How to get free cloud storage
You can streamline all your paper files and photos into the cloud without paying a cent.
‘ It never hurts to have a physical backup of your most important stuff, but for once, it’s a great idea to keep your head in the clouds.’
YOUR heart sinks straight into the pit of your stomach, where it begins to palpitate. The computer is flashing the blue screen of death, just as you’re putting the finishing touches to a 5000-word essay.
Despite several such experiences in university I didn’t get much smarter in the workplace, experiencing regular moments of panic when the system crashed right on deadline.
It’s taken me a while to catch on to the benefits of cloud computing but I’m there now.
For my fellow Luddites: If you’re working in the cloud, everything is stored online rather than on the physical hard disk of your computer. That means it’s accessible anywhere in the world with an internet connection, and automatically backed up as you go. Your house could burn down, and you wouldn’t lose a single file.
When I purged my possessions to head overseas, I uploaded my life to the cloud, emptying a concertina file of bulky paper documents. A quick photo of anything I might need later – receipts, warranties, notebooks – and my phone automatically uploaded the lot. Sentimental stuff, too. It feels wrong to bin thoughtful cards or letters, but who wants to lug them around forever? Now they’re tucked away safely online.
If you don’t have much stuff to store, the cloud won’t cost you a cent. Google Drive alone offers 15 gigabytes of free storage. To put that in context, you could stash away 100,000 Word documents without coming close to touching the sides. However, pics, video and music start to gobble up storage space fast. One strategy is to take out a free account with several providers. Besides Google, you can get another 5GB from Microsoft’s OneDrive, 2GB from Dropbox, 10GB from Box, and a whopping 50GB from New Zealand’s very own Mega, of Kim Dotcom fame. If you’re an Apple user, iCloud gives you 5GB of free space. The other option is to create multiple accounts with the same company. The difficulty is you can’t sync them all to your computer, so you’d have to manually upload some files. This piecemeal approach works fine for some people, but I struggle to remember what I ate for breakfast, much less where I stored the South Island holiday pics from 2008. I’ve opted to buy 100GB of space from Google for a monthly fee of US$1.99 (NZ$2.79), which is one of the lower prices on offer. If I ever use that up, I can upgrade to 1TB for US$9.99, which is the same price as Dropbox. Those with heftier storage needs would do well to look at Amazon’s Cloud Drive, which charges a flat US$60 for unlimited storage. It doesn’t actually integrate with your file system, so you still have to manually upload and download files, but it’s good for storing stuff longer-term.
If you are going to lay out some cash, make sure you try out the free or trial versions of the software first. Some people struggle to sync some programs, or don’t like the layout and interface.
Be sure to check and see if you already qualify for freebies too. Microsoft Office365 subscribers get a free terabyte of OneDrive storage. In the same vein, buying a new Android phone or Chromebook often scores you a free 100GB or so from Google.
In DropBox, you can earn several gigabytes of extra free storage by referring friends, turning on certain features, and completing tutorials.
It never hurts to have a physical backup of your most important stuff, but for once, it’s a great idea to keep your head in the clouds. Got a money question you’ve been struggling with? Want to send a bouquet or a brickbat? Email Budget Buster at meadows182@gmail.com, or hit him up on Twitter at @MeadowsRichard. 123rf