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Cloud services can help you create share, sync, and store your documents. Consumer Reports provides a rundown on the best cloud storage services. The best cloud backup services can help you dodge data-loss disaster. They automatically copy your files to offsite cloud storage servers that you can reach from anywhere.

• 1 List of Top 10 Cloud Storage Services Providers of 2017

Imagine your desktop crashes or your laptop gets stolen, what a headache! Lost data is one of those irreversible problems that came with storing your data locally. But all that is changing thanks to the cloud, courtesy online storage system that allow you to store your data virtually, through a remote host server. The benefits of online storage isn’t just limited to file security, it also draws a lot of its appeal from being accessible at almost any time and place.

Whether you’re using a laptop or a smartphone, the cloud enables users to access, manage, and edit their personal data. Cloud services have become a thriving industry, with literally hundreds of companies offering free & premium cloud services. So where does one start when looking for a capable cloud storage service? Here’s list of the top 10 cloud storage service providers:

List of Top 10 Cloud Storage Services Providers of 2017

1) Google Drive

Google’s services are at the core of a number of vital professional & personal processes, right from sharing excel sheets to keeping tabs on your expenses. And Google Drive is their crowing jewel, offering users a massive 15GB of free online storage. It has been so well integrated into the Google system that you already have a Google account if you use Gmail or YouTube!

Your 15GB of storage is shared among all the services you use. So remember that any large data like videos or image libraries stored online will also take up a share of your free storage.

2) Apple iCloud

Apple’s iCloud is an all in one storage solution for internet users, allowing users to store their data on 5GB of free space. It’s great news for Apple users, since iTunes purchases don’t count as part of the storage capacity. The cloud is fully compatible with Apple iTunes Match, a dedicated cloud that stores all your music, allowing you to access it from anywhere at any time. Even purchases from third-party vendors aren’t part of your storage plan!

A useful feature on iCloud is the users’ ability to upgrade or downgrade their plan at any time, depending on their usage requirements.

3) Amazon Cloud Services

Amazon is gaining quite the name for itself with its Elastic Compute Cloud, which is currently the largest corporate cloud provider. And although that’s great for business users, Amazon’s Cloud Drive comes with 5GB of free storage for personal users.

At the time of its launch, ACS allowed users to stream music, but the latest version features this function as part of a separate service called, Amazon Cloud Player. This cloud player allows you to store at least 250-300 songs on Apple Macs, Windows PCs, and any type of Android device.

4) Microsoft Azure

Best Cloud Storage Providers For Personal Use

If Amazon’s EC2 is the most popular business cloud service provider, then Microsoft’s Azure Blob Storage is probably the second most popular, boasting growth levels of over 200% every year. Azure manages to do all this while also offering a wide range of useful features like object & table storage, a content delivery network and an SQL Server. Microsoft, Google & Amazon, all provide similar services, and are currently engaged in a price war, consistently reducing prices in order to offer better value over their competition.

In fact, 2015 saw the biggest number of price cuts ever. As of now, Microsoft’s Blob Storage offers the best combination of value and features, and even offers users a multi-tier support network that works on hands-on paid support services.

5) BOX

BOX is one of the best cloud storage services for businesses, offering unique collaboration and process-flow solutions. Not to say that it’s bad choice for personal use, but the level of control and security that BOX provides is well worth the investment. BOX’s business edition, for example, features comprehensive permission options that give users total control over privacy & accessibility. Box’s business package also includes access to a number of integrated work programs. Box OneCloud is one such product, which allows users to achieve improved work-flows.

6) AT&T

AT&T’s Synaptic cloud storage was designed to mirror EMC’s Atmos service, which most people operate as an on-site storage device. This has enabled AT&T to combine their telecommunication expertise with that of EMC’s solid customer base, resulting in the availability of hybrid cloud capabilities. With billions of objects stored on its server, AT&T has claimed that its growth has doubled over the past few years, which says a lot about its dependability. Currently only available in the U.S and a few other regions, AT&T Synaptic offers customized plans that offer freedom from ingress and egress charges during cloud usage, by using the company’s VPN service.IBN

7) IBM

IBM’s cloud storage service is part of its larger SmartCloud Enterprise platform that offers a number of cloud applications, including those for infrastructure and development. IBM has been very successful in using its vast experience in building IT infrastructure for major businesses to create a cloud storage service that is both fast and effective. The company’s legacy has made it the leader in the enterprise-level cloud service market. The only issue users might face is the lack of integration with other useful components of IBM’s SmartCloud, including backend Object Storage. Better interconnectivity will help avoid the problem of isolating processes.

8) DropBox

Not the first service, and by no mean the best, Dropbox is most popular cloud service in the world, with trillions of objects stored on its drive. A unique feature of DropBox is that it doesn’t need a dedicated web interface, and will run locally on almost any computer running any operating system, including Google’s Android OS. Another useful feature is the level of familiarity its interface provides, resembling the look and feel of any regular network drive.

That being said, DropBox isn’t like the other cloud storage service, and offers no frills accounts with a limited 2GB of free storage. For additional storage, you can buy monthly or annual subscriptions, or make a successful referral to Dropbox. DropBox also offers a variety of packages for both business and personal users.

