When cloud storage services first came into existence, the internet was changing rapidly. Many tech gurus have stated that the invention of cloud services was the starting point for complete worldwide connectivity. Prior to cloud services, users needed to email information between devices and store documents, videos, and music on hard drives without cohesiveness. The use of thumb drives was still prevalent and widely used for simple distribution of information.
The world changed when Dropbox and iCloud first took to the market with free space for online server storage. Although the idea seems extremely intuitive, it took a while for the service to catch on. Fast-forwarding to modern day, cloud services are leading the next generation of the information age.
However, with so many choices these days on which services to use and which to ditch, it may be difficult to make the best decision for you. Two of the most used and commonly known services are Dropbox, which was one of the first in the space, and Google Drive, which was one of the last in the space. There are pros and cons to both cloud services, but depending on what you are looking for, I believe this list will help you decide which service to choose.
Product Comparison and Trade-offs
More Free Storage Space – Google Drive, probably due to the size and support of the company’s server capacity, provides more unpaid space than most other competitors. In addition, Google Drive has no limit on maximum file size allowed, but certain data type exceptions apply. Make sure your file extension is valid with the Google Drive infrastructure. Compared to 15GB of open space, Dropbox is lacking, offering only 2GB. Therefore, if you are only interested in free space capacity, I would invest your efforts in Google Drive.
Paid Space and Capacity – Once again Google Drive has the economies of scale in this department. With the computing power of this mega-tech giant, servers are widely available for consumption and funding for more space is unlimited. Given the cash reserves and monetary power of Google, their cloud service Google Drive is the most competitive in pricing and provides the most value for space up to 500GB. After 550GB though, Box (not Dropbox) is particularly strong in this area. If you are looking for small size, both Google Drive and Dropbox are competitive, but if you are looking high capacity servers, I will not recommend either. (I would recommend Box instead)
Security – Both Google Drive and Dropbox offer secure connections to remote servers that are password protected. In addition, files stored on the servers are encrypted. Given that both of these services are neck-and-neck, I would have to go with Dropbox for security merely based on independence. Dropbox works independently of other servers, where Google Drive is linked to Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Gmail. If a good hacker is about to log into your Gmail, that person will have access to all of your files on your Google Drive because everything is connected. On the contrary, Dropbox is purely a cloud service provided and less likely to be hacked, as it does not have the popularity or name-recognition that Google has with its products.
Mobile Device Support – When it comes to mobile devices and storage, Dropbox is one of the premiere contenders in the industry. This is probably the strongest area for Dropbox and the differentiator within the industry, especially compared to Google Drive. Dropbox has full support across the board and even provides support for Amazon’s Kindle Fire. Google Drive, on the other hand, does not offer support for Blackberry and Windows mobile devices. If you are interested in the best support across devices and interested in the type within your mobile operating software platform, Dropbox is probably the best choice for you. If you are interested in much free space and great pricing without mobile platform variety, Google Drive offers the best option.
About the author:
Matthew Hall acts as a small business consultent when he isn’t writing on tech matters, and always recommends embracing the latest technology in your company. However, not everybody does this, and some still insist on making use of fax machines instead of cloud storage, to accomodate these individuals Matthew recommends finding an online fax service such as efax, you can compare this company and others online at www.findafax.com. You can learn more about Matthew on Google+.