There are times when we feel if we had this or that document. I faced this a lot and put my data on cloud, as they say it. My first space was mail provider which have lot of space (Google Gmail was choice then). Due to limitation, I moved to AjaXplorer (now called Pydio), because I had space available with my host and kept things in my control. They have an app too. With advent of services like DropBox & Box, it seemed I was just using up my hosting space.
I thought to move to DropBox but somehow didn’t fully understand need of syncing on device (Mac or PC). Seemed like I’m just backing up my data rather than offloading from system to online servers. As per latest observation, I can selectively sync what I need to Dropbox but somehow I never used this. Dropbox is a brilliant service to sync your files and sharing large file. I’ve used it many times to share data & document via mail. It is incredibly easy. I’ve over 6 GB of space to use but (I don’t remember why) I dropped the idea and never explored the possibility of using DropBox. I still use dropbox but only to sync data for where iCloud doesn’t fly. Start using Dropbox by following this link.
With Google Docs (now Google Drive), there is a great amount of space, 15GB and in normal usage it’s difficult to use up the space allotted. Considering Gmail was first option for my storage needs, Google Drive is really useful. It has superb integration with Google Services. Since I was uploading photos on Picasa, Google+ Photos, I didn’t want to exhaust the space and pay for it again. So, I moved on.
I got 50GB of space in Box (wow!) but didn’t like the interface. It seemed more for collaboration than just sharing or saving data. Its not I did not like it to use it but never got away from DropBox.
I’ve been using Office 365 for around 2 years now. Reason: got my Mac, my dad’s Laptop and brother’s PC and my iPad (taken over by my kid!). I can install genuine Office on all systems and doesn’t seem to be too expensive. It’s legit and I’m not a Pirate! Office 365 gave me some space for sharing and collaborating. I never got used to it for long time. Then one fine day, I read a tweet from Gaurav:
#Microsoft @OneDrive rocks… #Office365 🙂 pic.twitter.com/5QxbULqyqf
— Gaurav (@gauravh1) February 22, 2015
Then 10TB of space. I could literally put all my data on it. Even photos loaded on Google+ and almost same amount on Flickr. Then I checked, I too had Terabytes of space on OneDrive (which I never knew :s ). I did a little digging around and found Microsoft has actually posted about it that they are bringing Unlimited storage on OneDrive for Office 365 users. Read more about it here. I followed the instruction and was sent here to get onto the waiting list and one fine day I got this mail:
WOW! I has got Unlimited storage. Technically got 10TB but its really a good enough to start with. I’ve put important documents here and plan to discontinue repository in my host and trust Microsoft to do the right thing – keep my data personal and safe.
Why OneDrive? Nothing in particular apart from there is good integration between Office 365. I can start editing a document and it opens in Office Online for editing and saved at OneDrive. Saves good amount of time downloading and uploading and I really don’t need to sync files to system. App seems to be capable enough and unlike Dropbox, it can send file as attachment on iOS. This becomes handy where the access to sharing sites is blocked. Above all, it is a perk of using Office 365 which I’m paying for as well. Isn’t it when you get pay and get more than expected, feel good about it!!!