9) Tresorit

Storing your personal data online is always a big risk; what if someone were to hack into the server? And while most cloud services offer secure storage for your data, Tresorit is one of the most secure among them all. One of the main reasons for this type of security is the level of encryption, performed locally, encrypted and then sent to their servers, via TLS. However, the free version of Tresorit free account isn’t much of a starter pack, offering a mere 3GB of storage.

The premium account is a much more viable option, offering a massive 100GB of space, as well as version support for older versions of documents. Tresorit also features granular controls that give the user total control to permissions for any files that they share.

10) SpiderOak

If Tresorit is the cloud storage for security, then SpiderOak is one of the best options for users that are worried about privacy. SpiderOak’s data encryption system is so robust that even the system doesn’t know what kind of data you’re storing on its servers. This is because the multi-O/S client software encrypts all the user data even before it can enter the server system.

SpiderOak cannot be accessed via its secure client software, which means that users won’t be able to access it from a web browser, or by the native o/s. And although best suited for business or corporates, SpiderOak also offers personal users a 2GB free account, or a flexible paid subscription.

11) OneDrive: Turning Heads in the Business Cloud Storage Service Department

The OneDrive is a great cloud storage service for users on a Microsoft or Windows platform, especially for its Business and Consumer versions, both of which have a great look and feel. It utilizes the Office Fabric view that includes great customization features. For instance, the UX offers an option to switch between different formats to view. It also provides an action bar that gives contextual common actions available from it.

Details panels also offer greater in-depth views of some documents. OneDrive also users a UserVoice system: basically, it is the sound-board for user suggestions but this shows how much painstaking attention to the UX details goes into every update. OneDrive has some great UX features including 24/7 support, secure file sharing, simple navigation with zero technical knowledge, and easy accessibility for multi-device access. It enables better organization features too, which fits well into the clean and professional design aesthetics of the OneDrive.

So what is your favorite cloud storage service provider ? Have you used any of the above cloud storage service providers. Please share your experience in the comments below.

The Internet has now made it possible from information of any kind to be stored in remote servers online rather than just on the local computer – also known as the cloud.

Cloud storage services gives you easy flexible access to your precious data – Word documents, PDFs, spreadsheets, media files. With cloud syncing you can retrieve them not just from your personal or work PC, but from your smartphone, tablet or even laptop anytime, anywhere. You won’t even need to carry a pen drive or hard drive around.

If you haven’t considered storing and syncing your data online through cloud storage, you will find it essential! Which one you choose depends on what your needs are.

What To Look For In A Cloud Storage Provider

There are two main reasons why you use cloud storage.

1. Personal Backup Tool The first and primary use is to store things online like a data vault. You need a secure place where you can store your valuable information that you may or may not access everyday. This is more for individual use.
2. File Sharing & Productivity Tool The second and more social function of cloud storage is to provide easy access to your files from any device or other people who may need access to these files for fun or to synchronise working projects files. This is particularly helpful for people in the corporate environment.

Some things you may need to watch out for then are:

Best Cloud Storage Providers 2015

• Function versatility The ideal cloud storage service gives you the best of both worlds allowing you to safely store your files while giving you the freedom to share them with whomever you please, whether it be for casual or business purposes.
• User and platform friendly From the serious user to those who aren’t so tech-savvy, the programme should be intuitive and easy to use. Also, for those who use multiple digital devices on multiple platforms, it always helps to be able to use your saved files on the different devices you are handling.
• Data integrity and security Files stored in cloud storage are not floating in the air but saved on a data server. The question is what security measures are being done to ensure your data is safe from illegal access or deletion? What backup measures are in place in case you happen to lose your important information? Do they just password protect or do they include encryption services so that your files are doubly safe?
• Cost As always, every premium service provider comes at some sort of cost. Essentially, depending on what you are looking for, you need to consider if you are getting the value you desire from this.
• Customer service When you pay for a subscription service, how helpful the provider is to troubleshooting any concerns you have is also important.

Without further ado, we present you the top 3 best cloud storage providers:

Key Features

• As integrated local drive
• Download & upload link
• 180-days file revisions
• Lifetime plan available
• Remote backup

Best Cloud Storage Providers

pCloud is our #1 choice as it covers every aspect on how you could possibly use cloud storage.

• Versatility It provides backup services but it also focuses on syncing with the existing folders on your computer. That saves you the trouble of having to upload files all the time just to save them.
• Friendly to users and all platforms Not only is it easy to use, you can use pCloud on your mobile phone and even on Linux, making it very useful on all digital platforms. It includes the ability to access and play your files offline (internet is needed for syncing though) with built-in plug-ins. Furthermore, it has a useful remote upload feature allowing you to upload from other sites like Dropbox or Google Drive as well.
• Useful features for sharing files pCloud has a Public Folder that you can use to provide links for easy access to other users to view the files you have while still keeping them secure.

