Is Dropbox still the best for cloud storage?

[CarlJ]

Dropbox mostly, because they were first, because it "just works" (especially the very nice "it's just a folder" client on the Mac), and because there are a *lot* of iOS apps with built-in support - you can't throw a rock without hitting a text editor app that supports Markdown and Dropbox (Byword is the best, BTW). Also, my Dropbox account is 13GB and completely free, as a result of jumping through various hoops (won an early contest, participated in others). If they had a 50GB/$50 tier, I might pay them, but not going for the 100GB/$100 tier.

A number of things sync to/through iCloud, and I'm happy to let them, but I don't think of it so much as a place to store files (particularly since it intentionally doesn't allow much cross-app file access). On the other hand, I'm very happy to use iCloud for my iPhone/iPad backups, and some email (to get the push notifications).

I have a Box account mostly because they said "want a free 50GB account?" at some point, but haven't used it much (mostly because of the lack of built-in app support).

And I *just* signed up for a Microsoft OneDrive account because it's 7GB of free space to use with the free all-platform OneNote app (testing it out, don't know if I'll use it much).

Basically my Dropbox account is free and works, so someone's going to have to come along with a *much* better mousetrap (uh, more supported and even more free?) to get me to switch.

 

[jdechko]

Basically my Dropbox account is free and works, so someone's going to have to come along with a *much* better mousetrap (uh, more supported and even more free?) to get me to switch.

Great point. The barriers to switching are much higher when your needs are met by a free product.

 

[petvas]

I am a fan of Dropbox, mainly because of its great sync client for OS X. It allows syncing from anywhere, by using symbolic links, is very fast and works really well.
I also have OneDrive, but it's slow, has issues with specific special characters that wouldn't also work in a Windows environment and doesn't understand symbolic links. I use OneDrive only for syncing work files. Everything else is benign handled by Dropbox.
I haven't tested Google Drive, because I simply do not trust them and have no intention whatsoever to invest in the Google ecosystem. Apple and Microsoft are more than enough for me.

 

[simonsi]

Basically my Dropbox account is free and works, so someone's going to have to come along with a *much* better mousetrap (uh, more supported and even more free?) to get me to switch.

Me too. I even signed up for a OneDrive (was Skydrive then), Box, Copy, Googledrive and Amazon Drive to see which I would move to when I outgrow my free Dropbox space....the whole exercise means I' probably happily pay for some Dropbox space should I ever need it, all the others were not as good for me in some way....although I have remained most pleased with Copy so that comes a close 2nd for me.

 

[topdog33]

Best Cloud Storage

Don't hate on me BUT I have been testing out the new Microsoft OneDrive. I have to say Im impressed a bit. I renamed a file I had synched in OneDrive, GoogleDrive DropBox, and Amazon CloudDrive. OneDrive was the only one smart enough to change the name without synching the file again.

I am going to do more research on this but right now my favorite is Google Drive (15G free) and OneDrive (7G free).

 

[petvas]

Don't hate on me BUT I have been testing out the new Microsoft OneDrive. I have to say Im impressed a bit. I renamed a file I had synched in OneDrive, GoogleDrive DropBox, and Amazon CloudDrive. OneDrive was the only one smart enough to change the name without synching the file again.

I am going to do more research on this but right now my favorite is Google Drive (15G free) and OneDrive (7G free).

I am all but impressed with OneDrive. As long as it doesn't support OS X 100% (see my previous post), I can't replace Dropbox.

 

[alent1234]

Paid Dropbox is better than paid icloud since they do version backups

 

[maflynn]

I still use dropbox (free flavor), iCloud (free flavor) but mostly I'm now on OneDrive. Thanks to the Office 365 subscription I have 45GB of storage (20 free + 25 thanks to the subscription).

Its a tad slower then dropbox but overall, its doing a great job.

 

[Razeus]

Neither MS or Dropbox have responded to Google's price cut, so I guess each company is set for how they want to do business. It's up to you to decided.

 

[Bezbozny]

I have used dropbox, box, onedrive, google drive but now i am moving to copy which seems great and i love it for its speed and simplicity. It is also giving more free space than the others. If you would like to give it a try you can use the link below and you will get 5GB bonus (a total of 20gb) and i will also get 5gb more... Thank you!

https://copy.com/?r=oqjRyt

 

[petvas]

I have 106GB on DropBox, 65GB ob Google Drive (which I don't use) and 49Gb on OneDrive.
Dropbox is by far the best cloud storage, mainly because of its great Mac client that offers support for all native Mac file system features. I love it, even if it's too expensive.

 

[Oz.]

I have started using OneDrive on my iphone, it is very stable and the design looks great.


Get 0.5GB OneDrive free storage if you sign up from here.

 

[steve9856]

Thanks for this...

I have used dropbox, box, onedrive, google drive but now i am moving to copy which seems great and i love it for its speed and simplicity. It is also giving more free space than the others. If you would like to give it a try you can use the link below and you will get 5GB bonus (a total of 20gb) and i will also get 5gb more... Thank you!

https://copy.com/?r=oqjRyt

Thank you will try.

