Cloud storage for free: how to choose a cloud? Comparative review of cloud storage The best cloud for storing files.

Cloud data storage has given us many pleasant opportunities - the necessary files can be accessed from any device connected to the Internet, and they can be edited by several people at the same time; in addition, such technologies allow us to count on the safety of important information in the event of a failure on local storage. However, not everything is rosy - as with any advanced technology, when faced with the reality of cloud services, a number of different problems come to light. One of the most important is safety. It is precisely focusing on the security of the service provided that the analytical center Falcongaze compiled a rating of the most popular cloud data storages.

Like most of its competitors, Dropbox encrypts client data on the server side, but refuses encryption in the client part of the program. Also, file streaming from the company's servers is not always encrypted. This makes it possible for data to be compromised during downloading and uploading files to servers. Additionally, Dropbox has an impressive history of security incidents. The most egregious of them occurred in June 2011 (in fairness, it should be said that at that time most of the competitors simply did not exist): then, within four hours, anyone could gain access to any account on the service. This happened due to an error in the updated server software. Due to the above problems, Dropbox found itself in last place in the ranking of popular cloud storages. In addition to the basic version, Dropbox has a business plan. It provides additional encryption during data transfer and in applications, storage of file contents in the form of encrypted blocks, as well as separate storage of metadata and data blocks.

One of the most popular domestic competitors of Dropbox and Google Drive is a cloud service Yandex.Disk, ranked Falcongaze fourth place. It has built-in integration with other Yandex services, in addition, there is two-factor authentication, including using a PIN code, QR code and TouchID. When downloading, files are checked for viruses, and data is transmitted over an encrypted channel. In 2013, a big scandal occurred in connection with the cloud service from Yandex - the next update contained a critical error, due to which the installer of the client program tried to delete the system partition of the operating system. As a result, some users who installed the update stopped running a number of programs, and Windows registration was also deactivated. Yandex provided all those affected by the incident with 200GB of free space on Yandex.Disk for unlimited use.

On third ended up in the ranking Google Drive. It has two-factor authentication, account recovery is carried out using a secret question, the service itself checks the user-created password for reliability and does not allow the use of easily hacked passwords. The service provides the user with 15GB of server space for free use. As of 2014, Google Drive had more than 240 million users. Data is encrypted during transmission, which prevents it from being compromised during download, however, third-party programs will be needed to encrypt data on the server. In addition, Google Drive has a version for business accounts, which allows for a higher level of file protection. For example, it lacks analysis of transmitted information to display advertising and contains a single sign-on system, email security rules, for example, the forced inclusion of the TLS protocol, as well as IRM and DLP technologies.

For users of the apple ecosystem, there is cloud storage from Apple - iCloud drive. Probably the biggest scandal in the history of cloud storage is associated with this service. We are talking about an incident that took place in 2014. Then there was a massive hacking of iCloud accounts, as a result of which a lot of personal data of users got into the network. The wide spread of the scandal was facilitated by the fact that the leaked data contained personal photos of a number of celebrities, such as Jennifer Lawrence, Kaley Cuoco and Jenny McCarthy. After the incident, Apple seriously began to improve the security of the service - now data in iCloud Drive is encrypted both during transmission and on the server, the password is checked for strength, and two-factor authentication is present. Taking into account the above, Apple's cloud storage has come to second rating line.

Thanks to the popularity of office products from Microsoft Corporation, the cloud service from this company has also gained considerable popularity - OneDrive. OneDrive provides up to 5 GB of free server space and also supports integration with Microsoft Office and Outlook products. The basic version of the product provides encryption of data transmitted between the client and the server, as well as two-factor authentication; in addition, the password for the Microsoft account is checked for reliability. In addition to the basic version, OneDrive also has a business version with improved security features. In the business version, OneDrive provides "physical data center security, network security, access security, application and data security." The storage types used in the business version of OneDrive - encrypted content storage, content database and key storage - are physically separated, so that if any of them is hacked, information cannot be compromised. All this has brought OneDrive to first place in the ranking of cloud services in terms of security.

And a year later, it’s safe to say that cloud storage and its position in the world have changed.

Many cloud storage services continue to evolve and develop for the better, while others, on the contrary, are losing user loyalty. There are also younger cloud storages that look extremely attractive. Although it’s nice that there are no longer such a huge number of new cloud storages, which appeared in huge quantities just a few years ago, “died” in the same huge quantities.

