Cloud Computing is the new buzz of the Tech Industry. According to Wikipedia,
Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on-demand, like electricity.
I am sure many of the readers will be confused as to which of the site offers the best cloud storage. So here is a quick list of the best ones:
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1. SugarSync
It allows you to Sync files on multiple computers, you can also upload / sync via email. The major advantage being ability to backup any folder on your computer and real-time upload of changes. It also allows you to edit files through the web interface, comes in handy for simple edits. You can Share photo albums, Send files of any size and Stream music to web browser or your iPhone, BlackBerry and Android device.
It supports XP, Vista and 7,Mac OSX, Linux and you can download mobile apps to sync iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Symbian devices to sync folders.
Highlights:-
- Sync files on multiple computers
- Upload / Sync via email
- Real-time upload of changes
- Edit files via Web
- Stream music
Visit - SugarSync
2. Dropbox
It has shell integration even on Linux, a great little iPhone app and web interface, as well as convenient Firefox and Google Chrome extensions. You get 2GB of storage for free — up to 3GB 10.25 GB if you get people to sign up under your referral (2GB (basic account) + 250MB (Dropbox tour) + 250MB x 32 referrals = 10.25GB). You can even use it to watch a movie file on your iPhone — but the upload may take a while.
Features include:
- Automatic Syncing of files online and across your computers automatically.
- Share folders with several people to collaborate on the same files.
- Access your files even if you have deleted them.
- Shared folders are viewable only by people you invite and much more..!
Visit - Dropbox [Sign up using this link to get additional 256MB]
3. Box.net
Box.net offers some great features and compatibility options (the latest Microsoft Office files, image and mp3 files, flash video, Photoshop and Illustrator and more). Their free plan only gives you 1GB of storage (25mb filesize limit) and there’s no shell integration (great web interface though), but they integrate with Google and Zoho and have a decent mobile app for the iPhone.
Visit - Box.net
Also Check out -
- Top 5 Free Plugins to Backup Your Blog to Cloud Storage
- 3 Best Ways To Sync MS Office Documents to Cloud Storage
4. Memopal
Memopal starts you off at 3GB for free and works natively on most platforms (Linux is in beta). Shell integration is decent and if you want more storage, you can get 200GB for $50 bucks per year. I only mention the paid plan here because, well – that’s pretty frickin’ good!
Visit - Memopal [Sign up using this link to get additional 500MB]
Bonus for TechSplurge Readers:- Use the code SPLURGE15 and get 15% off on any Paid Plan
5. Windows Skydrive
SkyDrive is a Microsoft’s cloud storage offering.This is a great option if you have lots of small files to share. By small, I mean 50MB filesize max. By lots… I mean 25GB.There is no built in shell extension, but you can (on Windows, anyway) install SkyDrive Explorer to handle that. It works pretty well, and can apparently bypass the filesize limit with the pro version. Not the easiest for general (non-windows) mobile access though.
Visit - Windows Skydrive
Other Options
Google Docs
Google Docs recently added the ability to upload any type of file. Their upload filesize limit is 1GB and you get 1GB of storage for free. If you convert files to Google Docs formats the space they take up is significantly smaller — and the 1GB seems to be on top of regular Google Docs use thus far, and your Gmail and Picasa storage (7GB and 1GB, respectively) is separate as well.
With clients like GDocsDrive, you can upload files the easy way on Google Docs.
Google does have plans for purchase as well, if you need more, with a yearly pricing scheme (starting at just $0.25 per GB) that is comparable to Memopal’s. And if its Google, its trustworthy for sure. Also you can buy 20GB of storage for your entire Google Account at just 5$/year. Detailed pricing can be found here.
Visit - Google Docs
Amazon Cloud Drive
With 5GB of free storage, Amazon's very own cloud storage option, is a cheaper alternative, you can have a look at the detailed comparison of Dropbox vs. Amazon Cloud Drive. 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. On the downside, It lacks some essential features and most importantly, a desktop client. You can't always upload files via web interface, can you?
Visit - Amazon Cloud Drive
Hope this helps. 
Let me know if you vary in opinion and have better options to add to the list.
If you are using multiple cloud storage services, my post on "4 Ways to Manage All Cloud Services From One Place" should help!
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{ 74 comments… read them below or add one }
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Well @Ben let’s think about why SugarSync didn’t make the list of ‘Free Cloud Storage Options’. I wonder if perhaps it could be the fact that it’s not free?