 

[gonca]

As already said, there is no reason to pay for this service. I have 50Gb free, just catching year by year the increase promotions they offered.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/oexi7sq2ejgeyor/2014-04-26 22.55.56.jpg

 

[Razeus]

yet another privacy issue with Dropbox. It's at least a couple of times a year with this company. Hence one of my top 3 reasons of why I left them.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/06/dropbox-forced-to-cut-links-to-shared-documents/#continued

If you've shared a Dropbox document recently, but your intended recipients are complaining that the link is bust, then here's the likely reason: The cloud storage service has been forced to sever many shared links after realizing, perhaps a bit late in the day, that they contained an inherent security flaw that could potentially expose documents to the wrong people. Specifically, an authorized user who opens a shared document and clicks on any hyperlink within its text could unwittingly expose the entirety of that document to the webmaster of the hyperlinked site.

 

[simonsi]

yet another privacy issue with Dropbox. It's at least a couple of times a year with this company. Hence one of my top 3 reasons of why I left them.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/06/dropbox-forced-to-cut-links-to-shared-documents/#continued

Right. Whereas we know (because they have just stated they are going to stop doing it because it is causing mistrust), for instance that Google actively mines data from emails that go through it for instance, even student emails using its dedicated education services. Comparing that with Dropbox fixing a latent issue of which there are no known instances of the flaw be misused....I know which I'll stay with thanks.

Better to be with someone who is open about discovering and fixing stuff. To assume the other services don't have similar issues is a bit naive TBH...

 

[Razeus]

Right. Whereas we know (because they have just stated they are going to stop doing it because it is causing mistrust), for instance that Google actively mines data from emails that go through it for instance, even student emails using its dedicated education services. Comparing that with Dropbox fixing a latent issue of which there are no known instances of the flaw be misused....I know which I'll stay with thanks.

Better to be with someone who is open about discovering and fixing stuff. To assume the other services don't have similar issues is a bit naive TBH...

Google is very open about their practices.

 

[=E=]

Google Drive is the one I use. I got an extra 200gb just by buying a chromebook. Its for 2yrs that I can have it for free.

 

[mashinhead]

Does google allow you to sign up incrementally, for example if I get 200GB of data does it cost 3.98 or do I have to jump up to 1tb if I want anything above 100gb.

 

[Razeus]

Does google allow you to sign up incrementally, for example if I get 200GB of data does it cost 3.98 or do I have to jump up to 1tb if I want anything above 100gb.

You have to jump up.

 

[CylonGlitch]

I normally use Dropbox but am running out of space quickly. I have been looking at OneDrive because if you use Bing for searching, and earn 100 points (easily achieved within a week) you can buy 100gb of space, for a year, with those points. The question is will you be able to do it again next year? I don't know, I haven't had it for that long yet.

I would like to see Dropbox increase the free space amount to 25gb and offer 50gb for $25/year and 100gb for $50/year. I would like to see iCloud increase storage to 50gb/year for free (Come on Apple, throw us a bone).

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Google is very open about their practices.

I don't trust Google with my data, they scan your emails, they have full use to use your pictures of you use Picasa, and who knows what they do with your data?

EDIT : Found this in the GoogleDrive TOS :

When you upload, submit, store, send or receive content to or through our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This license continues even if you stop using our Services (for example, for a business listing you have added to Google Maps). Some Services may offer you ways to access and remove content that has been provided to that Service. Also, in some of our Services, there are terms or settings that narrow the scope of our use of the content submitted in those Services. Make sure you have the necessary rights to grant us this license for any content that you submit to our Services.

Our automated systems analyze your content (including emails) to provide you personally relevant product features, such as customized search results, tailored advertising, and spam and malware detection. This analysis occurs as the content is sent, received, and when it is stored.

So yes, they scan everything you put up there. But they also have the rights to USE YOUR DATA! While it seems to say that they can use it for promotions and things, not reselling it. But image if you are writer and they use your book you're writing as a promotion. Or you're a musician and they use your music in a commercial. Or you're a video editor and they use your latest video in a commercial. All of which are covered under their TOS. EVEN IF YOU REMOVED IT AND QUIT THEIR SERVICES they can still use it!

Sorry, not something I'm willing to give them. So I can't recommend Google Drive to anyone.

 

[Razeus]

I don't trust Google with my data, they scan your emails, they have full use to use your pictures of you use Picasa, and who knows what they do with your data?

Show you ads.

 

[CylonGlitch]

Show you ads.

See previous post, I updated it with their TOS. They can use it for a LOT more than ads. And you give it to them forever, even if you cancel their service.

 

[Razeus]

See previous post, I updated it with their TOS. They can use it for a LOT more than ads. And you give it to them forever, even if you cancel their service.

Standard TOS for all of these online services. You're misunderstand what the terms mean.

 

[CylonGlitch]

Standard TOS for all of these online services. You're misunderstand what the terms mean.

... communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content.

That's quite clear. They can do basically ANYTHING with your data. PERIOD. Microsoft TOS says that they can access your data, scan it, and use it to improve their services, but no where does it say that they can publish it, distribute it, or make it publicly available. Dropbox, doesn't have anything like these, in fact they need your permission to do just about anything with it.

Sorry, not all services are as bad as Google's TOS'. You have Picasa on your machine, guess what, they can scan the pictures on your computer and do what they want with them. You have Chrome installed; they can monitor everything you do online and even what you do on your computer!