The Cloud - A personal View
My Definition
Distributed storage and applications available via the Internet.
I prefer the ability to work off line and upload to cloud when near WiFi and also want the ability to use data, be it document, drawing or photo, both locally and online. It is surprising just how difficult this has proved to be.
Properties under consideration are
- Cost
I prefer free but will pay a small amount of cash for large amount of storage if available.
- Amount of storage
- Platforms covered
I use Mac, IOS, Windows - Synchronisation
Automatic or manual
Product |
Capacity |
Cost |
Mac |
IOS |
Win |
Synch |
Notes |
iCloud |
5GB |
free |
Y |
Y |
p |
auto |
|
free |
Y |
p |
Y |
web |
Google storage is shared between Gmail, Picasa Web Albums, and Google Docs. |
||
Dropbox |
2GB |
free |
Y |
Y |
Y |
auto |
|
Box.Net |
50GB |
free |
Y |
Y |
Y |
man? |
|
Flckr Pro |
unlimited |
$24.95 |
Y |
Y |
Y |
web |
Photos |
Weebly |
unlimited |
free |
Y |
N |
Y |
web |
Web Development |
Notes:
Support for Mac, IOS (i.e. iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch) and Windows
Y Fully supported
p Partial support
N Not supported
Synchronisation
auto Data is automatically transferred and synchronised between supported devices
man You need to do fetch and save data from supported devices
web Web application with data stored on internet, so will not require synchronisation
Extra storage options
iCloudExtra 10GB £14 per year Extra 20GB £28 per year Extra 50GB £70 per year |
|
|
20GB $5 per year 80GB $20 per year 200GB $50 per year 400GB $100 per year 1TB $256 per year
|
Dropbox50GB $9.99 per month 100GB $19.99 per month |
iCloud
|
Note: Your purchased music, apps and books as well as your Photo Stream, don’t count towards your free storage.
At first look iCloud works well with Apple Apps, such as Mail, iCal, Contacts, Reminder, iTunes, Pages, Keynote, Numbers, iPhoto and Aperture. Its main objective is to keep the iCloud version up to date and to download this version to other devices. When the version is updated by a device, say Pages document on iPad, then it is uploaded to iCloud which then pushes it down to other devices, including Macs.
I have yet to find an none-Apple app or application making use of it. Also I cannot find any way to move files to it, say with Mac Finder, and use it just as a web storage.
I will update this section if I find changes. |
|
Although Docs is for writing and developing files supported by Google I have discovered you can upload none supported files, say an Apple Pages document and although this cannot be opened within Google Docs you can download it back into a Mac. This is quite interesting given the comparatively cheapness of Google Internet storage.
If you access Docs through Google’s own Chrome browser you can upload a whole folder in one operation. You cannot do this (19-11-11) from within Safari.
Google web space can also be used for photos, see How I Process Photos.
|
Dropbox
|
A great cloud service used by masses of people and accessible by most platforms including Mac, IOS, Windows and Linux. Many IOS Apps will communicate directly with it.
You set up a Dropbox folder on your Mac and/or Windows machines and access just like any other folder. In the background Dropbox will load files into the cloud and push them down onto other devices once these are online. Well that is how my devices are set up.
Because free storage is somewhat limited I use it to store all my current none photo work such as HTML development so that it is both available from all my machines and also files are backed up in between my own backups. |
Flickr
|
If you are a keen photographer than you probably already use Flickr to save and display your photos. Free service has quite limited storage so only real option is the Pro account.
As a rule I keep my photos separate from documents and other data, unless they happen to be used in this other data. See How I Process Photos. |
How I Process Photos
I use Apple Aperture 3 as my main repository for photos. Up to last year when I migrated from Windows to App I used Lightroom 3. Both do a similar role. All photos are evaluated, adjustments made, graded, keywords added and renamed. I then add photos to an Aperture Project, which is usually just the month unless a specific event warrants its own project, such as a vacation.
Occasionally I may need to make use of Photoshop Elements 9, which I can call from within Aperture.
All my better photos, approx 10 to 15% 0f what I take I export to a folder slightly reduced and as jpgs using PlugIn BorderFX I still have originals in the Aperture library. From this library I use FlickR Uploader. Once in Flickr I can access them from any web enabled device. There are some good Apps for iPhone and iPad. Also I have a reasonable copy online as backup. I do backup full size versions to a USB Hard Drive so the Flickr backup is just another layer of protection.
Because there is no purchase price I also use Picasa and index the Flickr Export file. One major gripe is unlike Flickr, Picasa ignores my keywords added in Aperture and I have to add keywords again! It is then a simple matter to upload into online Picasa Web Albums for more back up and visibility. An added advantage is the ease you can embed photos from Picasa Web into Google Docs.