Could Google Drive possibly be the best option for cloud storage? That is going to be the question on many lips since the tech giant opted to reduce its prices.
Online storage is quickly becoming a must-have service for everyone. Most now have multiple devices, and they want to share their photos, videos and content files across the different devices. It was once a necessity to have a memory stick or even a floppy disk in the ‘90s, but now cloud storage offers the ability to sync the different devices together.
No matter what the price is, people want the best value for their money. That involves comparing the different services out there, including Dropbox and Microsoft’s SkyDrive, now called OneDrive, against Google Drive to see which one is best.
The first many people look at is the amount of storage they can get without having to spend any money at all. Google offers the most up front, with 15GB available before having to spend money. However, Dropbox offers almost 19GB for free for those willing to jump through a few hoops. The first 2GB is available straight away, but the rest comes from referrals, sharing via social media and following the company on Twitter. OneDrive offers 7GB for free.
When it comes to paying for storage, it is possible to get 10TB for $100 per month. It initially may lead to many believing that Google Drive is not the best for cloud storage, but it is important to assess whether that 10TB of date is really necessary. Most people will not need that, unless they use it for a lot of graphics and videos.
There is more to consider than space. The capabilities with different file formats is one to consider. Dropbox is much easier for those with various file formats. Drive requires users to switch from Word to Google Docs to save in the online storage and then reverse the process afterwards. While this is not impossible, it is tricky. OneDrive allows Microsoft Word considering it is the same company, but other file formats may be tricky. It’s understandable for Microsoft and Google to make it harder. They both want people to choose their own products only.
There are many benefits to choosing Drive. The features within the web client are extremely powerful. It is possible to use a variety of services, including Google Docs, Spreadsheets and the DocuSign to share signatures electronically.
The search function is extremely powerful and can search within files and even on pictures. This is not possible with either Dropbox or OneDrive yet. Neither use the Optical Character Recognition, because it is Google’s own.
Google Drive also allows people to design their floor plans, edit their images and videos, and send faxes remotely. The tech giant allows users to tap into many other products that it owns, and they outweigh any of those available to Dropbox and Microsoft.
Each service has its pros and cons, and it really depends on the features required by someone looking for online storage. Google Drive is extremely powerful and the new pricing is definitely enticing, but that does not necessarily mean that it is the best option for cloud storage.
Opinion by Alexandria Ingham
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3 Responses
Both Conrad and Than are correct, you do not need to covert your documents in order to store them in the drive. Conrad pointed to QuickOffice as a means to edit MS documents imported into the drive, and he is absolutely correct. Both fail to indicate that conversion to Google Docs format is only required when one intends to edit those documents inside the drive, without have to use another software such as Quickoffice. The option to convert a file in Google Docs format is set before importing a file into the Drive: in the drive, click on settings (the gear) and select upload settings, there you make your choice. ( For full disclosure, I am a Google Apps for Business reseller worldwide, based in the US. our site is http://www.p2commercial.com)
As Thuan pointed out, Drive does NOT require you to convert files to Google formats. You can save Excel, Word, Powerpoint, and so forth and edit them directly from Google Drive with QuickOffice or other tools. However, if you DO convert them to Google formats then the files do not count against your storage limit. You could have 100 TB of Google Sheets, Google Docs, Google Slides, and/or photos of 2048 x 2048 resolution or less and not be using up ANY of the 15 GB free storage on Google Drive. Only other file types are counted against the limit.
Alexandria:
You posted “Drive requires users to switch from Word to Google Docs to save in the online storage and then reverse the process afterwards.”. I believe this is totally incorrect. I guess that either you didn’t use Google Drive or you mean something else. I’ve used Google Drive and Drop Box for pretty long time. I can store all kinds of real format files including all original formats of MS Words, Excel, Powerpoint, etc. in Google Drive. I don’t have to convert anything. I can access all these files in real formats if I’ve MS Words or other apps of MS Office suite installed in my device. The same for Drop Box.
The problem with DropBox is this: if you don’t have MS office suite installed in your device, no way you can open a MS Words file. For Google Drive, no problem it will open the file in Google Docs format. So, This should be a good point. In your article, this is a bad one. You writing is very misleading for normal readers.
Thuan Nguyen