Cloud Storage

Cloud storage of files, photos, videos, e-mails and much more is something we cannot live without it. We live more and more surrounded by devices of all kinds, from the fixed computer to the portable ones, from tablets to smartphones, but we want to have any file available at any time.
The logic behind online archiving (also called Cloud, in fact) is very simple: a company offers the storage of our data on their servers and, through the internet, allows us to retrieve them from any device.
Let’s take a small practical example: you have saved on your PC a picture that you have taken with the camera. The next day you meet your friends and you just want to show him that picture. If you have saved it on the cloud, just turn on the smartphone, look at it in the dedicated app and you’re done.
The operators that provide these storage services are a lot, but the most common are certainly Google Drive, Microsoft One Drive and Apple iCloud.
Each of these services has a free version with a rather limited space available, but you can always make a subscription getting more. The basic services are also the same for all three platforms.
We take Google drive for example. What is your offer? What are its strengths and weaknesses? The great luck of this company is to have a great infrastructure to refer to. Google Drive is integrated with Gmail, by the Chrome OS operating system installed on some laptops and much more.
In fact, Drive allows you to send heavy attachments to e-mails that exceed 25 MB in a simple way: just drag the files that will be automatically converted into Google Drive links. It allows you to create folders shared with other users (both Gmail and not) and to work simultaneously on the same files with colleagues and friends. The implementation of productivity applications such as “Google Docs” or “Google Slides” cover the gap this service had with Microsoft’s home competitor. The basic offer includes 15 GB free for each account, but there are proposals ranging from 20 euro per year for 100 GB to super-plans such as 30 TB for 300 euro per month. In short, whatever user needs, Drive has a dedicated offer.
One Drive, on the other hand, is a service that has been taking hold in recent years, especially since Microsoft has decided to implement the automatic backup function on all computers with Windows 10. In fact, who owns a PC with this operating system, you’ll notice that from the first start, after the initial configuration, all of its files are sent to the cloud. Synchronization and the possibility of backup are the strong points of One Drive. An additional advantage is the integration with Office: the most recent versions of the famous programs (Word, Power Point, etc …) automatically save the changes online and the files can be recovered as much as you want. The weak point is perhaps the basic offer which includes only 5 GB of free space. Here too, you can sign up for a subscription that costs 50 GB per year. Although it may seem unimportant against Google’s proposals, Microsoft makes the difference with the two plans, one for 70 and one for 100 euro a year, which also includes an Office subscription plus 1 or 6 TB of storage space shared with the family group.
In conclusion, we also mention the case of iCloud. Apple obviously could not miss its app in this area. Like the entire line-up of the brand, iCloud is especially designed for Mac, MacBook, iPhone and iPad users. The strong point, therefore, is once again the integration that the provider makes of all these devices. Faithful users have certainly already experienced these benefits by even having only one or two of these products. Here the basic offer only stops at 5 GB free, but the upgrades are quite affordable: € 1 per month for 50 GB, € 3 for 200 GB and 10 for 2 TB. The last two floors are also shared with other users of the family. In short, the closure of the Apple system repays it with rather low and affordable prices that are tempting to Microsoft and Google users.
So, different services, but always the same philosophy: give users the opportunity to be free to manage information as they want.