Why Store Your Data in the Cloud?
If you’re working from home, there are few things more important than sharing your work documents remotely with your fellow team members. Online file storage, syncing, and sharing services like those included here can play a huge role in accomplishing this. Computer systems have been steadily moving away from local storage to remote, server-based storage and processing—also known as the cloud. Consumers are affected too—we now stream video and music from servers rather than playing them from discs. By keeping your own documents and media in the cloud, you can enjoy anywhere-access and improve collaboration. We’ve rounded up the best cloud storage and file-sharing and file-syncing services to help you decide which are right for you.
These services provide seamless access to all your important data—Word docs, PDFs, spreadsheets, photos, and any other digital assets—from wherever you are. You no longer need to be sitting at your work PC to see your work files. With cloud syncing you can get to them from your laptop at home, your smartphone on the go, or from your tablet on your couch. Using one of these services means no more having to email files to yourself or plug and unplug USB thumb drives.
If you don’t yet have a service for storing and syncing your data in the cloud, you should seriously consider one. Which you choose depends on the kinds of files you store, how much security you need, whether you plan to collaborate with other people, and which devices you use to edit and access your files. It may also depend on your comfort level with computers in general. Most of these services are extremely user-friendly, while others offer advanced customization for more experienced techies.
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What Can Cloud Storage Do for You?
The very best cloud storage solutions play nicely with other apps and services, making the experience of viewing or editing your files feel natural. Especially in business settings, you want your other software and apps to be able to retrieve or access your files, so making sure you use a service that easily authenticates with the other tools you use is a big deal. Box and Dropbox are particularly strong in this regard.
The range of capabilities of cloud-based storage services is incredible. Many of them specialize in a specific area. For example, Dropbox and SugarSync focus on keeping a synced folder accessible everywhere. SpiderOak emphasizes security. Some cloud storage services, such as Apple iCloud, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive, are generalists, offering not only folder and file syncing, but also media-playing and device syncing. These products even double as collaboration software, offering real-time document co-editing.
Distinct from but overlapping in some cases with cloud storage are online backup services. Some of these, such as Carbonite, are all about disaster recovery, while IDrive combines that goal with syncing and sharing capabilities.
Most cloud services do offer some level of backup, almost as a consequence of their intended function. It follows logically that any files uploaded to a cloud service are also protected from disk failures, since there are copies of them in the cloud. But true online backup services can back up all of your computer’s files, not just those in a synced folder structure. Whereas syncing is about managing select files, backup tends to be a bulk, just-in-case play. With syncing, you choose the folders, documents, and media that you want ready access to and save them in the cloud for easy access. With backup, you protect everything you think you might regret losing. Easy, immediate access is not guaranteed with online backup, nor is it the point. Peace of mind is.
The Deal With the Cloud
Just to clear up any confusion, the cloud part of cloud-based storage services refers to storing your files somewhere other than your computer’s hard drive, usually on the provider’s servers. As one tech pundit put it: “There is no Cloud. It’s just someone else’s computer.” Having data in the cloud gives you the ability to access those files through the internet. Your data is usually encrypted before making the journey over the internet to the providers’ servers, and while it lives on those servers it’s also encrypted. Well-designed services don’t upload entire files every time they change. They just upload the changes, saving your connection bandwidth.
You can access your cloud files through an app or utility software installed on your computer. Once it’s installed, it usually shows a small notification icon and creates your synced folder structure that fits into Windows Explorer or the macOS Finder. You can also get to the files via your web browser. Of course, you need an internet connection for this to work, but if you temporarily are without a connection, that’s okay: The service waits until the next time you do have a connection and takes care of business then. For a deeper explanation of the cloud, see What is Cloud Computing?
Free vs. Paid
Many cloud storage services have a free account that usually comes with some limitations, such as the amount of storage or a size limit on files you can upload. We prefer services that offer some level of free service (even if it’s only 2GB) rather than a time-based trial, because that lets you fully integrate a service into your life for several weeks while you get a feel for how it works and what might go wrong with your particular setup.
What could possibly go wrong? Human error accounts for a good deal of cloud storage tragedies, but the dropped internet connection is another common troublemaker. And every internet service suffers the occasional outage. Ask around (or just look through our review comments), and you’ll hear sad stories of how cloud storage can go wrong. One of the benefits of paying for an account is that it usually comes with additional support from the provider, so if anything does go wrong, you can get someone on the phone to help you resolve the issue.
There are many other reasons to pay for cloud storage, from getting a lot more space (a terabyte really doesn’t cost all that much anymore) to being able to upload really big files. That last benefit is relevant to graphic designers, video editors, and other visual artists who often host enormous files. Other perks of paying for your cloud storage often include increased access to file-version history (meaning you can restore an important business proposal to the version you had before your colleague made a bunch of erroneous changes), more security, or more features for collaboration and teamwork.
