7 Cloud Storage Services for Designers

In today's mobile environment, information can be easily accessed with a simple press or click of a button. Having said this, many companies are now providing practical solutions for storing and retrieving data using online applications. This innovation is particularly helpful to those people who manage massive amounts of data but doesn't want to deal with bulky equipment and messy cable connections. Designers are a good example of this kind of consumers. They have huge storage requirements due to the type of files that they handle and at the same time they need an easy and convenient way of retrieving those files in case they need to create or present a design on the fly. For this reason, we've gathered some of the best cloud storage devices available in the market to help you guys out store your works of art on the cloud in case you need to use them on a later time. APPLE iCLOUD iCloud is Apple's own cloud based storage service which is available to owners of all their Mac and iOS products. Users can get as much as 50GB of storage in the iCloud which will allow them to store images, music files and documents.  Aside from these, Apple's cloud can also store data from apps, calendar events, contacts and email from your Apple devices. The only downside with this service is that its target audience is mainly users of Apple products. Although a software can be installed to work with Windows based devices, the overall functionality and intuitiveness is not that maximized compared to Mac and iOS devices. BOX Box is another cloud storage service available in the market today. It comes in three packages – personal, business and enterprise. The personal package is further divided in sub-packages with the basic and free version having 5GB worth of storage. The business and enterprise packages of course are more expensive and more jam-packed with feature with the business package priced at $15 per user per month and having a storage capacity of up to 1000GB. Lastly, the enterprise package offers unlimited web storage as well as unlimited file size limit plus a ton of other features not found in either the personal or business packages. For more information visits their website using this link. MOZY Another alternative would be Mozy. The free version of this service comes with 2GB worth of storage for your photos, music, and other files, which roughly equates to 250,000 messages, 340 MP3 files and around 300 photos. Mozy also allows users to add more storage when they refer friends to sign up for the service. It also has a paid version that costs $5.99/month for the 50GB package and $9.99/month for the 125GB version that can be installed on up to three computers. The company also provides real-time support via a live chat agent and video tutorials. WINDOWS SKY DRIVE Sky Drive is another cloud storage service provided my Microsoft. Unlike Apple's iCloud that only offers 5GB worth of free storage, Microsoft raises the bar a little higher by offering 7GB of free storage when you sign up. It also works seamlessly on different devices and grants users the ability to remotely access their files on their computer. Now if 2GB is not enough for you, you can purchase an upgrade by paying $10-$50 annually for an additional 20GB-100GB worth of storage space. SUGARSYNC Sugarsync is one of the most comprehensive online storage services one can get today. It offers 5GB of storage space when you sign up and is compatible with almost all mainstream devices. It also has a lot of features not available to the other services stated above including folder and file sharing, syncing multiple devices, remote access and open API for easier integration with third party apps.   Paid packages for Sugarsync begins at 30GB worth $49.99 a year to a 100GB package that costs $149.99 annually. GOOGLE DRIVE If you're a Google fan boy (or girl), you don't have to worry about being left out in the online storage wars because Google is also offering storage solutions for their loyal consumers. For starters, the free version of Google drive comes with 5GB of online storage, 10GB for Gmail and 1GB for Picassa.   A 25GB package that costs $2.49/month can be purchased to get 25GB more while paying $4.99 will give you 100GB worth of additional space for Gmail, Picassa and Drive. But if you're one of those hardcore users who need more than that, the company also offers packages up to more than 100GB with prices starting from $9.99 per month for 200GB and the top of the line package worth $799.99/month for a 16TB option. DROPBOX One of the most popular online storage solutions in the internet today would probably be Dropbox. The free version provides users with 2GB worth of storage which can be increased to 18GB through the company's referral system (additional 500MB per referral). It's simple and easy to use interface has received praise from several publications as well as awards from several award giving bodies. For those who want additional storage, a pro version is available that is priced from $9.99/month for 100GB to $49.99 a month for the 500GB package. An enterprise edition (Teams edition) is also available which costs around $795 to $995 per year and features unlimited storage, phone support, administrative tools and active directory integration.