost all platforms (Linux users can use the third-party Insync app to install Google Drive on their desktop) and offers sync options that outperform its competitors.
You can use Google Drive offline to edit your Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides by installing the Google Docs offline Chrome extension or syncing documents, spreadsheets, slides, and drawings files from the Google Drive settings page. Its web interface is good enough for basic file management and sharing with other users, but if you’re dealing with a lot of large files (like full-resolution images), you may notice your browser slows down.
On the desktop, the Google Backup & Sync app for PC or Mac can back up specific folders on your own computer, no matter where they are on your hard drive. This means you don’t have to drag your family photo folder or GIF vault to your Google Drive folder on your computer to keep them in sync and secure. You can simply choose which folders and files are synced and available in the cloud.
You can squeeze a few more megabytes out of your data plan by changing how certain items are stored. Elements of the Google office suite (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Websites), as well as files that you have shared with someone else, do not count towards your storage limit. Photos stored as “high quality” images in Google Photos are also exempt from the storage limit, although images larger than 16MP will be resized to 16MP and high-resolution videos will be converted to 1080p video. If you care about fidelity, store your photos and videos in Original Quality (and be prepared to buy extra storage). This compact image storage feature can make 15GB enough for you to use it for free without worry.
Microsoft OneDrive
Platform: PC, Mac, iOS, Android, Internet
Starting price per month: $ 1.99 / 5GB
Storage options: 5 GB, 50 GB, 1 TB
Microsoft OneDrive is perfect for Windows 10 users, or at least people who stick to Microsoft Office. First, each Premium OneDrive subscription (starting at $ 6.99 / month) comes with an Office 365 subscription and 1 TB of storage, allowing you to collaborate with other Office 365 users. The OneDrive web interface is similar to the Google Drive web layout. though slightly cleaner. You can automatically download photos taken on your iOS or Android device (although OneDrive won’t download iOS photos when they are optimized for iCloud).
While you can sign up for the free 5GB plan, or pay $ 1.99 a month for the 50GB plan, none of them include the highly functional Office 365, and 15GB of free Google storage is triple the free offering from Microsoft. You might as well pay $ 6.99 a month for 1 TB of cloud storage and an Office 365 subscription.
Apple iCloud Drive
Platform: PC, Mac, iOS, Internet
Starting price per month: $ 0.99 / 50GB
Storage options: 50 GB, 200 GB, 2 TB
Apple iCloud Drive is, of course, the company’s cloud storage designed for macOS and iOS users. Like any other cloud storage option, there are PC and Mac apps available, although Android users are out of luck (unless they want to manage their iCloud Drive storage through a web browser, I guess).
You will probably be storing mostly photos taken with your iOS device. If so, consider Apple My Photo Stream first, which syncs up to 1,000 images taken in the last 30 days on your iCloud-connected devices and doesn’t count towards your standard (and pathetic little) 5GB storage limit. It is ideal for those who take little pictures or use other cloud storage. Most iOS users must sign up for a 50GB data plan. It’s worth a dollar a month to pay admission to easily store your entire photo library with iCloud Photo Library (which stores all photos instead of last month’s value) without worrying about their expiration date.
The storage upgrade lets you store even more files and photos, and if you subscribe to a 200GB or 2TB data plan, you can share the extra storage with family members as part of the Family Sharing feature that lets you share apps, music, iCloud storage , and a place where up to six people can live in your home. You can get 2TB for $ 9.99 a month, which is significantly less than Google Drive’s 1TB offering for the same price.
On your iOS device, you can access your iCloud saved files in the Files app, which lets you manage both iCloud Drive files and files stored in other cloud storage services (such as Google Drive or OneDrive), or locally on your iOS. device.
So which one do you get? For most users, regardless of their device, I recommend using Google Drive, which is platform independent. It comes bundled with a suite of free productivity tools, offers the maximum free storage, and lets you sync files not only in your Google Drive folder, but elsewhere.
If you’re a fan of all kinds of Apple devices and don’t rely on Google for anything other than its search functionality, iCloud Drive is the place to go. Windows users, whether they’re using iOS or Android devices on the go, should look to OneDrive for its seamless integration with Windows 10, as well as its willingness to play well with other competing platforms like iOS and Android, as opposed to iCloud Drive from Apple.