Thursday 23 February 2012

18 Best Free Cloud Storage Providers

Cloud Storage

Recently, I've shared with you BeeCloud offering free 512GB of online Cloud Storage, now I’ve decided to share with you most comprehensive list of free online Cloud Storage providers but before starting you should know what is Cloud Storage?
According to Wikipedia, Cloud storage is a model of networked online storage where data is stored on virtualized pools of storage which are generally hosted by third parties. Hosting companies operate large data centers; and people who require their data to be hosted buy or lease storage capacity from them and use it for their storage needs. The data center operators, in the background, virtualize the resources according to the requirements of the customer and expose them as storage pools, which the customers can themselves use to store files or data objects. Physically, the resource may span across multiple servers.
In short, you data is backed up/stored online on different servers then when you need it you can access it from anywhere anytime without carrying your data with you all the time.
Top 10 Free cloud storage service providers offers backup and synchronization--supports more than two platform.
1. Dropbox
Dropbox
Dropbox offer 2GB of free storage and supports Windows, Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Android and BlackBerry
2. SugarSync
SugarSync
SugarSync offer 5GB of free cloud storage and works with Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Mobile.
3. Ubuntu One
Ubuntu One
Ubuntu offer 5GB of free cloud storage services through Ubuntu One and supports Windows, Ubuntu (linux), Android, iPhone and iPad.
4. Zumo Drive
Zumbo Drive
Zumo Drive offer 1GB of Cloud storage plus 1GB of bonus storage when you complete the Dojo means total of 2GB for storing files. It works with Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android, and Palm Pre.
5. IDrive
IDrive
IDrive is not an Apple product but still its come in handy when it comes for free online storage. IDrive offer free 5GB of storage and retains and allows you to restore the last 30 versions of all files backed up to your account. Your storage is computed only for the most current version; historical versions are stored free. It works on Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android.
6. SpiderOak
Spideroak
SpiderOak offers 2GB’s free cloud storage and for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora & openSUSE), Android, iPhone and iPad.
7. Memopal
Memopal
Memopal offers 3GB of free storage and supports Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iPhone and BlackBerry
8. CX.com
cx
CX offers free 10GB space with support for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iPhone/iPad and Kindle Fire.
9. MozyHome
Mozy
With MozyHome you get free 2GB of secure online backup and it works with Windows and Mac. And you how much is 2GB 250,000 text emails, 340 MP3 files  and 300 photos.
10. MiMedia
MiMedia
MiMedia offers 7GB of free cloud storage which is equivalent of 1,000+ songs, 1,400+ photos, 140+ videos or 7,000+ documents--in the cloud, to stream and share from any web-enabled computer, iPhone or iPad.
To use above services you need to install software on your computer or mobile device to sync and back up your data automatically/manually, then you can access your backed up files from anywhere.
There are other free cloud services providers which may not allow sync from your computer or mobile devices but you can backup or store your data on cloud and access it from anywhere.
1. Box
Box
Box is well settled and reputed cloud storage service provider offers 5GB of free storage.
2. Amazon Cloud Drive
Amazon Cloud Drive
Amazon’s very own cloud storage solution, offers 5GB of free storage. It is noteworthy to mention that songs purchased from Amazon Music store are saved directly to your Amazon Cloud Drive, moreover it doesn’t consume your storage limit. But you need to upload your file through web interface. Not so great option but if you go with brand, trust and reliability it's still the best option to bet on.
3. Adrive
Adrive
Adrive offers 50GB storage capacity with not so good user interface but it still offer most spacious solution.
4. Windows SkyDrive
SkyDrive
May be you all, already know about Microsoft SkyDrive offering 25GB of Sky storage. It nice option if you have lot of files to share. On Windows you can install SkyDrive installer to share you files.
5. 4Shared
4Shared
4Shared started as the file sharing site now offering free 10GB of storage with up to 2GB of upload filesize limit. It supports Windows, Mac, Linux and other mobile devices.
6. SafeCopy
safecopy
SafeCopy offer 3GB of free storage works on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iPhone/iPad. It is available in 15 languages and uses 448-military grade encryption.
7. PogoPlug
PogoPlug
PogoPlug gives you 5GB of storage and supports Windows, Mac Android and iOS devices.
8. Google
Google Services
Yes your own Google, which you're using almost each and every day. Gives you 1GB of Picasa storage plus another gigabytes from Google Docs and remember your own Gmail account 7GB storage.
Other Cloud Storage and backup options
NephoScale -5GB
HiDrive - 5GB
Syncplicity (offers Sync and Backup) - 2GB
BeeCloud - 512GB
Filesanywhere - 1GB
I hope you liked it. Do you know any other free and reliable cloud storage service provider which I've missed? Share with us.

0comments:

Post a Comment