Why Is Online Storage Useful?

Probably you know that you can store data online and you have heard about online storage. But you keep asking yourself how can you use online storage and why is it useful?

Online storage services can be used in many ways. You can be more productive, organize your computer files, synchronize data among several devices or just backup your computer. In this article will have a look at several things that you can do with online storage. 

Before we start diving deeper into typical use cases for online storage, let’s have a look at what online storage really is.

What is Online Storage? 

Online storage services provide space on their servers for your files so that you can access them independently from your location. After uploading your files to an online storage service, they are “in the cloud”. Just like you can access a website, you can now access your files for example via a web browser.

Obviously, those files are private unless you want to share them with other people. So it is not like websites where everybody can access them.

Many online storage services come with a software that you have to install on your computer. You may be able to drag-and-drop files into that software or select your files and folders manually that you want to upload. Generally, online storage services are very easy to use because they guide you through the setup with a wizard.

Many online storage services have some free plans that allow you to upload a limited amount of files. Generally, between 2GB and 5GB. If you need more space, you can sign up for one of their payment plans. As storage space has become cheaper over the years, so have online storage services. You can get 100GB storage capacity for less than $10 per month.

Be More Productive

Online storage services are a great way to be more productive. If you are using a service like SugarSync you may upload your files and share them with colleagues or classmates. That way, you can collaborate on the same file and get the paper or presentation done more quickly.

Being able to access all of your important files from any device will make working a lot easier, because you don’t have to remember where a file is stored. Also, you’ll save time because you don’t have to transfer files onto an external hard drive and take that with you. 

Synchronize Your Files

Online storage services may offer the possibility to synchronize your files across multiple devices. One of the most famous services is certainly Dropbox. Here, at the CommQueR.com offices we use SugarSync. It offers us more flexibility when it comes to file sharing and collaboration.

If you are very security concerned, you may want to use SpiderOak ONE – certainly the most secure online storage service we came across. 

File synchronization will change the way you think about your files. It is just so convenient not having to think about if you are working on the most current version of a document, like a text file, and Excel spreadsheet or a presentation. The online storage service will handle file conflicts automatically. So if multiple people are working simultaneously on a document it will store so ccalled “conflict of copies” and later decide which version is the right one.

Conclusion

Normally, we wouldn’t recommend using online storage service as a backup but if you only have a couple of files that are important to you, an online storage service might be the right solution for you. You can just import a folder into the online storage service and keep it there. Whenever you add a file you can upload it to that folder and it is backed up automatically.

However, always keep in mind to have a second backup of those files. Never rely on one single backup solution.

Hopefully, we could show you some interesting use cases for an online storage service. If you are interested in learning more about online storage and which provider to choose, you may want to have a look at our cloud storage price comparison.