I’ll make a reservation right away that this top will only include cloud storage services that provide users with at least a little free space. There are also fully paid cloud storages that please with their quality, but they will not be included in this top.

Cloud storage from Microsoft, which replaced the closed SkyDrive. The storage is tightly integrated into the company's ecosystem and many applications. High speed, 15 GB of free space and integration with Microsoft Office Online. Everything was fine, but Microsoft managed to ruin the entire reputation of its storage.

Office 365 subscribers received unlimited storage on OneDrive. The description said 1 TB, but when the limit was reached, the available space was added automatically. Some users began to abuse the trust of Microsoft, as a result, hundreds of terabytes of data, all photos, the entire film library, heaps of games downloaded from torrents, and much more accumulated in their accounts. OneDrive was originally designed to be a tool for storing, collaborating, and transferring documents, not as a permanent repository for everything you relatively need. Microsoft was angered by this and the company took a step that undermined . There will be no unlimited accounts from the first quarter of 2016. The free 15 GB and bonus for automatically uploading photos were also seriously reduced. It is planned to give only 5 GB on a free basis, and the remaining 10 GB and the bonus will simply be taken away from users who did not manage this space in time, using certain manipulations.

The cancellation of unlimited accounts can still be justified, even a reduction in the free volume can be justified, but the fact that the company wants to take away the already existing free space has an extremely bad effect on further trust in OneDrive. As a result, we are left with cloud storage of lesser quality, but due to the lack of trust in it, only tenth place.

9. MEGA

Last year, MEGA cloud storage was much higher in the ranking. Over the course of a year, the web interface of the repository changed, there were problems with the operation of the repository itself, and in the end, Kim Dotcom, who once founded MEGA, announced that . Is it possible to trust a grieved husband from whom his creation was taken away? Not sure.

Among the minuses, it is worth noting that over the year the repository had problems with access, problems with synchronization, especially of a large number of documents and through the web interface. In addition, some noted that sometimes they could not access their files and the servers simply did not respond.

After the redesign, MEGA lost all these problems. Moreover, it received the function of encrypted calls between users of this service. And don't forget, MEGA still gives 50 GB of free space to all its users. But adding up all of the above, this storage cannot be called exemplary, although it has not sunk to the antics of OneDrive, hence the higher position.

Initially, in this place, when the draft version of the top was written, there was a cloud storage “in Safe”, which was recommended by readers in the comments to the 2015 top. By the end of 2015, “vSafe” announced its closure, and, as the developers assure, everyone was warned by mail. But for some reason this letter did not arrive and was not in the spam folder, so all the files were lost. It's sad, but we need to look for a more reliable alternative.

There was nothing better than SpiderOak. Cloud storage has been around for many years and differs from all of the above by its high level of confidentiality. Reliable encryption that has never been broken by attackers. Many secure smartphones and other gadgets that specialize in the security and safety of user data recommend SpiderOak.

SpiderOak has applications for a large number of operating systems. There are also some disadvantages, in particular, only 2 GB of available space is given for free. So, all that remains is to either store only the most valuable data in a more securely encrypted storage, or switch to a paid account. Many call SpiderOak the benchmark for encrypted cloud storage.

7.Box

More and more this storage is moving into the business segment. Data encryption, built-in note-taker and 10 GB of free space. All these are good indicators, along with stability, because Box can be called one of the oldest cloud storage services.

It’s just that the file size and many other indicators are significantly limited in the free version, and it’s not getting any better; the rules are becoming more and more stringent. If this continues, Box’s position and the loyalty of ordinary users will come to naught. However, on a paid account there is much more space and much fewer restrictions.

6.Copy

Copy storage pleases with its stability. It simply gives 15 GB of free space and works stably. No interruptions or other problems. It simply synchronizes all your data, which is the main criterion for any cloud storage.

However, this storage system lacks an ecosystem, connections with other services and applications, and the ability to open at least some types of files directly in the cloud, without the need to download them (now we are talking about the web version).

There are a lot of Apple device users and all of them are essentially iCloud users. ICloud stores settings, user data, synchronizes a huge number of files, and much more.

Even on Apple operating systems, problems can arise when working with iCloud. How to upload a file, why does the iCloud Drive application appear only after manipulating the settings? With the Windows version everything is even worse, and on other systems there is no such storage at all. The closed nature of iCloud does not allow us to rank it higher.

