Digital Chaos Control

Author: Patricia Dwyer

  • Do You Need a Cloud Service?

    Do You Need a Cloud Service?

    Cloud Storage

    You may have heard of “The Cloud”. It’s a term that basically just means Internet storage.

    Your email, for example, is a cloud service. Your email is stored on an email server, and delivered to your device(s) over the Internet. If your PC dies, or you lose your laptop, your email goes on accumulating on the server, and you can download all of the new email as well as all of the previous email, when you get back on-line.

    So that’s pretty convenient, right? Why not offer a service that does that for all of your documents, and your photos too? That way you get backup and easy retrieval when you need it. Hey, maybe you can even sync all of that data on your desktop, your laptop, and your iPad too. Wouldn’t that be cool?

    Happily, there are many cloud back-up services available that will do just that. They will automatically backup your designated data and sync that data with your other devices.

    So which cloud service to use?

    The first step in choosing a cloud service is to determine is how much storage you need. If you only want to store your important documents then a free service will be fine for you, but if you have tons of music files that you ripped from your CDs and also thousands of digital photos, then you may need a good deal of storage.

    You also want a service with the right features for you. For example, you may want to put everything in one designated folder and have it automatically backed up, or you may want a service that can sync your existing folder structure. And the software needs to be compatible with all of your devices.

    Here’s a summary of some of the cloud services. All of these services support Mac, PC, and iOS, and all except iCloud support Android.

     

    iCloudiCloud:

    Storage: 5GB free; $9.99/month for 1TB

    Features: automatic backup of iPhone and iPad; automatic sync of calendars, notes, and contacts; automatic sync of all content stored on iCloud Drive; automatic sync of all photos stored in iCloud Photo Library

     

    Google Drive Cloud StorageGoogle Drive:

    Storage: 15GB free; $9.99/month for 1TB

    Features: Automatic sync of all content stored on Google Drive; automatic upload for mobile photos

     

    Microsoft OneDrive Cloud StorageMicrosoft OneDrive:

    Storage: 5GB free, $1.99/month for 50GB; $6.99/month for 1TB of personal storage when subscribing to Office 365

    Features: Automatic sync of all content stored on OneDrive; automatic upload for mobile photos

     

    Dropbox Cloud StorageDropbox:

    Storage: 2GB free; $9.99/month for 1TB

    Features: Automatic sync of all content stored in the Dropbox folder; automatic upload for mobile photos

     

     

    SugarSync Cloud StorageSugarSync:

    Storage: 5GB free; $9.99/month for 250GB

    Features: Automatic sync of all content in designated folders; automatic upload for mobile photos

     

     

    There are also dedicated services for music and photos if you don’t want to pay for an all-in-one service. I’ll be writing about those services in an upcoming post, so check back soon!

    Need help with cloud services? Contact me.

  • How Does iCloud Work?

    If you’re an Apple user, iCloud is important for managing your data across your devices. You’re probably using your iPhone to add contact information when you meet someone new. If you need that contact information later to send an email from your Mac, then it’s there in your Mac address book – magically! You’re probably also using your iPhone to create appointments. So when you sit down at your Mac each morning, you can check your calendar for the day, and all of those appointments that you made on your iPhone yesterday show up on your Mac calendar. iCloud is also great for backing up all of the data on your iPhone and iPad.

    Unfortunately, iCloud works better in concept then in reality. You may find that when you sit down at your Mac in the morning, you can’t find that appointment that you know that you made yesterday. It’s not because you’re getting forgetful, or because you’re so busy that you’re not really sure what you’re doing, it’s because the iCloud servers are not always reliable. Your appointments will usually show up, but occasionally the sync process will be slowed by iCloud problems and some appointments will take a day or two to show up. You may also find that some subscribed calendars are not updating properly, and that you end up with duplicate contact and calendar entries because of sync issues.

    What about when you have an iMac and a PowerBook, and you what to keep working on a document on your PowerBook that you started on your iMac? You can use iCloud for this, but only if you use iWorks for your documents (and there have been problems with file corruption on iCloud).

    Not very useful, you think? iCloud will only improve over time. There are other alternatives, especially if you’re not Apple-only, but if you’re married to Apple and all of your devices will always have that partially-eaten apple logo, then be patient – iCloud is a great service for your needs.

    You get 5GB of free storage on iCloud. That should be enough for your iOS backups and your contacts and calendar sync. If you find that it’s not enough, you may need to manage what iOS is backing up to iCloud.

    If you need help managing your iCloud or setting up other cloud services, Digital Chaos Control can help! Contact us today.