Nowadays people are used to using the Internet to find the best deals on everything from remote control window shades to the latest fashions. Turns out, many are overlooking the Internet for the solution to lost data fears. Backing up data has never been easier with online back-up services. Say goodbye to difficult-to-use external drives.
Here are the best options for your data storage:
DropBox
- Costs: Free for up to 2GB with the option to “earn” more storage space by referring other people to the service. 50GB costs $99 a year, 100GB costs $199 a year and unlimited costs $795 a year with five users included. Additional users cost another $125 a year each.
- User-Friendliness: The drag-and-drop desktop folder feature is simple and easy. In addition, you can now share folders with others via email links. Apps are available for most mobile systems. DropBox also supports Linux and Blackberry, but not the Windows phone.
Google Drive
- Costs: Free for up to 5GB, while 25GB is $2.49 a month, 100GB is $4.99 a month and 1000GB is $49.99 a month.
- User-Friendliness: Sharing documents from Google Docs is a breeze, and various web apps allow you to do a lot of work via the Drive itself, from editing video to sending faxes.
Microsoft SkyDrive
- Costs: Free for up to 7GB, then $10 a year for another 20GB, $25 a year for another 50GB and $50 for another $100GB.
- User-Friendliness: Skydrive is the only one of these options that supports the Windows phone, but it misses out on BlackBerry, Android and Linux systems.
Apple iCloud
- Costs: Free for up to 5GB, $20 a year for 10GB, $40 a year for 20GB and $100 a year for 50GB.
- User-Friendliness: Its syncing capabilities across your various devices is pretty cool … if you are reading a book on one device, it will open to the same page if you open it on another. You can also use iTunes Match for backing up songs. However, as it is designed specifically for Apple products and users, it is not very flexible across platforms.
Your choice of online storage depends entirely on what platforms you are using and your own preferences. In terms of cost, SkyDrive is well ahead, but if you are using a Linux system it won’t be very helpful.
Dropbox has the most cross-platform support, but does come with a larger price tag, and you are out of luck if you are using a Windows Phone.
iCloud is certainly user-friendly but only for Apple products, while Google Drive could be the best choice for those who often use Google Docs.
photo credit: Craving Creativity via photo pin cc
