And Pooh had his Little Black Rain Cloud

Clouds. Clouds are everywhere. Some clouds bring rain, others create shade on an extra sunny day. Some clouds even provide digital storage solutions. That’s right folks, clouds have gone digital. Microsoft has Skydrive. Apple has iCloud. There is even the Independent cloud called DropBox. And Google has Google Drive. Cloud based storage has a lot of us stumped. It seems mystical: “cloud storage”. How does one access the cloud? How do I store my stuff in the cloud? or “on the cloud”?

 Cloud storage is simply saving data to an off-site storage location that is maintained by a third party. Instead of storing information to your computer’s hard drive (MY DOCUMENTS) or other local storage device (disks, cds, jump drives or external hard drives) you save it to a remote location. The Internet provides the connection between your computer and the remote location.

 

Cloud storage has several advantages over traditional data storage. For example, if you store your data on a cloud storage system, you’ll be able to access that data from any location that has Internet access. That’s right, no more carrying around a bag full of jump drives or a cd organizer full of cd’s with sharpie marker scribbled titles. You are also freed from the impossible task of finding the exact same computer you used when you created the “data” and save it to the My Documents as you always have. And as an additional bonus, the right cloud storage system will even allow you to share your data with other people. So now that individual project becomes a collaborative effort. (I hope you read that paragraph in your best-cable-television-commercial-announcer-voice because that is the voice I used to write it.)

 

So, which cloud storage option is the best? Well, I have used all three of the aforementioned. All three offer a free version and a paid version. Dropbox is easy to use and if you share files with people who do not already have a Dropbox account you get free space. Microsoft SkyDrive I have used as well but have much less experience with. My school district is going with Google Drive, thus the focus of 31 Days of Google. Google Drive is one of the many applications offered by the Google branding. It allows users to create one account to access all applications and the Google Drive application can be downloaded and installed to any mobile device or PC to allow access to all data 24/7. And, here is the silver lining to this whole cloud thing – the data automatically syncs for each device on which Google Drive is installed.

Tune in tomorrow for more Google Goodness. J