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n Short: This detailed article will help you to choose best cloud storage service provider according to your needs, these service providers offer both free and upgradable plans.
Remember the good old days when cloud actually only meant the furry thing floating far above us in the sky? It’s 2016 and Cloud nowadays just doesn’t have that one meaning. It’s also associated with Cloud storage and has now become an integral part of our lives. Cloud storage is absolutely essential, especially in several organizations, where data transfers are a daily affair. Its popularity is directly related to the convenience it offers to its users.
What is Cloud Storage?
Confused what Cloud storage really is and how it works? Don’t worry, we’ve got your back!
Cloud storage and servers enable you to create your own personal cloud storage, which makes it easier for you to backup all your important computer files online like documents, photos, videos etc. You now have the convenience of accessing all your files from any part of the world, which makes the ‘Oh damn, left the files in the computer and didn’t transfer’ excuse redundant. This comes with the added advantage of being in the know that all of your favourite pictures, videos, music, files and documents are secure and easily accessible, 24*7, 365 days a year.
With immense popularity comes a horde of stuff promising you the ‘best cloud storage services’, but there’s certainly going to be differences, some are going to be good and some are going to be bad. Here, we’ve compiled a list of best cloud storage solutions, which will save you the trouble of combing through everything on your own.
Is cloud storage secure?
What would be your reaction when you uploaded important files to the cloud and after some time you found that Cloud storage provider has gone out of business? Or went bank corrupt? Maybe someone hacked into your service provider and your files are being published online, there may be many such issues. To overcome these possibilities I have created a list of such cloud storage providers where you don’t have to worry about all these things.
These are highly developed companies who follows high-security standards like data encryption, Application security, Physical security, privacy and many more, if you are interested in these security measures then you can head toward this Wikipedia article for more info, since I am writing about 8 best cloud storage providers I will not go deeper into cloud computing security in this article.
8 Free & Best Cloud Storage Service providers to store photos, doc, music and other files
You can choose any of the below cloud storage providers depending on your needs, all these are well-knowncloud service providers with a bunch of features which makes it very easy to backup and access your data anywhere in the world on different devices and have very good trust score as well.
1. Dropbox
The current frontrunner in the Cloud storage competition, Dropbox is the most popular cloud storage solution as of now. It is one of the only services to offer the storage solution for Linux and Blackberry, along with the usual Windows, Mac OS X, Android and iOS standards. Dropbox also has an official app on Windows. The mobile app automatically backup all your data to the cloud remotely.
The free basic account comes with a 2 GB storage. All though it’s more than enough for the storage of files and documents, it doesn’t quite fulfil the wishes of the media hoarder, with their n number of videos and music. To expand the storage, one can upgrade to the 1TB plan for $9.99 per month. Dropbox also offers 500MB of additional free storage for each friend you get to sign up for the service with a limit of 16GB. You can gain 1GB more by setting up a Mailbox account and you’ll get an additional 250MB as well just for taking a tour of the Dropbox basics too.
2. Google Drive
At the heart of the various online services offered by Google lies Google Drive, an important Google platform, used by a large number of public every day. Google Drive is now the inbuilt app on every android smartphone where you can sync your photos, videos and other files on a simple interface, you can also share your data with anyone by inviting them or can create a shareable link with different privacy options.
Organising data in Google drive is easy like a computer hard drive where you can create different folders and files like Google Doc, Google sheets, Google slides, forms, and drawings.
On creating a Google account, a person gets up to 15 GB of storage, or a link to it. In fact, a person already has a drive account even if you use Gmail, Google or Youtube, which, let’s face it, most of us already do. After your 15 GB storage gets full you can upgrade to their paid plan where Google offers 100 GB data storage for $1.99/month and 1 TB for $9.99/month, they also have high storage plans like 10 TB, 20 TB and 30 TB which I don’t think you will ever need if you are using it for personal storage purpose.
Google Drive’s space is common across all of Google’s platforms, so even if you attach large attachments to your emails, they will count in the 15 GB storage available. Drive is a product of Internet giant Google which obviously makes it one of the best cloud storage service provider.