4. Yandex.Disk

One of the most popular repositories for Russian-speaking users. Over the past year, Yandex.Disk began to support more file formats, learned smart photo sorting, and received deep integration with Yandex.Mail. 10 GB of free space is also here to stay.

Don’t forget about the numerous promotions during which you also get free space. For example, you were pleasantly surprised when, after inserting a new flash drive, you suddenly received 30 GB of space for a year as a gift. In addition, after the recent update of Yandex.Disk, Microsoft Office Online, which means you can easily create and work with office documents directly in the browser.

3. Cloud Mail.Ru

The main competitor of Yandex.Disk, despite the fact that it launched much later, managed not only to catch up, but also overtook its competitor. If the first users who wanted to test the “raw” version of this storage received 1 TB of free space, beta testers received 100 GB, now they give only 25 GB, but the volume is no longer going to be reduced.

The storage not only provides a fairly large volume, which is more than enough to store documents, projects and photos, but also can work with office documents, thanks to integration with Microsoft Office Online. Don't forget about integration with mail either.

Last year's leader is still inferior in functionality to this year's leader. This is the case when the cloud storage itself has not changed, moreover, it has become much better over the year, but the competitor has become much better.

This is the oldest of the cloud storage services. In many ways, it was Dropbox that gave birth to this type of service. Over the course of the year, Dropbox acquired even greater support for formats, improved speed, added the ability to leave comments on files, and, thanks to cooperation with Microsoft, was integrated into Microsoft Office and Microsoft Office Online. Thanks to the latter, you can now also edit office documents directly in the browser. Built-in collective work with documents has also appeared

1. Google Drive

The undisputed leader among cloud storages. 15 GB is not the most important thing it gives. There is also a built-in office suite, Googel Docs, which supports many more formats than its main competitor, Microsoft Office Online. In terms of the number of supported formats, Google Drive is ahead of all its competitors. In addition, there are extensions that, if desired, can allow you to perform all the necessary actions with files: office work, listening to music, watching videos, working with archives, directly in the cloud storage, from the browser, without the need to download files to the device.

Videos and photos are not of very high quality and are not taken into account at all when calculating the occupied space. Also, the Android application, starting with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, begins to synchronize the settings of your phone, tablet or other gadget, making it easy to restore your data to a new device. Backups are also not taken into account when calculating available space in Google Drive.

As a result, we have cloud storage, the level of which no competitor has yet reached. The capabilities of Google Drive are impressive and its development is not stopping.

Hello dear site readers! The Internet is developing at an amazing speed and now there is no need to store data on your computer when so many free cloud file storages have appeared all around.

“Cloud” means a dedicated space in the system of one of the services, where any registered user can upload any information, even personal data, without worrying about their safety.

But because of such abundance, the question arises: which system should the average user choose, which is the best?

Therefore, in this article I propose to conduct a small comparison (review) of the most popular cloud storages, which, in order to attract a larger audience, provide a free disk quota at high speed.

Why do we need cloud services?

Before I start talking about the top ten systems, let's once again remember what the meaning of virtual disk space is and what benefits the user receives.

Cloud storage is a type of online storage where data is stored online on dedicated servers, access to which is provided only to clients and third parties with their permission.

In simple words, this is the same computer that you use at home, only a certain organization owns it and gives everyone free or for money hard drive space where you can upload/download files and other data if you have Internet access.

Advantages of online storage:

• Having access to files from anywhere in the world if you have access to the network.
• High data processing speed.
• Availability of applications for working with the cloud on PC and mobile device.
• Free place.
• File storage security.

Essentially, by using the services of a virtual service, you get free hosting for storing files.

After registering in one of the systems, the user will be allocated a portion of disk space, which can be increased for an additional fee.

The user can work with the account both by directly visiting the site and by installing special applications on the computer and mobile devices, where all files located in the cloud will be automatically synchronized on all devices.

It turns out that no matter what device you access your cloud from, only the current set of files will always be available.

The best services for storing files online TOP 10

If you look at all the available services, you hardly have enough fingers, but only a few of them are still afloat, gaining popularity among users of the global network.

Let's take a closer look at the list of cloud storage services that I personally use and are worth paying attention to.

Yandex Disk This is one of the most popular cloud storage services in the Russian-speaking segment, since most of us have automatically receive part of the memory in the cloud.

If you decide to use the service from Yandex to store files, then get ready to receive 10 GB of space for free, a user-friendly interface and excellent synchronization.

