Table of Contents
When we talk about the digital age, which we are currently living in, the most prominent discovery has been cloud storage. Be it your personal computer, smartphone, small servers, major business or multinationals, almost every platform today runs on cloud storage. “What is Cloud Storage” It has not only solved the problem of having a big storage disk but also safeguarded the data from any kind of physical damage through servers. Cloud Storage is part of our day-to-day lives, be it your emails that are stored on the company servers, or the images on your smartphone that are synced to your cloud storage account. Infact, the use of cloud storage for both personal and professional use has grown multiple folds over the last decade.
What Is Cloud Storage
When you search online for questions about“ cloud storage“, you might find answers to it that are not easy to understand for a non-technical mind. In simple words, it is a kind of storage that is provided to the users over the internet. It simply means that you do not have to spend money on that large hard disk and keep multiple of them to extend your system storage. You can simply use the service of online cloud storage and store as much data as you want for a nominal fee. Since the company providing you the cloud storage takes care of all the hard drives and servers for the purpose, you do not have to own them directly. Therefore, without even having to buy a hard disk, you can get a lot of online storage. For example, you can search online for services like Google Drive, Amazon Cloud Storage, and Microsoft OneDrive, which also provides free cloud storage for your files, and you can also upgrade them to higher storage requirements.
How It Works
If you are wondering “how cloud storage works”, then there are two aspects that you need to understand. One is the user aspect and the other is the service provider aspect. When it comes to the user aspect, it is very simple for them to understand. The users simply have to Sign Up for the online cloud storage account with their details and use the account to save their files online. Users would have a simple-to-use User Interface that will easily guide them in saving their files. The main work is at the backend through the service providers. These service providers have a large data center that consists of hard drives and servers, which manage and save your data. Since these hard drives and servers are working 24×7 and are maintained regularly, you get uninterrupted cloud storage services. The data is simply forwarded by the user over the internet to the cloud storage servers and then it is saved and managed by the servers and hard drive in the data center.
How to Manage Cloud Storage
You can have as much space on the cloud storage as you want, but to manage it efficiently, you need to free cloud storage from any unnecessary files as well. It would help you to optimize the usage of your cloud storage and will provide you with the available space when required. It is mainly used by many to save their files, e-mails, contact, photos, and a lot more. The users should make sure that they delete any kind of duplicate content on their cloud storage account to save space. Also, the cloud storage is always backed up regularly by the service provider, or the user can also take a manual backup of the same at regular intervals, to retrieve files that have been accidentally deleted. This small task would help the users to manage the data actively on the cloud storage platform.
Types of Cloud Storage
Please Note: CS – Cloud Storage
There are different types of CS services available worldwide and it would basically depend on the requirement of the users. Since CScan be used for personal, private, and business usage as well, it would mainly depend on the user’s choice of the type of services they want to have. Companies like google CS also provide different types of subscriptions and plans for CS for both individuals and businesses. There are basically four types of CS services that any company offers.
Private Cloud Storage: This is one of the costly and the most secure types of CS that one can go for. This type of CS service is mainly used by companies to make sure that their data is saved specifically on a private server with special administrative privileges to access the data with ease. These servers are dedicated to specific needs of the enterprise and are used for companies with confidential data like banks.
Public Cloud Storage: It is one of the most commonly used services around the world, mostly by individuals. This type of CS does not provide the user with control over the storage infrastructure used by the service providers. Also, the server over which the data is communicated and storage does not have dedicated services and the resources are shared. Therefore, a single server can be used to manage the cloud storage services for hundreds of users. It is not as safe in terms of data security when compared to private cloud storage, but the companies do provide resources to manage the data on public servers effectively.
Hybrid Storage: As the name suggests, this is a hybrid form of CS service that includes both public and private cloud storage services. It is used by companies that have different types of data, which need to be stored on different servers. For example, the company can opt to store their customer data on the public server, which just includes the name and email address. Similarly, the company would prefer to store their financial data, which is confidential on a private server. Therefore, it provides the companies with a mix of both private and public servers.
Community Cloud Storage: Community Cloud storage is one of the best ways for groups, departments, and communities to share and access the data on cloud storage. It allows different departments and groups in a single community to access the data saved on the CS. Community can be used by different departments in a company to access the data of the organizations, regardless of the location, they are accessing it from.
Best Available Cloud Storage
There are different types of free services and even paid ones. However, individuals mostly go for public cloud storage, while the companies and large organizations go for either private or hybrid CS services. Based on your preference, you can select out of many different CS services that are available online. Some of which are Google Drive, Microsoft One Drive, iCloud, NextCloud, pCloud, Dropbox, and Microsoft Azure. These are some of the most popular services that are available online. Almost all of these provide the users with a free account, where they get 5GB of free online CS. It can be further upgraded to 100GB, 500GB, and even more, depending on your requirements. However, it is always recommended to use the free storage account first to check if the service matches your requirements. All of these companies are backed up with a strong infrastructure and high-end cloud security to safeguard your data.
Advantages of Disadvantages of Cloud Storage
Please Note: CS – Cloud Storage
There are different types of CS advantages and disadvantages that you would come across while using it. However, there are always more advantages of the same while, while some disadvantages do exist. When we talk about the advantages, here are some of them.
Usability: The services provide the users with easy-to-use interfaces through which people can easily upload and save their files. The best aspect is that you do not need a lot of technical knowledge to operate it, it’s that simple.
Accessibility: The service can be accessed from anywhere in the world and at any time. Also, you can access your data through a PC, smartphone, or laptop as well. All you need is an internet connection.
Secure: It not only provides you with online space to save your files but also makes sure that your data is secure from any hacking attempts and unauthorized access through the latest security protocols which are regularly updated and stressed to check for any leaks.
Synchronization: One of the best advantages is that the data can be synchronized across various devices at one time. You can access the same data on multiple devices at the same time, which means that you look at the most updated data at any time.
Cost-efficient: CS is one of the most cost-efficient ways to have extended storage. Since it saves you the cost of buying a hard drive and maintaining it, it becomes one of the best options for expanding your storage.
There are a lot of advantages , but below given are some of the most important ones. Now, let’s have a look at some of the disadvantages that the service might come with as well.
Internet Connectivity: Although we are living in a digital age where the internet is everywhere, there are still some situations where you might not have an internet connection. In that case, you will not be able to access the data on your device.
Security and Privacy: Unless you are using a private server, there is always a chance of your data getting compromised on CS. There have been a lot of incidents where the hackers were able to steal the user’s data from the online storage. However, CS companies have been constantly trying to improve on their security and are currently in one of the best and the most secure positions.
Speed: It is one of the most prominent factors due to which some of the users still do not prefer to use CS. Since the data processing and migrating speeds are much faster on the hard drive, the speeds are a lot slower on CS.
Conclusion
One of the best technological inventions of the decade and there is no doubt in the fact that almost all companies have been shifting to Cloud Storage for a more efficient global operation. However, if you are still not sure about using it, then it is always preferred to use free CS, which would help you to judge the services for yourself. You can also check through different iCloud storage plans and another platform to check if they are more cost-effective than what you are paying for in the form of hard drives. There is no second opinion in the fact that CS is the future and it’s surely growing in the same way.