3. OneDrive
Microsoft’s OneDrive appears to be a boon for all the Windows users. Anyone who’s created a Microsoft account can get 5 GB free storage space, earlier basic account holders used to get 15 GB free space but Microsoft has changed their basic plan and reduced it to 5GB in 2016, OneDrive has user-friendly web and mobile interface along with desktop and mobile app where you can sync directly from your desktop, mobile users can link their gallery or camera upload similar to Dropbox and Google Drive.
Whenever you put a photo, document, or any other file in the created OneDrive folder, it automatically appears in the other OneDrive clients on your other computers. You can even share files and even share a whole folder, OneDrive comes with an online version of Office applications where you can edit documents.
OneDrive also has plans with high storage space like 50GB for $1.99/month, OneDrive + Office 365 with 1TB space for $6.99/month per user, OneDrive + Office 365 with 1TB space for $9.99/month for 5 users.
4. Mega
A New Zealand-based company that was set up by the German-born entrepreneur Kim Dotcom in 2013 who founded Megaupload the popular file sharing site which was taken down by FBI after several copyright infringements, now Kim has no involvement with the company. When Mega was launched, over 100,000 users registered within 1 hour. Mega is an online platform for cloud storage, which has gained immense popularity and has been praised for its services.
Mega takes its security, very, very seriously. Encryption is its way of life and the whole process on Mega is heavily encrypted, Mega itself has no way to access your information since you hold the Encryption key from start to the finish. Their security standard makes them one of the best cloud storage service in the market.
Mega is very generous and its initial free package starts from 50 GB of space being provided to a person. This can later be extended up to 500 GB and more for an adequate sum of money.
5. pCloud
Another popular Cloud Storage Service platform, opening an account on pCloud will provide you with 10 GB of free storage. You can later upgrade to 20 GB through incentives such as recommending it to friends, sharing it on social media, etc. pCloud has clean and easy to navigate interface where you can easily copy, move, download and share the files and folders.
One of the unique features about pCloud is that it lets you backup other online services. You can link your Dropbox, Facebook, Picasa, and Instagram accounts, and all your files will be automatically uploaded to your pCloud account every 3 days.
Like other cloud service providers pCloud also has a desktop and mobile app along with usual web interface, using these apps allows you to automatically sync your files to the cloud.
But the real advantage swoops in when pCloud offers you to expand your storage at reasonable prices. The storage options available are reasonable a value for money.
6. Tresorit
Tresorit is another cloud storage service who takes it security very serious and provide an encrypted environment for data transfer. Tresorit has some of the best security and privacy in the industry and an impressive set of sharing and collaboration features.
It also provides several different services. But while being like others and doing the same function, Tresorit still manages to make a mark of its own.
The start-up pack is a little annoyingly confusing. You get a starting pack of 3GB free storage, but you can only avail this after you sign up for the premium account, which is worth 8 dollars. This doesn’t entail that you just have to pay, as you can revert back to the free account anytime. But this practice might just make some of us a little irked.
7. Box
Starting out in 2005, Box has been around for a long time now. It mainly associates itself with business servicesbut caters to personal storage options too. Box is great for being able to store content online and share it with friends and co-workers. While it has a lot of different features, it is simple to use. It’s important to be able to have all of your files, no matter wherever you go.
The initial free package gives you 10 GB space. Sounds good, right? Don’t hold your breath. Because Box limits the upload of a single file to 250 MB. This is quite lower than the options offered by other services- Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox.
The box free account doesn’t support versioning. And one more thing- Dropbox and Box are not the same.
8. ADrive
ADrive is one of the many cloud storage providers in the industry. It offers you an impressive 50 GB of free cloud storage for your files, it has an easy interface to upload and share files with an online text editor. ADrive recently increased the size of a single file that can be uploaded from 2GB to 16GB.
You can upload and download files easily with this web storage service. Easily drag and drop your files from your desktop or laptop right into your uploader, where it will upload automatically.
ADrive also has data recovery services to get your data back quickly, safely and affordably.
There is nothing like unlimited free cloud storage since every company needs to maintain their infrastructure for better services which requires a good amount of money. So now you have a list of the best Cloud StorageService providers with free and upgradable plans and related information that will help you make an informed choice. Cloud storage is essential, after all.
Which cloud service you are using? Is it on our list of best cloud storage service providers? Do let me know in the comments.
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