Those who do not have enough allocated memory will have to pay extra according to the current tariffs:

• 10 GB — 30 rubles
• 100 GB - 80 rubles
• 1 TB — 200 rubles

There is also a referral program, where for each invited participant you will receive 512 MB of available memory, plus participation in current promotions will allow you to receive up to another 50 GB.

For example, for my email birthday the service credited me with +5 GB for life.

For the convenience of working with files, cloud users can install a program for PC (for Windows, Mac OS, Linux) and applications for mobile devices (for Android, iOS, Windows Phone) to perform all operations with data on different devices.

Google Drive This is a virtual cloud for storing user files from the foreign company Google, a leader in the IT industry.

If you go deeper into the story, the developers just remade the former service for working with Google Docs documents.

To get an account in Drive, it is enough to register a mailbox in Google, although this rule applies to all services of a foreign search engine.

I don’t think this will be a problem for anyone, because after that all new users get 25 GB of space for free.

To expand disk space, be prepared to pay extra:

• 100 GB — 499 RUR/year
• 1 TB — 4990 rub/year
• 2 TB — 9990 rub/year
• 4 TB — 19990 rub/year

Personally, I still have an old account on Mail, when everyone was given 100 GB for free, but apparently the company realized that this was extremely unprofitable for them and decided to reduce the disk space by four times.

For those who are used to working with files not on the service side online, but via PC and mobile. devices, it is possible to download the program for any computer operating system (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux) and smartphone (iOS, Android, WinPhone).

DropBox This is one of the oldest file storage services on the Internet, which is loved by many for its simplicity and support for a large number of file formats.

But alas, not everything is so rosy; one of the minuses is the small amount of space provided to new participants - 2 GB for free, and everything else for money:

• 1000 GB – $9.99/month
• As many GB as needed - $15 per user per month + tax

It is worth noting that you can use the cloud both on a computer (Windows OS) and smartphones (iOS, Android); you can learn more about it from the link provided.

OneDrive This cloud storage, once known as SkyDrive, is a development by Microsoft, which constantly monitors its products without ceasing to improve them.

To get started, it is not necessary to register, it will be enough to log in to the related services Outlook.com or Xbox Live.

New members receive 15 GB of disk space for free. If you wish, you can increase the limit; just invite friends, where 500 MB will be credited for each new participant.

There is only one paid tariff:

• 50 GB for $1.99/month

Don't forget about syncing files on PC (Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7 and Vista), mobile devices (iOS, Android, WPhone) and Xbox.

Mega A relatively new file storage created by MEGA Encrypted Global Access, where all data is transferred to the server in encrypted form.

It turns out that even the cloud does not know what information users are working with.

It has also gained enormous popularity due to the large amount of allocated memory - 50 GB free for all new participants.

I think it’s very tempting to get so much disk space for free without inviting friends or other rules.

For those who are accustomed to working with large volumes of information for a monetary fee, you can always expand the limit.

• 200 GB – 4.99 €/month
• 500 GB – 9.99 €/month
• 2 TB – 19.99 €/month
• 4 TB – 29.99 €/month

For the convenience of file synchronization, Mega has developed computer, mobile and browser applications.

Box This cloud service is known on the Internet more as a tool for conducting business tasks, but it will also be useful for ordinary users.

You hardly have to worry about the safety of your data, since all information is transmitted to the servers via a secure SSL protocol, including 256-bit encryption.

But there is clearly a problem with the allocated space - only 10 GB and the maximum size of the transferred file should not exceed 250 MB.

You will have to pay money to increase the limit:

• 100 GB – 8 €/month (maximum transferred file size 5 GB)

You can synchronize files with your computer through a special one, and Box applications are provided for mobile devices.

4shared This is a cloud file-sharing hosting that has been popular among users since 2005.

It is not necessary to create an account, just log in using your Facebook accounts,

A cloud is usually a large object that occupies a large area. In the technical field, a cloud is a virtual remote service that provides users with data storage, application hosting, or physical space virtualization. Nowadays, cloud computing is used not only by large but also by small companies.

There are mainly three types of cloud services.

SaaS(Software as a Service, software as a service) - providing users with access to other public clouds of large organizations to store their data, for example, Gmail.

PaaS(Platform as a Service, platform as a service) - providing the ability to host and run applications on their clouds, for example, Google App Engine allows users to host their applications.

IaaS(Infrastructure as a Service, infrastructure as a service) - allows you to virtualize any machine and, using the client, the user can get the feeling of a real machine.

