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Top 5 Free Spaces to Store Your Data

There’s been some news articles floating around lately about how there will soon be so much data stored on the Internet, that we literally don’t have the words to describe the amount of stuff floating around (or probably sitting around). Some rough reports estimate there are 295 exabytes of data (one billion gigabytes makes up an exabyte) currently being stored online. That is a lot of stuff, and some of it is probably yours (and mine).

So to make storing this stuff easier, here’s a list of very good storage options that all allow you to freely upload and store your data.


1. Dropbox

Dropbox

Dropbox  is a classic storage option. It’s insanely easy to share your stuff with others, by sending links to email addresses and makes downloading your stuff ridiculously easy. The only kicker is you only get 2 gigabytes of free storage before you either have to pay for it, or “refer” friends to sign up to get more free storage in small chunks. It’s effortless when switching between using mobile or desktop and is an old, good data storage friend.

Cost: 2 GB of free storage

2. Box

Box

Ever since I saw a photo of Box.net’s CEO, 26 year old Aaron Levie who looks like a 16 year old high school student, I keep thinking of his pale-doe-eye face and not that this booming company just raked in $81 million in venture capital investment. Box isn’t just a storage system anymore, it can replace FTP servers and be an online collaborative working tool where you can leave comments on data and assign tasks for things that need workin’ on. Box gives you 10GB free and like Drop Box or the below SpiderOak you can easily balloon this number up by sharing, referring and using their app. Boom. Sorted.

Cost: $9.99 USD /mo for 50 GB or $19.99 USD /mo for 100 GB

3. Bitcasa

Bitcasa

If you work with large images, videos or have 50,000 photos from the last ten Christmas celebrations, Bitcasa may be for you. It prides itself on “infinite” storage. It’s certainly more expensive than it’s peers, but it’s also offering an endless auto-magic storage solution. Bitcasa also pride themselves on tight security and privacy with end-to-end encryption and boats that only you can see your own data. It’s updated how you can swing easily between devices and operating systems, which makes it a strong (although spensy) storage solution.

Cost: $99 USD/ mo for infinite storage 

4. SpiderOak

SpiderOak

Like Bitcasa, SpiderOak prides itself on security and even has a policy called “Zero Knowledge” which states, “In technical terms it means that the server has ‘zero-knowledge’ of your data. In non-technical terms it means that your data is 100% private and only readable to you.” There’s been a lot of discussion regarding the ways in which Google Drive and Dropbox can view and scan your data to look for copyright infringements, so if you’re looking for a completely secure and private way to store your data, SpiderOak appears to value this above its competitors.

Cost: 2 GB free or $10 USD /mo for 100 GB 

5. Google Drive

<emGoogle Drive

While most people I know store documents on Google Drive, it’s now so thoroughly integrated into Gmail that using it is pretty much second nature. One thing I never really understood about it is its stunningly uggo aesthetics. If you know why Google Drive looks like the way it does, please share in the comments below. The first 15GB on Google Drive is free, and everything after that is cheap as chips. In terms of document storing and sharing, it’s easier than burning toast to use.

Cost: $2.49 USD /mo for 25 GB or $4.99USD /mo for 100 GB 


Do you have a favorite storage system? Do you rely on external hard drives instead? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

And be sure to Catch up on our recent posts: 9 Android Apps that Make Promoting Yourself Online Fun and Easy and Everything Wrong With Productivity Articles.

[Header Image: “Not The Only One II” by Galaxy Eyes]