Cloud storage is the term that becomes a trend on the internet. A lot of services offer as a cloud solution. There are a number of companies (including the software giants) offering cloud technologies. A user can purchase cloud space from a cloud vendor who owns and operates data storage capacity and delivers it through the internet in a pay per usage model. The cloud storage vendors are responsible for managing capacity, security, and durability, so the user can access the data from any time from all around the world.
What is Cloud Storage?
Cloud storage is a method of storing data in a network of servers maintained by the cloud storage providers. The stored data can be accessed from all types of devices through different internet applications. Cloud storage is a cloud computing model, the data is stored on remote computers and can access through the internet from anywhere.
Benefits of Cloud Storage
The advantage of cloud storage is that there is no hardware to be purchased by the user, storage is provided and maintained by the cloud storage vendors. The user can add or remove capacity on-demand, and the user can change performance and retention characteristics. The user needs to pay only for the storage that he actually needs.
iDrive
(https://www.idrive.com/)
iDrive is a popular online cloud backup and storage solution rated by several technology magazines. You can backup unlimited PCs, Macs, iPhones, iPads and Android devices into a single account. The files and folders will be synced in real-time across all the devices that you link using iDrive. You can back up the entire drive including OS, settings, programs, files, and folders, with contents and information structure intact. iDrive has specific applications for Windows, Macs, Android, and iOS. The data is secured with 256-bit AES encryption and the basic free package comes with 5GB storage that never expires. You can purchase an iDrive personal plan with 2TB storage at 52$ per year for one user, unlimited computers.
Backblaze
(https://www.backblaze.com/)
Backblaze is a backup and cloud storage company offering cheap cloud storage solution. Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage offers the lowest priced enterprise cloud storage service on the market. This Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) or object storage, B2 Cloud Storage enables developers, IT people, and others to easily store mass volumes of data in the cloud. B2 Cloud Storage is similar to Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure Storage, and Google Cloud Storage at a much lower cost. Backblaze developed the Backblaze Storage Pod as the key building block for their cloud storage. A Storage Pod (you can see in the above picture) consists of 60, hard drives in a 4U sized server made from commercially available parts. I personally use the Backblaze B2 cloud storage to store files and my experience is good.
Amazon Cloud Storage Services (AWS)
(https://aws.amazon.com/)
Cloud storage is a service to store data on the Internet through a cloud computing provider who manages and operates data storage as a service. It’s delivered on-demand with just-in-time capacity and costs and eliminates buying and managing your own data storage infrastructure. There are three types of cloud data storage: object storage, file storage, and block storage. Large companies like Netflix, Finra, Airbnb, and GE healthcare uses AWS for managing their data and services.
Google Cloud Storage
(https://cloud.google.com/storage)
Google Cloud computing platform provides worldwide, highly durable object storage that scales to exabytes of data. You can access data instantly from any storage class, integrate storage into your applications with a single unified API.
Dropbox
(https://www.dropbox.com/)
Dropbox is a popular solution to store photos and videos to the Dropbox account. Dropbox offers one central hub for online file storage, file sharing, and syncing. All of your files are synced across your devices and accessible in real-time. You can also access your Dropbox account with desktop apps on Windows and Mac, our mobile app for iOS or Android devices, and on the web through your browser.
Box
(https://www.box.com/)
The Box is a cloud content management and file sharing service to store presentations, documents, videos, and photos. Box’s cloud drive works for virtually any file type, ensures multiple people to collaborate without the risk of version-control issues.
There are a number of cloud storage solutions offering different features at an affordable price. Nextcloud, Apple’s iCloud, Microsoft Onedrive, Spideroak, Pcloud are some popular cloud solutions available in the market. I personally used Backblaze B2 cloud storage, Amazon S3, and Google cloud storage and noticed that Backblaze pricing is comparatively lower than others. You can sign and start using the program free of cost when your file storage exceeds their free storage limit you have to pay for the additional storage space that you require. You can calculate and compare cloud storage pricing and plans before buying a plan. If you have the plan to store your files locally, then local cloud storages like WD Mycloud EX2 or Synology network-attached disk station are some good choices. You can automatically synchronize your local files with your cloud storage using cloud sync in Synology.