Cloud storage means storing the user's local files on special dedicated servers on the network that are designed for this. CompuServe was the first to offer its customers 128 kilobytes of disk space that could be used to store their files. Now this area is at the stage of active development and due to potential threats such as loss of data or information, hacking, and other similar cases, many organizations are releasing their cloud solutions that guarantee data confidentiality, this strengthens confidence in the success of cloud technologies.

In this article we will look at several solutions in this area. We will focus on open source software that is used by a huge number of people and large organizations. We will analyze only the best cloud services of 2016.

In the list of the best cloud storage services, OwnCloud is one of the first places. A Dropbox replacement for Linux users, it provides many features similar to those of Dropbox. Just like Dropbox, OwnCloud allows you to sync files between your local computer and a remote server.

Since it is an open source solution, users can get unlimited free storage space for their data by hosting this software on their server. The project started in January 2015 with the goal of providing an open source replacement for private, closed cloud storage. It is written in PHP, JavaScript, and is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS, and there are also mobile applications for Android and iOS.

OwnCloud uses Webdav server for remote access and can integrate with a large number of databases, including SQLite, MariaDB, Oracle Database, PostgreeSQL.

A large number of functions are supported, such as encryption, file storage, music streaming, content sharing via URL, Mozilla synchronization server, RSS aggregator for reading news feeds, one-click installation of programs, viewing videos, PDFs, editing office documents and much more.

The latest version of OwnCloud 8.2 adds several new features such as an improved design, the ability to notify users, and a time limit for storing files in the trash.

2. Seafile

Another file hosting based on open source software. It is written in C and Python, the latest stable version is 4.4.3, released on October 15, 2015.

Seafile's best cloud storage providers provide a desktop client for Windows, Linux, and OS X, as well as mobile clients for Android, IOS, and Windows Phone. Along with the free implementation of the Community Edition, released under the GPL license, there is a professional edition under a commercial license that provides additional features - some user protocols and the ability to search for text.

The project switched to open source distribution in July 2011, which attracted a lot of attention. Its main functionality is data synchronization, with an emphasis on security. Key features: online file editing, differential synchronization, minimal network bandwidth usage, and client data encryption. It is these features that have made this software popular in many foreign universities: University of Mainz, University of Berlin and University of Strasbourg, as well as among many people around the world.

3. Pydio

This is a free cloud storage, or rather file hosting, formerly known as AjaXplorer. Its goal is to provide its users with file hosting, file sharing, and synchronization. The project was started in 2009 by Charles DeJue and since 2010 has been supplied on all NAS equipment from LaCie.

Pydio is written in PHP and JavaScript and is available for Windows, Linux, MacOS, and also Android. There are now about half a million downloads from Sourcefoge. The service is endorsed by companies such as RedHat and Oracle. This is one of the most popular cloud storage services on the market.

Pydio itself is simply a kernel that runs on a web server and can be accessed through any web browser. Webdav's interface makes it an ideal online file management solution, SSL/TLS encryption makes data transfer secure and maintains privacy. Also available is a text editor with syntax highlighting, audio and video playback, integration with Amazon S3, FTP, or MYSQL, an image editor, and file and folder sharing using public URLs.

4. Ceph

Ceph was originally developed by Sage Well as a PhD thesis, but in the fall of 2007 he continued working on the project and expanded the development team. In April 2014, Red Hat took part in development. Currently, eight versions of the program have been released, the last release took place on April 7, 2015. This is a distributed cluster written in C++ and Perl with a high degree of scalability and is also freely available.

Data can be brought into Ceph as a block device, a file, or as an object via the RADOS gateway, which supports Amazon S3 and OpenStack Swift.

These free cloud storage services are data secure, scalable and reliable, here are the additional features:

• Network file system with high performance
• Compatible with virtual machine clients
• Object-level mapping

Syncany, released about two years ago in March 2014, is one of the lightest on the list - the best cloud services of 2016 for data storage and file sharing systems. Currently under active development by Philipp Heckel and available as a command line tool for all systems. The GUI is still under development.

One of the most important things about Syncany is that it is just a tool. Therefore, you need to have your own storage accessible via FTP, SFTP, Webdav, Samba or Amazon S3.

6. Cozy

This tool provides not only file access and synchronization, but a complete package of features that will help you build your own application platform.

