What is Cloud Storage:
Cloud storage is essentially an online hardrive that you can store and process information from an external server that stores all of your individual files. Some cloud storage companies offer more features but all provide the most basic function of cloud storage, which is to store and backup you're files to an external source and then allowing you to access your files remotely, for a price of course.
Benefits of using Cloud Storage:
Although there are a few concerns with privacy and security when it comes to storing your files online the benefits of cloud storage far outweigh the small concerns of the disadvantages of cloud storage. The files you keep on your own hardrive are under as much threat as files located on a cloud server.
Online Backup:
The most obvious benefit of cloud storage is having a total backup of the files you store on your own computer. If like me you are paranoid of your laptop suddenly crashing and losing the files you have built up over time then the benefit of having another location to store your files is enough of a reason for you to consider signing up for cloud computing. With such a basic requirement for cloud storage such as backup Dropbox would be the ideal place to go, Dropbox has built up quiet the reputation of being a reliable and safe cloud provider. Dropbox offers a generous 2GB of free storage just for signing up just to get you started. This is a sufficient amount for a person using cloud storage for the first time, and one can upgrade if they require more storage for a reasonable $9.99 a month for a single user.
Heres the link for Dropbox to get you started:
Accessibility:
The only thing needed to access your cloud storage is a device and an internet connection, and with the internet being so widely spread and accessible you can access your documents virtually anywhere. Therefore you can go home and access your work files and work from home if needs be, that's only a small example of how accessible these files are to you and who you share them with. Most cloud storage providers have built applications for smart phones and tablets meaning files can be accessed and edited on the go and not just from the desktop at home or work. I personally like the function of uploading pictures I take with my phone directly to the cloud to stop my phone memory from being to bogged down, and yet I can still access these photos from anywhere.
Collaboration Efficiency:
Cloud Storage makes it really easy to share file between colleagues or third party members, files and folders can be accessed by anyone anywhere provided the file or folder is public meaning open to anyone who wants to access the file can. Files and folders can be configured to allow specific people to have permission to view the files, this is useful in team projects as you can set the privacy permissions to that of your team and your team alone.
Cloud storage providers such as Google Drive also allow users to access and edit files simultaneously with other users that have access to files. Google Drive offers a lot more than just storage due to the added features of having an in house word, power-point and excel editor. This makes it so much easier for people to work together on the same files at the same time, Google Drive stores up to 30 saves of the one document and up to 50 people can edit the document at the same time. An added feature is the "Track Activity" feature which shows what changes were made, by who and when they were changed.
Here's a link to Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com - Try creating a document and allowing someone else to edit it at the same time as you its a very useful feature. Below is a video of the feature in action.
Business Continuity:
Protecting your date and systems is an important part of business continuity planning. Whether you experience a natural disaster, power failure or other crisis, having your data stored on the cloud ensures it is backed up and protected in a secure safe location. Being able to access your data again quickly allows you to conduct business as usual, minimising any downtime and loss of productivity.
Environmentally Friendly:
The cloud is in general more efficient than the typical IT
infrastructure and It takes fewer resources to compute, thus saving energy. For
example, when servers are not used, the infrastructure normally scales down,
freeing up resources and consuming less power. At any moment, only the
resources that are truly needed are consumed by the system.
Conclusion:
As I have stated cloud storage can be really beneficial even if only used for its basic function of backing up files and being able to recover them. I urge you to give it a try at least as there are many cloud storage providers I will provide links to some of the more popular ones, they offer a few gigabytes of storage to get you started so what's there to lose? Thank-you for reading!
Google Drive:
Dropbox:
OneDrive (SkyDrive):
Seriously detailed post about cloud computing.
ReplyDeleteAlot of detailed and informative information there. Good read.
Quite informative, well reasoned stuff here- might just take off my tinfoil hat and give it a go!
ReplyDeleteGood coverage of the topic.
ReplyDeleteExplained really well, never knew what cloud computing actually was before this, haha :)
ReplyDelete