Hello Frank,
Sugarsync also offers 5GB free storage, visit this url:- http://www.sugarsync.com/free/
I have been thinking of adding it to the list for a long time. May be its time I add it.
Will be updating the list soon.
Thanks
You can amazon cloud drive in this list, which offers 5GB free storage and single upload limit of 2GB.
I am using Dropbox and was tempted to look for and register for at least 10GB of free storage. None of the listed Clouds is as flexible as Dropbox! Some will cause real slowdown on your PC (I tried IDrive which was quite a disaster on my XP)
One of the main advantages of Dropbox is, that it creates a folder on your PC, You can create subfolders within this folder and use it just as any regular folder. Backing up and synching is done in the background of all the folders and files in the Dropbox folder. You can share any of the folders with another Dropbox user, you can even send links to non-dropboxers, etc. etc. In short, it has everything you could ask for! True, it is only 2GB free – but by referring it to others, you gan urn up to another 8GB of free storage!!
So if you decide to check up on it (which I strongly advise) go ahead and install it on your PC’s. You will do me a great favor if you use my referral code by downloading the program from this link:
—> http://db.tt/wt9JtiB
This will also give both of us an extra 256Mbytes of free storage space!!!
Hey Peter. If you’ve tried several cloud services then I suggest you to see our suggestions of Apps for managing Multiple Cloud Services From One Place
Hi, Saket, – this is interesting, thanks. Maybe I’ll have to redo my thinking. I seem to be a glutton for storage space and I thought it might be a good idea to increase it. The only problem is, that so far only Dropbox has been an answer to my dreams… Maybe I am old-fashioned, but I hate the”folders on the Desktop” concept. I love the Total Commander (much superior to the Explorer) – the Dropbox appears just as a regular subdirectory. You can move it around, put it on any HD, in short there is no need for managers or utilities of any kind. Dropbox just works in the background and is totally transparent..
All the best
SugarSync and DropBox are really nice, user friendly and trustable services.
and the winner is.. ADrive.com 50Gb free !
Well not quite a winner since it’s only on 14 day trial!
ADrive.com gives you 50 gb for free….for the basic plan. no trial for basic..
For my money Sugarsync is the best.
Nice article on cloud hosting services. I use and recommend Amazon cloud..
i ve been trying to download sugarsync on my pc but was not successful what should i do
We’ve been looking for a storage option that lets different committees manage their own documents, and provides some type of group security. We also want a shared calendar. Any ideas?
Documents are not large, but we have about 20 users, some are not very tech savvy.
Well, Most of the cloud storage options I have mentioned above will do the job for you. The easiest would be Google docs. But even with Dropbox & Sugarsync, you can have the document edited and uploaded in real time. I personally have tried dropbox with my team mates.
What you need to do is create the documents in a folder which is to be synced with the folder in Cloud. Now the same folder will be synced with the other team mates. So all the documents will be synced immediately.(well almost, lag of 2-3secs)
Now if you need to setup different documents for different committee, just create different folders for them, you are good to go!
Let me know if you find this solution helpful!
I’d like to have free cloud folders for my small company to share documents. Very important for me is to be able to checkout a document by a team member, and other ppl will have view access only till checkout document is returned. Oh, it needs to be free. Any suggestions?
Well for your selected view/access feature, Google Docs would be the best option.
Yes Sugarsync is free. And yes you can get a nice amount of extra space through referrals etc. But anybody considering this one should google “Sugarsync reliabilty” or “Sugarsync complaints” or similar, before trusting anything important to it.
I reluctantly gave up on it because there were some files it just refused to sync.
4Shared is also very attractive with 10Gb free space, but again, just way too many reliabilty issues. Although at least they reply to your messages and make some effort to help, unlike Sugarsync.
Dropbox is great but I’m always looking for something else because it’s so painfully slow. Maybe that’s just the trade-off for reliabilty. I’m currently testing iDrive and Minus on my PC. Unfamilar interface with Minus, though it actually seems pretty good so far.
I don’t care about so-called free service, but Dropbox Team plan costs $795 for only 5 user licenses. Additional user license costs $125!! This is a complete ripoff.
I can get a much better DriveHQ service for only $129.99/year, and additional user license is only $6/user/year. Ok, read it carefully: if you need multiple user accounts, then dropbox is 21 times more expensive than DriveHQ.
Yeah I do agree. The Team plan cost is insane
Hi, does anyone know if any provider can allow a single file size of at least 5GB?? I want to store video files which are at least 4GB each.. Thanks!!