Like Syncany, Cozy provides flexibility to the user in terms of disk space. You can use your personal servers or trust data to Cozy servers. To function properly, this software requires two more projects - CouchDB for database storage and Whoosh for indexing. The program is available for all platforms, including smartphones.

The main features that make this solution one of the best: the ability to store all contacts, files, calendar in the cloud, and synchronize all this between a laptop and a smartphone.

Another notable feature is that Cozy is lightweight. A version of Cozy Light has been released that can even run on Raspberry Pi or cheap VPS hosting.

7. GlusterFS

GlusterFS is a network file system for storing files. The project was originally developed by Gluster Inc, but has now been taken over by Red Hat. Following a 2011 lawsuit from Gluster Inc, RedHat renamed its product Red Hat Gluster Storage. It is available for most platforms: Linux, OS X, NetBSD, OpenSolaris. The project was used as a basis for scientific research.

GlusterFS uses a client-server model, with servers deployed as storage clusters. The client can connect to the server using a native protocol over TCP/IP, Infiband or SDP and store files on the GlusterFS server. To ensure data storage reliability, file-based and replication-based data mirroring, load balancing, disk caching scheduling, etc. are used.

Another useful feature is that the data is stored in native file systems such as ext4, xfs, etc.

StackSync is a Dropbox-like tool that runs on OpenStack, designed to solve the problem of organizations to sync all their data in one place. It is written in Java and released under the GPLv3 license.

Its structure consists of three main components: a synchronization server, OpenStack, and a desktop or mobile client. The server handles metadata and logic, OpenStack is focused on data persistence, and desktop clients help users synchronize data with their personal cloud.

SyncStack uses various data optimizations that allow the system to scale to meet the needs of thousands of people to efficiently use cloud resources. Additional features: RESTFull API as a Swift module, which allows you to use mobile applications and applications from third-party developers to synchronize data. There is also a separation between data and metadata making this solution very flexible for deployment on different configurations.

Another prominent entry on the list of the best cloud storage services of 2016, Git-annex is a file synchronization solution developed by Joy Hess and released in October 2010. This solution also provides file sharing and synchronization, but does not rely on any commercial service or central server. It is written by Haskell and is available for Android, Linux, OS X and Windows.

Git-annex - manages the user's GIT repository without saving the session. Instead, it only stores links to files in the GIT repository, and manages the files associated with the link. It also provides file mirroring, which is necessary when restoring data.

In addition, this service provides instant access to files as soon as you need them. It should be noted that git-annex is available for many Linux distributions, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debain, etc.

10. Yandex.Disk

Yandex Disk is a cloud storage system and synchronization service released in April 2012 and available for all major platforms, including Windows, Linux, OS X, Android, iOS and Windows Phone. It allows users to sync their data between different devices and shares it with everyone on the internet.

Yandex Disk provides its users with many different functions: a built-in flash player, sharing files between users by exchanging links, synchronizing files between different devices, unlimited storage time, WebDav support.

11. Bitcasa

Developed by Bitcasa Inc, a California-based company, this is another cloud service for data storage and synchronization. Available for Windows, OS X, Android and Linux. Not all components of the program are open source, but it is still related to it, since it uses projects such as gcc/clang, libCurl, OpenSSL, APR, Rapid JSON, etc.

The main features are file storage, sharing, and encryption, which makes data storage much safer. It is these features that make it popular among customers from more than 140 countries around the world.

12. nas4free

NAS stands for Attached Network Storage or connected Internet storage. 4free means its free and free nature. The program was released in May 2012. This is a network server for storing data, with a user interface written in PHP. It supports i386/IA-32 and x86-64 architectures.

Nas4Free supports sharing between multiple operating systems, ZFS, data encryption, protocols such as Samba, CARP, Bridge, FTP, RSYNC, TFTP, NFS.

Unlike other programs, nas4free can be installed and run from USB, and can also be run from Live USB or LiveCD. Nas4free has won several awards, Project of the Month (August 2015) and Project of the Week (May 2015).

conclusions

These were all the most interesting and best cloud services of 2016 for storing and synchronizing data, they have either already gained great popularity over the years or have just been released and are ready to make their huge contribution to this industry. Our review of free cloud storage is complete. If you know of other great cloud services that you or your organization uses, please post in the comments.

Cloud file storage technologies are today considered a must-have tool for a modern Internet user. Each of them has an account on one of the cloud drives: Google Drive, Yandex.Disk or Mail.ru. Most have at least two of these services. In this article, we will look at the main network file storage services, ways to increase disk space on them, and provide tips on how to use them effectively and safely.

