Google Driv<\/strong>e: Google Drive is provided with a Google account, such as your Gmail account. Google Drive comes with 15 gigabytes of free storage, and can be increased for a fee. An additional 100 gigabytes can be purchased for $24.99 per year. If Google Docs is your software of choice for productivity than Google Drive is a natural fit. If you are using the Microsoft Online suite of software, storing to the Google Drive will be a little more difficult. However, it will work fine if using locally installed productivity suites such as Microsoft Office or LibreOffice. There are apps to allow you to access your Google Drive files from most portable devices such as IPAD and Android. Google Drive typically does not store locally on portable devices, but does give you the option to select files to store locally. This is useful if you anticipate needing access to certain files at time when you will not have internet connectivity.<\/p>\nAll of the above are similar in functionality and price. In each case the cloud storage can be mapped as a local drive, and in each case the files are stored locally as well as in the cloud. This, of course, gives you the opportunity of automatically backing up your important files as well as having them available on all or most of your devices. I have used all and have settled on Microsoft\u2019s OneDrive as the best bang for the buck, particularly since there is an option to obtain the additional storage for free via Bing Rewards (which I have done). One additional benefit with all three is the ability to share files with others. This is a secure way of providing access to files without the need to send them through email, thumb drives, CD\u2019s or DVD’s. And of course, it is instant transfer as opposed to using one of the sneaker net options.<\/p>\n
If you are not already taking advantage of cloud storage then I recommend you consider this option. The peace of mind provided by knowing all my important files and documents are automatically backed up is well worth the price, not to mention the convenience of having them everywhere on everything.<\/p>\n
So there you have it, free software and free storage. Now if someone would figure out how to make the hardware and computers free it would be a beautiful thing. I guess the good news is that money saved not buying software and storage is money that can be used to buy an even bigger and better computer or that tablet you have been drooling over.<\/p>\n
I hope you find this information useful. If you have any questions or comments please use the comment form below. If you wish to keep your question or comment private, use the feedback form provided. If you would like to receive these tech tips automatically via email, please consider subscribing . Thanks for patronizing the Townehouse Technologies Blog.<\/p>\n
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In an earlier post I talked about using cloud based software. 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Before the technological boom we are currently experiencing the average consumer would require software for their computer, and the majority were using a Microsoft operating system, some an Apple operating system and some others a Linux operating\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technical"","block_context":{"text":"Technical","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=25"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Good The Bad and the Ugly","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/gbu-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":99,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=99","url_meta":{"origin":78,"position":3},"title":"Tablets Demystified","author":"Tom Lind","date":"November 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The question on a lot of minds, especially as we enter into the frantic buying season of the year, is what is all the hoopla about tablets? Do I need one? What can I do with one? What can I not do with one? Will it replace my laptop? The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computers"","block_context":{"text":"Computers","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"tablets-montage","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/tablets-montage.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":552,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=552","url_meta":{"origin":78,"position":4},"title":"Digital Clutter","author":"Tom Lind","date":"August 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I read an interesting statistic the other day and it got me to thinking about all the clutter thee is stored digitally. The statistic is that there have been over 220 billion photos uploaded to Facebook. I think one of my sisters is responsible for about half of them. 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![\"Cloud-storage-SS-450pxl\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Cloud-storage-SS-450pxl.jpg\")
<\/a>In an earlier post I talked about using cloud based software. In this post I will discuss free and paid for cloud based storage Typically, if you have an account with Microsoft or Google to use their cloud based software you will already have some cloud storage available. For example, Google provides the Google Drive and Microsoft provides the OneDrive. Each of thees have a limited amount of storage that you will receive for free. A third option you may consider is Dropbox. I will discuss each option below and the pros and cons of each.<\/p>\n