All about cloud storage

If you are using multiple computers and mobile devices, you must keep your files up to date. Helpful are the private cloud and cloud services on the Internet with their different functions like synchronization and online office. We introduce you to ten cloud stores - and put a few more cloud tips above.

It used to be simple: usually there was a desktop computer and the files came on the internal hard drive. In comparison, today's variety of devices is large, and the files must be available on all devices such as notebooks, media players, tablets, and smartphones, for example, to listen to music, watch videos, and read or edit text documents.

Today, a cloud is the solution, with files centrally stored on a server. All other authorized devices can connect to the server and, for example, synchronize, read, or edit a file. The connection to the server takes place over the own network or the Internet. You can build and use your own private cloud, or use a cloud service on the Internet, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or Microsoft Onedrive, that compare different features and memory sizes.

Cloud Comparison: Storage in China offers a lot of space

The storage space is usually limited to the free variants of the cloud services and can be extended for a fee. The freemium business model is simple: if you need more space, you have to pay. However, the free memory available from provider to provider is very different - when comparing the providers presented here, the storage space ranges from 1 GB to 50 GB and is on average about 15 gigabytes.

In contrast, three providers from the Far East are fighting for their customers in completely different dimensions: The services Baidu Yun, Yunwei and 360 Yunpan offer 1-2 terabytes for free and lure them time and time again, in which up to 36 TB have already been offered free of charge. However, these cloud services are only available in Chinese and the access times from Germany are so slow that you would probably have to give the account several generations to be able to actually fill the cloud completely, so we do not consider them in our comparison.

Apart from the available storage space offer cloud providers such as Google and Microsoft additional features. For example, you can collaborate on documents with others and provide (large) files for download. In addition, files and data on all connected devices can be synchronized and up-to-date.

Synchronization:

A central function of the storage services is the synchronization of data stored locally on the mobile devices and computers with and via the cloud. Most vendors offer desktop clients and apps that mirror the cloud storage as a local folder to the hard drive and monitor for changes. If a file is edited locally on a device, the client automatically updates the file in the cloud. If you want to continue the work on another device later, the client determines that the online version of the file is more up-to-date than the local and downloads the current version. This principle has made it particularly easy to keep files on several devices synchronized without great effort.

In addition to the desktop computers, many manufacturers also offer apps for the mobile phone - that is, for smartphones and tablets. They often provide additional features such as automatic uploading of photos. Some Clouds like Box or the MagentaCLOUD support the WebDAV protocol, which allows folders to synchronize files even if no native client is available for a system like Linux. However, WebDAV must be supported. If you want to connect your Dropbox via WebDAV, you should check out the paid tool DropDAV. Alternatives to WebDAV are open interfaces that allow the access of programs to the cloud services. For example, Android has led to a variety of file managers that connect directly to most cloud storage services.

Working together Another feature is sharing files and folders with other users. With Dropbox, it is possible to share folders with other Dropbox users right from the start so that these folders remain synchronized across multiple users and computers. If a document is edited by two users at the same time, Dropbox detects this and saves the version of the second user with a conflict hint in the filename. The obvious disadvantage is, of course, that the resulting files have to be merged manually to one again. One step ahead are the three major providers Google, Microsoft and Apple. They have integrated office suites as web apps in their services, which allow the editing of documents, tables and presentations directly in the browser. Marking in real-time makes clear which user is currently working in the document.

Version control Some vendors offer versioning for the stored files. The service stores each file version in a certain period of time - usually 30 days - in which any previous version can be restored. If you have deleted a document accidentally or you are no longer satisfied with the result from a certain point, you can return to an earlier version. For some vendors this function is, however, restricted to certain file formats.

Security and privacy in the cloud A big problem with cloud services of any kind is the security of the data. Finally, you have to trust the provider that he handles the data responsibly. The servers of most providers are located in the USA, the data stored there is not covered by any country data protection law. Encryption is available with some cloud vendors, but this does not matter much with regard to data protection when the cloud services have the key to decrypt the data and must issue it to the authorities due to legal requirements. Whether data was decrypted can not be checked from the outside, so the uncertainty remains just after the NSA scandal and one must be aware of the fact that the own data on other servers are possibly viewed.

You can minimize the risk by encrypting your files before you upload them yourself. The boxCryptor, which is cost-effective, enables users to encrypt and decrypt files with clients for Windows, Mac OS X, Android and iOS. EncFs for Linux-like operating systems also provide appropriate encryption. It is important that the encryption continually meets the current security requirements. Because the management capacity of the computers is increasing, and thus old encryption technologies can be easily cracked with modern technology.

Private Cloud

If you do not want to leave the security of your data to others, you need to build your own cloud. This does not take much: A router, a mini computer like the Raspberry Pi 3 with Linux and a cloud server software like Nextcloud or ownCloud suffice. The router has to connect the private server to the Internet, so you can access your files on the go. Since, however, the IP address of the router is not permanently retained in DSL connections for private customers, a dynamic DNS service is required, which binds the currently allocated IP address of the own router to a fixed host name so that you always have the server over it reached.

Companies can also build a private enterprise cloud. Of course, a Raspberry Pi as well as home router is not enough and hard disks and servers must be built for permanent use. The necessary hardware resources can be rented by a cloud provider. Compared to a storage service, however, you have to take care of everything, including operating system, security update and data management, including data protection. But here, too, some cloud services offer service services, so you do not have to worry about everything, and still retain control over the data - encryption and backups provided.

Conclusion

If you want to keep control of your own files, you should set up a private cloud. Otherwise, Office 365 subscribers have one terabyte of storage at OneDrive, and Amazon Prime customers can back up their collection of photos in the Amazon Cloud Drive. Since individual photos are not always processed, the lack of synchronization between local storage and the cloud is not so problematic.

The services offered by Microsoft and Apple are open to everyone, but they offer enterprise customers more options than those with free accounts. Google offers users with a free account a lot of features, especially as their use is possible through the browser from different systems. However, Microsoft, Apple and Google have the disadvantage that they are US companies subject to US law.