What is cloud storage

Local disks and memory cards are physically connected to our computer or tablet by wires. Network storage drives are physically located in special server centers, where a stable power supply and a comfortable operating temperature are ensured. The local computer communicates with them via the Internet. When you access your cloud drive through a browser or mobile client application, the system displays a list of files located on the server. When a user transfers a file from the local My Documents folder to Cloud storage, the document is physically copied via the Internet and ends up on the server.

Therefore, even after the physical destruction of the phone or computer, the files will remain safe and sound. They can be viewed via a web browser on any computer or tablet.

To assess the popularity of disk storage, it is enough to cite one statistical fact. As of 2014, the most popular cloud was Google Drive. The storage works by default on all Android devices, except Chinese ones, where access to Google is limited. Its users were 240 million people.

What can you use Cloud Drive for?

The main tasks solved by users using network storage:

Developers are constantly improving the security system of their services. The standard today is to store user files in encrypted form. Without a special key, this is a useless set of bytes.

The security of services should not be overestimated. In 2011, the reputable company IDC published its report, where it unsatisfactorily assessed the level of their secrecy and resistance to hacking. Experts recommended strengthening the level of authorization and encrypting files in storage and during transfer. Most developers listened to the recommendations and made changes to their applications.

Login to the Cloud Storage can be protected with two-factor authorization: specifying a password and confirming login using your phone. But for most users, one password is enough.

When compiling this rating, the company's experts took into account technological solutions to ensure the security of user data and the presence of failures in the service in the past. Considering that all storage facilities presented in the diagram have been operating for more than 5 years, the history of failure statistics is comparable.

1. 1. Recognized as the safest OneDrive. Experts listed the benefits of the service as innovative security system , when the keys to encrypted files and the data themselves are stored on separate servers. By gaining access to only one of these arrays, an attacker will not be able to benefit. Let us remind you that OneDrive is aimed at the corporate market and is the default drive when subscribing to Office365. Subscribers are allocated up to 100 GB at once, while free users receive only 6 GB.
   2. Ranked second in safety iCloud Drive. This cloud serves users of the Apple ecosystem: iPhone, MacBook and other proprietary solutions of the corporation. Data encryption is performed here both during storage and during transmission. Overall the storage is reliable and comparable to OneDrive in terms of security, but it earned a negative point for a failure in 2014. Many users were involved in this scandal. Private photographs of stars stored on their iPhones have been leaked online. If you use Apple technology, then you can’t do without a proprietary cloud. It backs up data and system settings of your phone and laptop. With its help, deleted photos and documents are recovered.
   3. Third place awarded Google Drive. Reason - insufficient level of security when storing files . When transmitting data to the server and to the client device, the traffic is encrypted. Experts added two-factor authentication with password confirmation via SMS to the phone number specified during registration as an advantage of the cloud. Experts note that in business accounts designed for corporations, Google Drive provides an increased level of security comparable to OneDrive. Regular users are recommended to encrypt confidential data themselves. For example, archive them with a password.
   4. Russian takes fourth place Yandex.Disk. Experts noted that the security benefits of this cloud include a wide range of authorization methods, including TouchID, PIN code and QR code. An important advantage for ordinary users is checking files for viruses . The transmission channel of the Yandex storage is encrypted, like its competitors. The only serious failure is considered to be an error in the service’s client program for Windows, made by the company’s programmers in 2013. Users did not lose out. They were allocated 200 GB of disk space for unlimited free use as compensation.
   5. Fifth place for an old-timer of the market - DropBox. Its security disadvantage is no client side encryption . In theory, this allows an attacker to intercept data as it is transmitted from the local device to the server. In 2011, there was a serious glitch in the DropBox service. It lasted only 4 hours. During this period of time, it was possible to access the entire storage, and not just the data area of ​​​​a specific user. But we note that in 2011 there were simply no other competitors from the rating. DropBox was a pioneer in network-attached storage and had room for mistakes.

How to get more free cloud storage space

All cloud storage services are commercial. Their main task is to earn the money required to cover the costs of supporting the development team and developing the server infrastructure. Therefore, users are provided with a limited amount of free space. To receive additional free storage space for photos and documents, you will need to meet certain service conditions or participate in promotions.

For example. Yandex.Disk offers 32 gigabytes of free space. auto-uploading photos on a mobile device.