  If you understand HTML, you can even build and store static webpages or embed images/videos or other files and even use your cloud storage account for website hosting. This is perfect if you want to feature your work on a simple website without having to own a separate website hosting account. This is possible by utilising your account’s Public Folder. You can also provide an upload link to give permission to someone else to share their files with you.

• Records your work file progress up to 180 Days Have you ever worked on a file, saved it and realised too late that you made a mistake or needed pertinent data from an earlier version of the file? pCloud allows you access to previous versions of your file up to 180 days ago just in case saving your file actually was a mistake.
• No limit to devices used You can access your account from any unlimited amount of devices.
• Insurance servers to backup precious data pCloud backups its online storage on at least 3 different servers to ensure that your data can be retrievable from 3 different sources if one should fail.
• Lifetime plan A one-time payment gives you a lifetime subscription to their services and any future improvements to their services so you need not renew your subscription every time the old one runs out. With pCloud, you save in the long run. Read more on lifetime plan.
• Excellent customer service Customers can send an email or use the online contact form on the website to get support responses in less than half an hour.

Any downsides for pCloud?

Best Personal Cloud Storage Providers

There aren’t any major downsides to this cloud storage provider. The only concern is in the area of security because while your files are password-protected, if you want a boost in security by having your files encrypted, you pay extra for that feature.

Key Features

• Zero-knowledge
• 100% Canadian
• Priority email support
• Remote wipe data
• HIPAA, PIPEDA, PIPA, FIPPA, ATIPPA compliant

Best Cloud Storage Providers In India

Sync.com is another great service provider that serves mainly as a work productivity tool and its greatest feature is its security.

• Versatility Like pCloud, it can serve as a backup as well as a file-sharing tool.
• Simple user-friendly interface Applicable to Windows, Mac and mobile usage, the interface is easy to understand and yet allows for great organisation of your files.
• Strong security features Sync’s main strength is in how it gives you complete control over the security of your data in the following ways:
  1. Headquartered in Canada, Sync has ensured that all your data meets strict federal and provincial data privacy laws and encrypts all the information with only you having access to the key (unless shared).
  2. The compliances include but are not limited to HIPAA (US), PIPEDA (Canada), PHIPA (Ontario). Learn more at Sync.com
  3. You can also password protect whatever folders or files you wish to share with others and include the option of an expiry date as an added security measure decreasing the risk of unwanted people getting access to intellectual property and confidential information.
  4. You can have the option of having an additional security code sent to you when you wish to log-in along with the usual username and password for extra protection. This will be sent via email or you can setup and use Google Authenticator on your phone.

Any downsides for Sync.com?

Strong security is great for archived and highly confidential projects but it limits how well you work with other people with all the extra security measures added in.

Also, it should be noted that as user-friendly as Sync.com is, the interface on the mobile application may seem cumbersome for some users.

Lastly, it does not operate on Linux.

Key Features

• Unlimited file backup
• Private encryption key
• Offline restore option
• Support external HDD
• Restore files anywhere

Backblaze is for you if you are looking for a cheap and easy way to backup your computer without too much work or hassle.

• Unlimited storage space at a very competitive rate For $4.20 a month (paid annually), you get unlimited space to backup all the files in your computer.
• Automatic and Easy Backup Once installed on your PC or Mac, Backblaze automatically backs up all files in your computer with all extensions except for system and temporary files. While the initial backup may take up to a few weeks, you save time in the long run as you won’t have to individually select files or folders to backup. After that, Backblaze will keep track of changes to your files (in your computer) and only copy the affected sections accordingly rather than the whole files again.
• Simple user interface Backblaze provides an easy user interface with the bare basics you need for backing up your computer.
• Strong file security Files that are uploaded to Backblaze servers are encrypted securely with encryption keys kept by Backblaze themselves. You have the option of private encryption where you are the only one with the key and you can also include an extra security code option for good measure.
• Great backup insurance In the event that your computer (HDD) crashes, you can download your files again with certain limitations. You can make 5 simultaneous requests for 500GB worth of data which will be given in .zip file format.

  There is also the additional option where Backblaze can FedEx an external pendrive or hard drive over for you to quickly restore data fast. You will have to pay for the drive up front but once you courier it back, you will be refunded.

• Fast online customer service support Online chat is available on weekdays from 9am – 5pm US Pacific Time. They also have an efficient email ticket system where you get a response within a few hours with the option to check your ticket status as well.

Any downsides for Backblaze?

The affordable charge above is per computer basis so if you are using multiple computers, that charge multiplies.

Also, mobile applications can access the backup files remotely but cannot be used for syncing.

Lastly, previous versions of your files will be removed after 30 days which is short compared to pCloud and sync.com.

Best of the rest

Here’s all the cloud storage we’ve reviewed so far:

Final Verdict: Choose Based On What You Need

At the end of the day, if you’re looking for an all-round solution that works across all platforms with all the necessary tools to backup, sync and share files conveniently, look no further than pCloud.

If, however, you don’t mind sacrificing some benefits for higher security, especially if you are dealing with data-sensitive or confidential projects, then Sync.com may be what you need.

For simple backing up of computers at a competitive rate, look no further than Backblaze.

Feel free to drop us a message if you have any questions on these cloud storage providers.