10 Best Cloud Storage Services

Dr. Ankit Sharma, PhD

Updated on:

Best Cloud Storage Services

How many of us have lost our data, photos, and videos because of an HDD crash, a corrupted pen drive, or damaged DVDs? Almost all of us, right? These electronic storage units can malfunction anytime & we can lose our valuable data. This problem is a more significant threat to various business & companies as loss of data can affect their business. Nowadays, we have a solution called cloud storage. Cloud storage is a cloud computing model that allows storing data & files on the internet through a cloud computing provider that you can access using the public internet or a private network connection. The provider steadily stores, manages, & maintains the storage servers, needed infrastructure, & network to ensure you have access to the data whenever you need it. You must choose one of the Best Cloud Storage Services to keep your data.

Importance of Cloud Storage

Cloud storage offers cost-effective and sizable storage. You don’t need to worry about running out of capacity, maintaining Storage Area Networks (SANs), restoring failed devices, adding infrastructure to expand with demand, or operating non-utilized hardware when demand decreases. Whether you are a non-commercial user, a small business, or a large enterprise, cloud storage can deliver the quickness, cost savings, security, & simplicity to focus on your other tasks. For small businesses, you don’t have to worry about dedicating valuable resources to manage storage by yourself, & cloud storage allows you to resize it as the business grows.

i) It is Cost-Effective: With cloud storage, there is no need for hardware purchase, no storage to stipulate, & no extra capital for business spikes. You can add or remove storage capacity on demand, quickly change performance & customize characteristics, & only pay for the storage that you are using. As data becomes rarely accessed, you can even move it to lower-cost storage; in this way, you can create even more cost savings.

ii) It Can Increase Agility: With cloud storage, resources are only some clicks away. You can reduce the time to make those resources accessible to your organization from weeks to just some minutes. This results in a dramatic increase in agility for your organization. Your staff can be freed from the jobs of procurement, installation, administration, & maintenance.

iii) Efficient data management: By implementing cloud storage lifecycle management policies, you can execute powerful information management tasks like automated tiering or locking down data. Using tools such as replication, you can also use cloud storage to create more comprehensive or global storage for your distribution teams. You can organize & manage important data in ways that have specific use cases, create cost efficiencies, & meet conformity requirements.

Best Cloud Storage Providers

1. Google Drive

Best Cloud Storage Providers

If you are the owner of a Google account, then you already have 15GB of free storage available in Google Drive. This can be used to store documents, photos, videos, & anything else you want to keep secure. Drive’s interface is simple & clean. The Drive has useful features like sharing links to folders (while customizing the level of control of the recipient) and accessing a file even if it’s opened on another device. Google Drive also offers apps for PC, Mac, iOS, & Android.

2. Microsoft OneDrive

This is the cloud storage service that’s impeccably integrated into Windows 10. Although the basic free tier of 5GB can quickly fill up, it is still one of the best compared to many other services. They offer features like automatic photo backups, advanced search facilities, mobile & web access to OneDrive, moreover the Files On-Demand settings that can keep files stored exclusively online rather than eating up space on your device.

3. pCloud

pCloud doesn’t offer office suites, video content, or other extra features offered by competitors like Google & Microsoft. Instead, this company sticks to what it does best: keeping your files safe, secure, & available to all your devices. The free tier gives you 10GB of storage. However, 3GB has to be accessed by completing tasks like downloading the mobile app, uploading a file, or sharing the service with friends. There is no restriction on file size, so you can upload anything that your storage space lets, & files can be restored within 30 days.

4. Dropbox

Dropbox is one of the biggest & oldest names in cloud storage, helping to popularize the concept of cloud storage during its early years. Today it has evolved into a business-orientated service with vital services like being able to team up on PowerPoint & Photoshop files in real-time, create boards & team-based plans on its platform, moreover offering the usual online file storage options. Tremendous third-party app support (including Google Docs), and integration with Windows & macOS, means that if you’re searching for a service you can depend on & know that works with almost everything, then Dropbox is a great choice.

5. Mega

Best Cloud Storage Providers

New Zealand-based company Mega used to offer free 50GB storage to new users, but that has now changed to 15GB with additional features provided for something Mega defines as ‘achievements.’ These include authorizing your account, installing the Mega apps, & inviting friends. This obscures things further by the fact that the bonus storage is different for each achievement & only temporary, with expiration dates from 30 days to a year.

6. Sync.com

This Canada based company is known for being one of the best Cloud storage providers for business. It describes itself as a ‘zero-knowledge platform,’ meaning data is encrypted on your machine before being uploaded to the cloud, where it remains encrypted. One of the slight drawbacks is a limited choice of paid plans. Sync offers 5GB for free, but the cheapest paid plan is for 2TB (Solo Basic), & there’s nothing in between. Still, this price is very reasonable at $8 / £6 per month.

7. Apple iCloud

This one is the best for all apple users. Apple’s iCloud is a bit different than other cloud storage services in that it is efficiently part of both macOS and iOS. You can access it via Windows computers, but it works best with Macs or iPhones. As well as files, photos & videos from your iPhone or iPad, your messages, calendars, contacts, & various other data can also be stored in iCloud.

8. Box

Users say this one is the best Cloud storage provider for business. While Box provides personal storage choices, it’s mainly aimed at businesses. However, the free package will give you 10GB of free space; there is a limit of 250MB for file sizes. This is okay for most documents, spreadsheets, & even high-resolution photos, but not videos. The free account doesn’t support versioning (being able to restore the previous versions of a file) & neither does upgrading to the Personal Pro plan that will cost $10 / £8 per month for 100GB of storage & file size limit of 5GB.

9. Livedrive

Livedrive is one of the best cloud storage & online backup solution. It comes with monthly and yearly plans. Users can back up an unlimited number of files. It offers solutions for personal backup, business backup, & reseller backup. Livedrive can automatically back up the files of the users. It has data centers in the UK. Its data centers are monitored 24×7. Livedrive’s data center monitoring team is ISO 27001 certified.

10. PolarBackup

PolarBackup is a wholesome cloud backup solution that can protect your data. It can be utilized to back up local, external, & network drives. You can store files everlastingly. It supports file versioning. The tool can take automatic backups. The platform is profuse in special features & can improve productivity. It works on AWS advanced technology. PolarBackup is an instinctive & user-friendly platform to manage, sort, locate, & preview files. It is privacy & GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliant.

Conclusion

Whether You Want to back up your files on your device, share them with others, or work together on a work, cloud storage services may be the easiest way to do it. All the Best Cloud Storage Services offer the essential feature of keeping your data safe. However, the amount of free usage you will have differs. You can always buy more storage in exchange for a nominal fee.

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