Other cloud services also offer space expansion options for free:

• For inviting friends.
• For installing a cloud drive mobile application or program on a computer.
• Students and teachers for providing a photograph of a student ID or university pass. Yandex.Disk provides an additional 32 free gigabytes for this promotion.

Also, cloud file storage services provide free space under an affiliate scheme. For example, when purchasing laptops or tablets of a certain brand.

A universal way to multiply your cloud storage space for free is to create multiple accounts.

How to install a cloud drive on your computer

Three network storages are most suitable for a computer:

1. Google Drive. It is chosen by active users of GMail services and the powerful online document and spreadsheet editor - Google Docs.
2. Yandex.Disk. A good choice when you don't need to use Google services. This is a reliable Russian cloud drive, for which you can easily get up to 42 GB or more free space by enabling auto-upload of photos on your mobile device.
3. OneDrive. Users of computers and laptops with the Windows 10 operating system receive support for this network drive “in load”. If you have a Windows account, 5 GB of space is allocated on OneDrive. In the This PC shortcut, a folder of the same name is created, synchronized with the cloud.

Installing the program on your computer will only be required for the first two services. OneDrive support is implemented at the system level. Here are step-by-step instructions for installing the application using Yandex.Disk as an example.

Every modern smartphone comes with support for at least one cloud storage out of the box.

• Apple phones come with iCloud support for backing up settings, system files, and photo syncing. Additionally, you can connect Yandex storage using a program downloaded and installed from the official Apple app store.
• Samsung phones include support for two clouds at once: the proprietary Samsung Cloud and Google Drive. Owners of smartphones of this brand have a Google account, like Android users, and a Samsung account for the manufacturer’s proprietary services.
• Xiaomi phones out of the box support communication with Xiaomi's own cloud, MiCloud. Everything works similarly to the iPhone: backups are made to storage on the network and photos from the camera are sent.
• Windows Phone smartphones come with OneDrive access enabled. If you have an Office365 subscription, your available storage will increase by 100 GB.
• Android smartphones from other manufacturers support one cloud storage - Google Drive.

You can purchase additional space by fulfilling the requirements of service promotions or by purchasing it with money.

Please note that Android smartphones support Google Drive, but to work with Google Docs and Sheets you will need to install separate mobile applications. There is also a client program from Google Drive for easy navigation through network storage. The latter is most often preinstalled on the phone.

If the capabilities of the pre-installed network storage are not enough for you, install a third-party one. The most popular: Yandex.Disk, DropBox, Mail.ru.

We'll show you how to install an application for them using Yandex Drive as an example.

Create a complex password. Your private photos and videos are more likely to be leaked online if you have come up with a simple password. A complex one can be generated using a special program or you can come up with it yourself using the following algorithm: !-!123HELLO-WoRlD123!-!. This combination is easy to remember, but is a very difficult password to crack.

Encrypt sensitive data before uploading it to the network. It is dangerous to store passwords and account keys in clear text. If you don't have a dedicated encryption program, archive sensitive files with a password before sending them online.

Use dual authentication. A number of network storages support dual authentication. You need to enter a password and confirm the entry by sending a code from an SMS sent by the service. This procedure seems less convenient, but provides greater data protection.

History of cloud file storage technologies

The phrase “cloud technologies” was first used in 1997. The new global global network required a new computing paradigm. Professor Ramnath Chellup from the University of Texas has proposed a move to cloud computing as an alternative to increasing local computing power.

Real developments in terms of sharing resources on the network date back to 2000. We owe the commercial launch of the service on the new cloud scheme to Amazon. This happened in 2002.

Google has become a pioneer in the implementation and development of cloud applications running through a browser. The new technology has been on the market since 2009.

The idea of ​​​​creating cloud storage on the Internet is described by its inventor Drew Houston as follows. The guy was sitting on a bus traveling from Boston to New York, with a laptop, but without a flash drive, left at home. To overcome the problem, he began to think about accessing files wirelessly and came up with an application that would implement this idea. The first DropBox code was written, according to this version of events, right on the bus.

According to the founder of DropBox, Steve Jobs wanted to acquire the project at the startup stage, but was refused. Today the company is worth approximately US$4 billion.

All subsequent network storage: iCloud, Google and Yandex appeared much later. Their main promotion paradigm is that the service is conditionally free. The user receives part of the gigabytes immediately, free of charge and unconditionally. The rest must be purchased by subscription.