Best cloud storage for 2020

For many users, the issue of storing important data is of paramount concern. If earlier the choice of cloud drives was limited, then since 2013 many new cloud services began to appear. Data, which in most cases was stored on disks, flash drives or floppy disks, began to be placed in more reliable places.

Physical objects can be easily lost or damaged, so entrusting them with storing important information was fraught with data loss. At the same time, the popularity of cloud storage has increased many times. For many users, such services seem to be a huge flash card on which you can put any information, protecting it with a password.

The average person does not need to have accurate information about the structure of cloud storage. To use such a resource, no special skills are required.

First, registration on the service is required, after which you can access your personal storage. By uploading important data to a cloud drive, you can access it from any device anywhere in the world. The main thing is to know your login and password.

When it is required to share some data with business partners or acquaintances, a person just needs to indicate a link to the content and open access to a specific user to the information stored there. The Internet offers to use various cloud services that provide services on a paid or free basis. Some of them are shareware. The size of the virtual disk offered by the service can also vary significantly. To help with the choice, the editors of the site "bestx.htgetrid.com/en/" have prepared for you a rating of the best cloud storage for 2020.

Benefits of cloud storage

The huge popularity of such services is explained by a number of advantages, which include:

• the ability to access information from any PC or gadget (if the Internet is available);
• reducing the cost of purchasing, maintaining and maintaining your own data storage infrastructure;
• backing up and ensuring the safety of information completely falls on the service that provides storage space;
• payment is made for the space that the client uses in the storage, and not for renting the entire service;
• even in the event of hardware failures, there is a high probability that all data will be kept intact;
• different users can view and edit the same information from any device;
• reducing the need for the availability of premises for their own equipment;
• saving server space;
• improving the security of information storage;
• energy savings.

Application of cloud technologies

The use of cloud storage is becoming more and more popular in various industries. They are most widely used in the following directions:

• the science;
• business;
• creation of photo albums;
• education;
• maintaining sites, blogs;
• creation of group projects, presentations;
• viewing and posting videos;
• communication in chats and social networks;
• writing emails.

Types of cloud storage

All existing cloud storage can be divided into the following groups:

• object;
• file;
• block.

The first type provides ample opportunities for scaling and storing object properties as metadata. They can be used to import information from other storages for analytics, archiving or backup purposes. For personal storage of user data, multimedia content or large repositories, the second option is perfect. Block storage offers high performance and low latency for workloads.

Criterias of choice

When a user needs to choose a reliable storage for his information data, attention should be paid to the following aspects:

• data format;
• storage size;
• consistency model;
• communication between data;
• movement of information;
• flexibility of the scheme;
• parallel storage usage;
• supporting functions;
• life cycle of data;
• performance;
• scalability;
• replication;
• restrictions;
• reliability;
• licensing;
• availability;
• total cost;
• portability;
• profitability;
• safety;
• network requirements;
• audit;
• account attachment;
• safety.

First, it is worth considering the proposals of several cloud services and determining the maximum usability of each resource. First of all, users pay attention to the payment for cloud storage, as well as what data can be stored in it and the size of attachments.

The ability to split into multiple documents allows you to comfortably use cloud resources. Some cloud services allow you to make changes to saved files, others only provide the ability to store information. Distinguish also the presence of schemes for writing or reading. The rate of flexibility depends on this. The presence of a large number of updates does not always have a positive effect on user comfort.

Some software may conflict with each other. Sometimes a person needs to move data from cloud storage to a PC or other medium. If the system allows such operations, then it will be considered optimal for such a user.

Before you start working with cloud storage, you should carefully read the user agreement. It should focus on the points of possible backup, recovery, the level of fault tolerance and reliability of the resource. The number of connections and bandwidth play an important role when choosing a storage service.

The manageability of the data service and the ability to use the resource in all regions will allow the most comfortable use of the storage. Licensing requires special attention. The service may provide services with a private license or an OSS license. Sometimes there are licensing restrictions. The choice in this case will depend on the needs of the user. Resource availability and bandwidth are also important criteria for most business people. They select cloud storage with high performance on these points.

The cost of using cloud space depends on many indicators. It should correspond to the volume of services provided. The security metric of data storage depends on the type of file encryption and authentication method. When a person frequently uses email, YouTube, or other services through one account, then accessing the disk will be easier.

In this case, no additional registration is required. Cloud data storage will always be at your fingertips. Each user selects the storage taking into account personal needs and preferences. Paying attention to important indicators in a timely manner will avoid many mistakes and disappointments.

Ranking of the best cloud storage for 2020

To choose a cloud data storage for your needs, you should read the recommendations, as well as reviews from users and specialists. For this, the editors of "bestx.htgetrid.com/en/" have prepared a short overview of the most popular services.

Paid

iCloud

A special cloud storage has been developed for users of Apple products. This service has very little free space for storing files. Users can only use 5 GB for free. Active users are encouraged to purchase the paid version, which can be purchased for $ 0.99, 2.99, or $ 9.99. If you sync multiple accounts, the space fills up very quickly. It is inconvenient to delete files one by one, but the service does not provide an opportunity to select several items.

