Comparing the Big 4 Free Online Storage Services
How does DropBox, Microsoft OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive), Google Drive and Box.com match up against each other? While each service essentially performs the same actions, it can be difficult to make a choice when you are searching out a free provider. When searching for a free online storage service, you should keep the following in mind: bigger isn’t always better.
Let’s review the file restrictions vs. the free storage space for the big 4 free cloud storage services.
Microsoft OneDrive: This cloud storage service gives you the ability to store up to 7GB of data for free and the max restriction on file size is 2GB.
DropBox: This popular cloud file sharing service gives you 2GB total space for free and this amount is the least of all 4 services. There are no file size restrictions.
Google Drive: Google Drive allots the most space compared to all of the previously noted free cloud storage providers. Google Drive gives you 15GB of free storage space and the file size limitation is a robust 10GB.
Box.com: Box offers 10GB of total free storage space. The file size restriction with Box.com is 250MB.
When you compare and contrast these free services, you’ll be able to figure out which one works best for your specific situation. Since so many people already have a Google account, most begin using Google Drive within their Gmail accounts without even realizing it. These services are a good introduction on how to store data inside the cloud.
So many people want to archive files that they encounter but doing so on their local hard drive can cause their system to slow down or if their hard drive becomes corrupt, the files could be lost forever unless the user is willing to pay hundreds of dollars to a data recovery specialist. Using a free cloud service is a good way for novices to become comfortable with using the cloud and by using the free services, you will know what features you need most if you decide to start seeking out a premium cloud storage provider.
