Last week, Microsoft changed its policies regarding free storage in its OneDrive account. Until last week, customers could enjoy free accounts with up to 30 GB of online storage. Changes now reduce that to 5 GB, even for existing customers.
A few months ago, I recommended Microsoft's OneDrive solution. After these changes, I say stick with Google Drive. The last thing you want to do is become dependent on a service and then have the terms change and get stuck with a large bill.
This action proves that Microsoft simply is not comfortable in the free services business model. Google is and will likely remain so. Google Drive is now clearly the better option and will likely remain so.
Showing posts with label google drive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label google drive. Show all posts
Saturday, November 14, 2015
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Free Cloud Storage
Big hard drives are dirt cheap and always getting cheaper. But storing your info online has real advantages too. You can access your data from anywhere, on multiple computers, even computers that are not yours. It also makes sharing your files and collaboration with others much easier.
Dropbox
One of the most famous free services is Dropbox. It allows you to store and share information with others online. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Dropbox. Many features require you to install the Dropbox program on your computer, rather than just using a browser. Also, the free account provides a measly 2 GB of online storage. That's fine for a few documents or an occasional stored file. But if you've got lots of music or pictures, forget it. There are better options.
Google Drive
My favorite storage location for years has been Google Drive. With Drive, you get 15 GB of free storage space, although this space is shared with your email as well. You can upload files, share them with specific people, or even make them public. Everything can be done through your browser, although Google also has a program to let you sync your files with a PC or tablet. Shared access is easy across Windows, Android, Apple, or pretty much any OS that will support a standard internet browser.
Most common file types can be viewed on the site, as well as downloaded. You also have the ability to create files directly in Drive (which don't count toward your 15 GB limit) but since we're just talking about shared storage today, I won't get into Drive's many great online editing features. For me, Drive is quick, clean, and easy to use.
Occasionally Google offers incentives that permit you to increase the limits on your free account. Be alert for these and take advantage of them. Try out a new product and get a permanent increase in your storage limit. As a result of special deals, I have 25 GB of space on my fee account.
Google also has a separate site for photos, which tend to take up much of your online space. Google Photos allows you to store and share your photos. The great benefit of this is that you get unlimited free space for photos and video.
Some have criticized Google from limiting the size of photos that you can store there. But the limit of 16 megapixels (and 1080 for HD video) is actually a higher quality than most people can take on their phones. The limit really just prevents professionals from storing super high quality photos online at full size. If you need that, try flickr which gives up 1 TB (about 1000 GB) of space which you can use for storing photos of any size. But most of us will be happy with Google's unlimited storage for reasonably sized photos.
Microsoft Onedrive
Microsoft is starting to become a serious player in free online storage as well. It's free Onedrive account (formerly known as Skydrive) provides you with 15 GB of online storage. This quickly doubles to 30 GB if you install an App on your phone to upload photos. Keep in mind you don't need to use that extra space for photos, just sign up for the app, and use the space however you like. You can get another 5 GB by recommending other users to sign up, at 1/2 GB per user that signs up under your recommendation. Again, keep a lookout for other special deals that occasionally let you expand your free space permanently.
Another reason I like OneDrive is the ability to map a drive letter on your computer to your OneDrive account. If you are interested in doing this, follow this link. I find this to be a great convenience for many programs and utilities that required a drive letter, as opposed to some network connection without a letter. It makes it easy to use LibreOffice directly with your online files.
There is also a way to add a drive letter to Google Drive, which you can find here, but it really is a little convoluted. It's also not really mapping to the drive. It syncs your data to your hard drive and maps to that. The MS OneDrive option is much better, although it only works with Windows 7 and higher.
Expanding your space
I find the shared storage space more than adequate for my needs. I don't want to store everything online anyway. But there are ways to increase your space without paying. First, as I already mentioned, stay alert for incentives that give you permanent increases in space. As the MS-Google competition heats up, there may be more of these. Second, you can always create a second or third free account. Upload your data in that account, then share it with your main account. You have access to all those files from your main account, but they don't count toward your limit.
