Online File Storage–Microsoft SkyDrive, Google Docs, or Amazon Cloud Drive

There are a lot of options if you decide to put your documents in the cloud.  Keeping a synchronized copy of your documents in the cloud is a form of backup, for starters.  There are other advantages, too; like collaboration, document sharing, and synchronizing files between multiple PCs or other Internet connected devices such as tablets and smartphones.  Let’s look at three of the better known ones.

First, there is Microsoft’s SkyDrive, 25 GB of free online storage, with a Hotmail account.  Maximum file size is limited to 50 MB.  You can share, synchronize, and collaborate using Windows Live Mesh.  You cannot purchase more than 25 GB of storage – you would have to create another Hotmail account.  This seems sort of stupid on their part, but the 25 GB of free storage is the most generous of the ones we are looking at.

Then of course there is Google Docs.  You get just 1 GB of free storage, increasing to 20 GB would cost $5 annually (cheap enough), and a terabyte would set you back $256 a year – not bad actually.  Maximum file size is 1 GB, big enough for a big database or almost anything else.  Documents created online in Google Docs does not count toward your storage quota.  Google Docs allows for collaboration and can be synchronized to Windows PCs only at this time.

Amazon Cloud Drive is probably the most expensive.  If you are buying music through Amazon, their Cloud Drive can be utilized to provide music streaming using their Amazon Cloud Player.  This is a plus only if you store mainly music.  They provide 5 GB of free storage, with a maximum file size of 2 GB.  Annual fees for 20 GB is $20, and a terabyte is $1000.  There are no collaboration or synchronization tools at this time.

Other good options include Box.net and Sugar Sync.  To see more on this subject go to ITWorld.com

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About the Author:

I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com

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