You can try File Dropper:- http://www.filedropper.com/
Great. Let me try. Thanks!!
Give me a shout if you want to stream video files in your own personal cloud solution to devices like iOS, Android, Set top boxes etc. Working on an application to do that and we are looking for testers.
Sure, why not. Just get in touch with me:- kunal (at) techsplurge (dot) com
Sorry Stephen, I have to disagree with you about ADrive….I too was lured in by the 50gb offer, but in my opinion the interface is a real POS. Also, I’ve had multiple errors in the middle of uploading, resulting in a serious wasts of time.
The free sties with their file size restrictions and data limits make them useless to me.
After comparing all the features and benefits of file storage sites there is one head and shoulders clear winner: Carbonite
Unlimited storage, unlimited files size and automaticly backs up all your computers and syncs them.
Apps for iPhone, Blackberry, Android etc.
Cost $59/year but there are lots of discount coupons available that bring it down to around $50.
My guru reccomended Carbonite to me and I wasted a day researching the alternatives, duh!
How about the download speed? Which one is the fastest?
Has anyone heard of Spideroak? I’m using this to sync docs between my MAC and my iPad and it looks really good. Unlike some of the other free services its fully encrypted as well
DropBox and SugarSync are the best cloud storage companies.
Their systems are reliable, but easy to use.
Mike
DropBox has a major downside, your password is known to their admin staff and with that they can view your data. DropBox have also had several attacks against them where this information has been compromised. Spideroak is a service where your password isn’t stored and the data is fully encrypted so all that an admin can see is gibberish. I’ve pasted two links below which show some issues with DropBox, OK, they will have been fixed by now but the underlying problem is still there – your password is available to others.
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/06/21/dropbox-lets-anyone-log-in-as-anyone/
http://hackingexpose.blogspot.com/2011/04/security-researcher-warns-over-dropbox.html
I recommend SugarSync because it provides more free space than most other services, it allows synchronization of multiple folders and supports all big desktop and mobile operating systems.
Check out http://www.tonido.com. cross platform, amazing, personal cloud without sharing any personal info with third person sites.
Its able to use on your cell, tablets, and desktop/laptop. Worth a look.
FileServe is the best I’ve found so far. You get 500gb of storage! It’s awesome.
Hi,
Great article. I have been looking for a Dropbox / SugarSync like cloud solution for business account (200 GB, 40 users) for some time. I have used both and love them both. But the ONE feature I can’t seem to find is user notification if the file is already open by someone else. Seems that wouldn’t be so hard to do. Even if it was just for MS Office files (word, excel, etc) it would be huge step in the right direction. Then the cloud could in essence act as a virtual network. Any one have any ideas?
Well Google Docs, could come in handy in this regard. Tried it?
try this http://www.badongo.com unlimited file uloading for free + file sharing but the sad thing is that with the free acount after 90 days your files are deleted exept for your photos
Cloud Free Space
4Shared 10 GB
Adrive 50 GB
Alwaysync ???
Amazon S3 5 GB
Asus Webstorage 2 GB
BackpackOnline n/a
BBOX ???
Box.net 5 GB
CloudApp 250 MB
CX.com (cloud experience) 10 GB
DivShare 20 GB
DropBox 2 GB
Elephant Drive 2 GB
FileSocial File Sharing with Twitter
Flickr 300 MB
Flip Drive 5 GB
Github ???
GmailDrive unk
GoAruna 2 GB
Goodsync 100 files
GroupDocs unkn
Gygan ?
iCloud 5 GB
iDrive 5 GB
Iqbox ???
JottaBackup 5 GB
Jungle Disk none
MemoPal 3 GB
Minus 10 GB
MiMedia 3 GB
MobleMe iDisk app for icloud
Mozy 2 GB
MyPCBackup none
Offsite Box 1 GB
online storage solution none
OpenDrive 5 GB
Pogoplug 5-unl
PowerFolder 1 GB – unl
SafeCopy 3 GB
SDExplorer 25 GB (skydrive)
SharedSafe ???
SkyDrive 25 GB
SkyDrive – Viewer (WebDAV) 25 GB (skydrive)
SpiderOak 2 GB
Storegate 1 GB
SugarSync 5 GB
Syncany NOT YET
Syncplicity 2 GB
TeamDrive 2 GB
Ubuntu One 5 GB
WindowsLiveMesh 5 GB
Wuala 2 GB
ZumoDrive 2 GB
Gmail+GoogleDocs+Picasa 9 GB
thank you for adding that comic! a little light after tons of review text.
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