Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using Online File Storage

by Pedro Pacheco published 2 years ago

1. Google Online Storage.
Google wants to take care of your entire life with their online storage systems, and now with Google Drive, Google wants to become your virtual hard disk on the internet. The combination of Google Drive and Gmail makes it possible to have a real office that runs only using the internet without even needing the desktop for anything. Such system has advantages and disadvantages. The first advantage is the files are available from anywhere whether you use a computer or a mobile phone. However if you are running a business chances are you will always use the same computer.  Mobile phones will never be good enough for written business despite how fast they become.
Google Drive has the advantage of allowing the installation of applications but despite you having a fast internet connection, these applications are just too slow and not enough powerful for professional use. Google Drive allows you to upload your entire hard disk (provided you have enough storage online, it starts with just 5 GB) and allows to view and edit some files if you install the right application. However the desktop is still much faster and reliable than the Google Drive.
Gmail on the other hand is not the best place to store your documents and images either if you need to edit them later. Gmail should be used only for communications and nothing more. Google Drive and only Google Drive should be in charge of file storage.
With Google Drive you have
2. Zoho.
This company offers an all in one office solution for any serious business that needs documents, spreadsheets and databases. Their system is powerful enough for basic edition, however for serious matters it cannot beat Microsoft Office.  With Zoho you can have all your business online, but you cannot for example to make files work with each other like you can with Microsoft Office. Zoho is still a good solution for basic business and for university students who cannot afford Microsoft Office. With Zoho you have enough services to power an entire business. You have recruit, meetings, chat, notes, almost everything a desktop computer has. The only problem is some of these tools are paid and you need to upgrade, but still more cost effective than using desktop tools to do the same.
3. Microsoft Skydrive and Hotmail and Office 365
Microsoft is desperate to make their own true online solution to save files online and to make it work properly. First it started with Live Storage which was nothing but a pre-historic way to save files online. After some years upgraded to Mesh that failed miserably. After a while it upgraded to Office 365 and now Skydrive. The confusion is amazing, you have no idea where to work with Microsoft because all products are in Beta and some of them disappear while in beta as well.
I do not recommend that you use any Microsoft service for online business. Google Drive is much more competent in all areas and if the trend continues, it will continue that way for many years to come. Since the beginning of the internet that Microsoft has done absolutely nothing brilliant about the internet.
4. Yahoo Mail
Yahoo has no solution to online file storage such as documents or images or video. All Yahoo as is Yahoo Mail with unlimited space so you can upload files to your email and then save them using your inbox. This is the only thing you can do with Yahoo Mail and it is not recommended that you use it for serious file storage. The files are not encrypted in the server nor when you send them via email so you never know if there is someone sniffing the traffic. Another disadvantage, Yahoo Mail does not have free POP3 so if you ever need to mass download files using Outlook or Thunderbird, you can forget about it, or pay for POP3. Yahoo Mail is not a smart option to store files online considering the speed, lack of instant search and reliability of file access. You need to download them all one by one to access them and that takes much longer than having the files in the desktop.
5. Dropbox.
This service is amazing to share and sync files between computers however for online file edition it is simply impossible to work with. To make matters even worse, if you edit one document and your friend edits the very same document, when you upload them all to the Dropbox again, it will have trouble and could overwrite the document using the automatic sync. Google Drive is much better for this matter as it allows people to work on the same document in real time.
Working with online tools only has some advantages and disadvantages. However, based on my experience of online freelancing and university student, the desktop beats the online storage any day of the week in terms of security, speed and search. The cloud has yet to become faster and until everyone uses optic fiber the desktop will continue to beat the cloud. Mobile phones may trigger the development t of new web applications to manage a business but like DVDs never managed to be better than hard disks despite the faster development, desktop solutions will improve much faster than online solutions. One strong reason is the lack of success of the Google Notebook, it clearly shows that people need more powerful solutions than relying on online storage for everything. All it takes is a hacker to find out how to crack the system or the password and everything is gone forever.

Source: http://www.thepencentral.com/view/articles/online-file-storage-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-using-online-file-storage-258