Dropbox
One of the most famous free services is Dropbox. It allows you to store and share information with others online. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Dropbox. Many features require you to install the Dropbox program on your computer, rather than just using a browser. Also, the free account provides a measly 2 GB of online storage. That's fine for a few documents or an occasional stored file. But if you've got lots of music or pictures, forget it. There are better options.
Google Drive
My favorite storage location for years has been Google Drive. With Drive, you get 15 GB of free storage space, although this space is shared with your email as well. You can upload files, share them with specific people, or even make them public. Everything can be done through your browser, although Google also has a program to let you sync your files with a PC or tablet. Shared access is easy across Windows, Android, Apple, or pretty much any OS that will support a standard internet browser.
Most common file types can be viewed on the site, as well as downloaded. You also have the ability to create files directly in Drive (which don't count toward your 15 GB limit) but since we're just talking about shared storage today, I won't get into Drive's many great online editing features. For me, Drive is quick, clean, and easy to use.
Occasionally Google offers incentives that permit you to increase the limits on your free account. Be alert for these and take advantage of them. Try out a new product and get a permanent increase in your storage limit. As a result of special deals, I have 25 GB of space on my fee account.
Google also has a separate site for photos, which tend to take up much of your online space. Google Photos allows you to store and share your photos. The great benefit of this is that you get unlimited free space for photos and video.
Some have criticized Google from limiting the size of photos that you can store there. But the limit of 16 megapixels (and 1080 for HD video) is actually a higher quality than most people can take on their phones. The limit really just prevents professionals from storing super high quality photos online at full size. If you need that, try flickr which gives up 1 TB (about 1000 GB) of space which you can use for storing photos of any size. But most of us will be happy with Google's unlimited storage for reasonably sized photos.
Microsoft Onedrive
Microsoft is starting to become a serious player in free online storage as well. It's free Onedrive account (formerly known as Skydrive) provides you with 15 GB of online storage. This quickly doubles to 30 GB if you install an App on your phone to upload photos. Keep in mind you don't need to use that extra space for photos, just sign up for the app, and use the space however you like. You can get another 5 GB by recommending other users to sign up, at 1/2 GB per user that signs up under your recommendation. Again, keep a lookout for other special deals that occasionally let you expand your free space permanently.
Another reason I like OneDrive is the ability to map a drive letter on your computer to your OneDrive account. If you are interested in doing this, follow this link. I find this to be a great convenience for many programs and utilities that required a drive letter, as opposed to some network connection without a letter. It makes it easy to use LibreOffice directly with your online files.
There is also a way to add a drive letter to Google Drive, which you can find here, but it really is a little convoluted. It's also not really mapping to the drive. It syncs your data to your hard drive and maps to that. The MS OneDrive option is much better, although it only works with Windows 7 and higher.
Expanding your space
I find the shared storage space more than adequate for my needs. I don't want to store everything online anyway. But there are ways to increase your space without paying. First, as I already mentioned, stay alert for incentives that give you permanent increases in space. As the MS-Google competition heats up, there may be more of these. Second, you can always create a second or third free account. Upload your data in that account, then share it with your main account. You have access to all those files from your main account, but they don't count toward your limit.
Monday, May 11, 2015
Google Apps
I figure that since my blog is being hosted on Google, it's only fair that my first review should be about Google Apps. Sure, Google Apps in not exactly a secret discovery. It is among the most popular and commonly used email systems in the world today. Still, for anyone who has not yet given it a try, I heartily recommend it.
My History with Google
I started using Google in late 1998, shortly after it went live. I was amazed by the search results and never looked back. In early 2005, I signed up for my first gmail account while it was still in beta. I still use that account to this day. I have watched Google and its products grow and evolve almost from the beginning.
Gmail
Over the last decade, Gmail has evolved into Google Apps, providing a host of free online services. Anyone can sign up for a free account, providing 15 GB of free online storage space, effective anti-spam filters, and easy to use email software, all online.
The easiest way to access your email is via the web browser. Just go to gmail.com and sign in. Gmail and all other apps are designed to work online without any special software installed. This is the way I use it almost always.