Outlook: Cloudy
Here, we highlight only the best cloud storage services among those we’ve tested. When PCMag tests these services, we evaluate their feature sets, ease of use, stability, and price. There are other cloud storage services on the market that didn’t make the cut for this article, based on these criteria. Click on the review links below for more detailed information on each of our favorite cloud storage and file-syncing services.
Where To Buy
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Microsoft OneDrive
Pros: Excellent interface
Clients for Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows
Well integrated with Windows 10 and Office 365
Strong online photo presentation and management
Powerful file-sharing and document collaborative editing
Cons: Less free storage than some competitors
Only allows syncing of specific folders
Bottom Line: OneDrive, the default online storage and syncing service for Windows 10 and Office 365, offers a wealth of powerful features, as well as apps for more platforms than any of its competitors.
CertainSafe Digital Safety Deposit Box
Pros: MicroEncryption renders bulk data breach of cloud-stored files impossible.
Logon handshake authenticates both user and server.
Can share files with guests or other users.
Retains previous versions of modified files.
Secure chat.Cons: If you forget password or security answers, you lose all access.
Can only share entire folders, not files.Bottom Line: When backing up your sensitive files to the cloud, CertainSafe Digital Safety Deposit Box emphasizes security over all else, but it doesn’t sacrifice ease of use.
Google Drive
Pros: Generous free storage space
Excellent productivity-suite collaboration
Includes desktop-to-desktop file-syncing
Many third-party integrations
Cross-platform apps
Cons: Consumer desktop utility stores everything locally
Privacy concerns
No password-protection for shared files
Bottom Line: Google Drive is one of the slickest, fullest-featured, and most generous cloud storage and syncing services, with excellent productivity suite collaboration capabilities.
Dropbox
Pros: Apps for just about every operating system
Many integrations in Apps Center
Supports collaboration
Good features for Pro users
Digital signatures
Cons: Free version is skimpy on storage
Expensive paid accounts
Bottom Line: Dropbox is a simple, reliable file-syncing and storage service with enhanced collaboration features, but it’s more expensive and less integrated than platform offerings like Google Drive, iCloud, and OneDrive.
Apple iCloud Drive
Pros: Slick app and web interfaces
Compatible with Windows as well as macOS and iOS devices
Account includes 5GB storage when you buy an iOS or macOS device
Cons: Less straightforward than competing services
No search in web interface
No Android app
Collaborative editing lacks expected capabilities
Nags to upgrade storage
Bottom Line: Apple’s iCloud Drive file-syncing and storage service is worth using, especially if you’re committed to Apple’s ecosystem, but it doesn’t quite measure up to the competition from Google and Microsoft.
Box (Personal)
Pros: Easy to use
On-demand file syncing
Well-designed for collaboration
Integrates with many third-party services
Generous free storage allotment
Cons: Low storage amount for paid account
Desktop app options too numerous and unclear
Bottom Line: Online syncing and storage tool Box is easy to use and integrates with a wide range of apps and services, but it costs more than similar products.
SpiderOak
Pros: Strong privacy features.
Unlimited computers allowed in an account.
File-syncing included.
Great customization options for backups.
Good for people who like a lot of control.Cons: Sharing is overly complicated.
Slow in our performance tests.
Expensive.
No single “restore” button.
No search in Web interface.Bottom Line: Privacy is the number one reason to use SpiderOak for backing up your computer and file syncing.
It’s not great for novices, however, and its premium plans are expensive.SugarSync
Pros: Extremely easy to use.
More intuitive than many other file-syncing services.
Saves up to five previous versions of files.
Very good apps.Cons: Expensive.
No real-time collaboration.
Slow online backup.
No private encryption key for online backups.
No free account tier.
Extremely difficult to cancel an account.Bottom Line: SugarSync is a highly intuitive file-syncing and online backup service, with simple installation and the best control we’ve seen over what syncs where.
But it’s not cheap, it lacks collaboration and privacy features, and its backup performance was slow in our testing.IDrive
Pros: Drag-and-drop file restore.
Backup set search capability.
Phone support.
Web interface for backup-set management.
Incremental backup.
Can pause and resume uploads.Cons: Outdated-looking and confusing interface.
Harder to use than other similar services.
No true configuration wizard.
Can slow PC to a crawl, make shutdown difficult.
System-tray icon not useful.
No Mac version.
No Web restore in Vista.
Duplication in interface.Bottom Line: You’d be hard-pressed to find an online backup service as full-featured or versatile as IDrive, especially for the price.
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