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CROC Disc

This storage is designed as a corporate file exchange service. It is deployed in a public cloud based on 2 geographically remote data centers. The level of information security and ease of customization of the interface make the service in demand among users. You can evaluate the benefits of CROC Disk by subscription during the trial period lasting 30 days. The cost of the service should be specified additionally.

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Free

Microsoft OneDrive

This service does not require installation. You log into your cloud drive using your Microsoft account. Autostart in Windows 8.1, Windows 10 is almost automatic. The user is provided with 5 GB free of charge. If you need more cloud storage space, you will have to pay extra. Among the offered tariffs are:

• Microsoft 365 Family.
• Microsoft 365 "personal"
• OneDrive 100 GB.
• OneDrive Basic 5 GB.

In the first tariff plan, the total storage capacity is 6 TB, in the second - 1 TB, in the third - 100 GB, and in the fourth - 5 GB. Microsoft 365 Family and Microsoft 365 Personal come with Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive and Skype subscriptions. The other 2 packages do not include the presence of applications, and only OneDrive is available from the services. In addition, OneDrive 100 GB and OneDrive Basic 5 GB do not support the expiring sharing links feature. Subscription prices may vary slightly from vendor to vendor.

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Google drive

This storage service is developed for users by Google. Files are shared and documents can be co-edited. The free package includes a set of office applications for collaboration on word documents, presentations, drawings and spreadsheets.For free file storage, users are allocated 15 GB, which is significantly higher than the above option. When this disk space becomes insufficient, you can purchase a paid subscription from 100 GB to 30 TB. You can view files in the following permissions:

• ZIP.
• RAR.
• TAR.
• GZIP.
• WebM.
• MPEG4.
• 3GPP.
• MOV.
• AVI.
• MPEGPS.
• WMV.
• FLV.
• OGG.
• MP3.
• MPEG.
• WAV.
• OGG.
• OPUS.
• TXT.
• JPEG.
• PNG.
• GIF.
• BMP.
• TIFF.
• SVG.
• CSS.
• HTML.
• PHP.
• C.
• CPP.
• H.
• HPP.
• JS.
• JAVA.
• PY.
• LS.
• XLSX.
• KEY NUMBERS and many others.

The storage is integrated into many Google services. With one click, the user can send a letter to the storage, save a photo or perform other operations. Google Drive provides the ability to customize offline access to documents. The security of information storage is ensured at a professional level.

Active users praised the benefits of this cloud storage for the convenience and ease of use of the service. Premium subscription can be issued for 100 GB, 1 TB, 10 TB, 20 TB, 30 TB. The subscription price can vary from 139 rubles (month) to 20,990 rubles. (month). Apart from increasing the available disk space, the premium account does not provide any other benefits. All users of the service have equal opportunities.

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MEGA

The service provides 50 GB of free storage space. If many services do not give users even half of this amount, then MEGA is the leading data warehouse in this regard. You can visit this store from various mobile devices. If necessary, here you can use your own information exchange algorithm.

The service menu is in Russian, but there are not many domestic users on this resource. Traffic can be limited by the simultaneous transfer of information by a large number of users. Working with the service is simple and convenient. MEGA uses end-to-end encryption to enhance the security of data storage.

If necessary, you can expand the free disk space by purchasing a premium subscription. The user can order an additional 200 GB to 4 TB, and the subscription price ranges from 4.99 € (month) to 29.99 € (month).

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Mail.ru

This free service is very popular among a wide audience of users. It is designed to store documents, music, photos and other files. The saved information can be shared with friends with a single click. Files can be modified, renamed, deleted, or moved to a folder.

The cloud drive client integrates deeply into the Windows desktop OS to create a virtual hard drive. Structured information is securely stored on the Internet without clogging up the device's memory. On a free tariff plan, the user is provided with from 8 to 32 GB of virtual space.Size varies depending on Mail.ru policy. If the amount of information exceeds this figure, you can purchase a paid version of the virtual disk.

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Yandex.Disk

The Yandex server provides an opportunity to save information on a free and paid basis. The advantage of Yandex. Disk "is the convenience of synchronization and high speed of data download. The service is equipped with its own player for photo, video and audio playback. Stable technical support and constant updating of service resources allow you to use all the developments and improvements even on the free version. Document viewer opens files of any format. Users can share links to specific files for added convenience.

Built-in security and file storage makes using your cloud drive safe and secure. Free space is provided to users up to 2 GB. When there is more information, a paid subscription is required. A tariff of 100 GB will cost 83 rubles / month, 1 TB - 209 rubles / month, and 3 TB - 542 rubles / month.

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Having familiarized yourself with the most popular cloud storages, you can choose a convenient option for yourself. If you have experience with cloud data storage described in the rating, or you prefer to use other resources, tell us about it in the comments