However, when I originally started with Gmail, I was still using a mail program to download mail mail offline. At that time, I used a (free) program called Pegasus Mail. Later I moved on to another free one called Mozilla Thunderbird. Many folks not as faithfully tied to freeware may have used MS Outlook. The great thing about Gmail is that it has always worked with all of these programs. Most free mail at the time Gmail first arrived did not support offline readers. If you use a mail read r with POP3 or IMAP to access your mail, Gmail will work seamlessly with whatever program you use.
If you have a phone or tablet, connecting to Gmail is not a problem. Virtually all mail programs use the POP3 or IMAP standard described above. Most are set up to allow a connnection simply by entering your name and password, although there are ways to set up manually if needed. Even better, download the free Gmail app, which is available for IOS or Android, or even for Windows phones and Blackberries. Just sign into your account from the App and you are all set.
Google Drive
In addition to Gmail, I am a big fan of Google Drive, which is included with your free Gmail account. It allows you to work on documents, spreadsheets and presentations all using free online software. You an upload files, or create new ones through your browsers. New documents you create in Google Docs do not count against your total 15 GB limit on data, so you essentially have unlimited space. You can also share documents with other users, or with the public
While you can use Google Drive entirely online, there is a Windows app (free download) that lets you sync your online drive documents to your computer. There are similar Drive Apps for your phone or tablet (also free). These are great if you need to save documents for offline viewing or editing. The downloads may also be needed if you want to edit documents originally created in MS Office format.
More Google Apps
There are also a host of other Google applications available as part of your account, including a great calendar, Picasa for online photo storage and display, Google Sites for creating your own websites and Blogspot, which hosts this blog. I may address the details of many of these other benefits in future posts. Suffice it to say that when you sign up for your Gmail account, you open open up a whole ecosystem of services available to you.
Use Google Chrome
Google Apps will work with just about any browser on the market, as long as it is up to date. But the recommended browser is Google Chrome. You will find there are a great many advanced features that you can only use in the Chrome Browser. If you don't already use Chrome (also a free product) you can download that too.
The main criticism of Gmail is that computers scan all your emails for content and use that to present advertising to you. Google assures use that no human beings read our mail, only a computer. There is a small line of advertising above your inbox, but it is very subtle and unobtrusive compared to many other sites.
Google uses your information across platforms. So if you mention in an email that you are looking to buy a new car, you will start seeing ads for cars on lots of websites you visit (since those sites use Google Ads). It can sometimes be a little unnerving,
I find the advertising acceptable as the condition of using this great free product. After all, Google has to make some money if we expect it to provide this service. Google is up front about what it does and I accept this "cost."
Google for Work
Lately, Google has been pushing people to upgrade to Google for Work. As you might guess from its name, it is primarily targeted at businesses. This is essentially the same as the free Gmail account, although you get twice the storage space and don't have an ad banner above your inbox. The other big benefit is that you can use your own name. So, for example, my gmail address would not have to be mike@gmail.com (if that were even available). If I have my own domain registered, like mypersonalmail.com, I could get mail at mike@mypersonalmail.com.
Google for work is not free. It costs $50 per year for each account. I mention it in this "free" site only because you can get it for free, assuming you already own a domain.
When you sign up for Google for Work Google tries to get you to choose the business account which is $5 a month or $50 a year per user. You do NOT need to sign up for the paid version. Provided your will have 10 or fewer people using this domain, just click the blue Get Started button. Enter your domain name. If you already have a registered domain, you can use it with Google at no additional cost. Otherwise, Google will help you register a domain through godaddy.com for $10/year. Ok, so it's not completely free unless you already have a domain registured. But $10 for 10 users is still better than $50 per user per year for the full Work account.
If you already have your own domain, you will need to change the MX records for your domain with whatever company you have it registered. You just point them to Google’s Servers. If you register your domain as part of the Gmail setup, this is all done for you.
Conclusion
As I said at the outset, I am a big fan of Google as a free provider of email and many other applications. Unlike many other companies, Google does not cripple its free services in an attempt to get you to upgrade to a pay account. It provides great interactivity with other programs and services. It give generous storage space. Finally, it works well with many other products and services. If you need free email, I heartily recommend Gmail.
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