The best file storages. Online office and other cloud services

TOP CHOICE | Review – Where to store files online?

Choosing a file storage service online is similar to choosing a bank in real life. Having given your money to the unknown, dubious “Kukareku Bank”, there is a chance that you will not see it again. Therefore, it is worth choosing projects with a good reputation!
Beginners should be reminded that cloud data storage require the user to have Email. Get yourself a free box on any popular site.

∴ Free Cloud Storage Services (2018)
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♦ Microsoft OneDrive

https://onedrive.live.com/
The deal: 5GB of free cloud storage

Formerly known as SkyDrive, OneDrive is an online storage from Microsoft. After free registration you get 5 GB of free space on the server.


Download the application for Windows OneDriveSetup.exe(19 MB), you can use the services of synchronizing and sharing folders for several people.


OneDrive- online storage that you can access from anywhere. You can easily save Office documents and other files to the cloud and access them on any device.
By using OneDrive you can share documents, photos and other files without sending cumbersome email attachments. In addition, with files OneDrive easy to work in Windows and on the computer Mac.


Use OneDrive on your phone or tablet to work with files on the go. Available for iOS, Android And Windows Phone.

♦ Box

https://box.com/


A veteran among file hosting services, on the market for more than 10 years. A worthy offer of ten free gigabytes does not come without a nasty fly in the ointment: you cannot upload a file weighing more than 250 MB.


Why is it interesting? Box.com? The successful name from a marketing point of view and the draconian conditions for uploading files give confidence in the solid future of this project. They won't let him bend. You can safely store files here without fear of the untimely death of the service.

♦ MediaFire

https://www.mediafire.com/
The deal: 10GB of free cloud storage


Average upload and download speeds, in a word – a workhorse. Main course – 10 free gigabytes- works honestly. Sharing the desired file occurs with one click of the mouse. There is an application for iOS And Android.
Free version MediaFire allows you to upload files weighing only up to 4 GB.


From the side of the one who pumps, not everything is so rosy. On one of the forums they posted a file of the magazine in the form of a link to a folder MediaFire. I couldn't find a way to download the entire folder: the site requires Upgrade(a hint of money - switch to a premium account). You download one file at a time and curse everything in the world, fighting with crazy advertising windows (the plugin makes life a little easier Adblock in the browser).

♦ Gavitex

https://gavitex.com/


The free cloud service makes a mixed impression. It would seem that after logging into the site, I successfully uploaded 15 GB of my files into the virtual storage, but firstly, the process turned out to be very slow, and secondly, the current upload status was not displayed. The user is forced to “wait for the weather by the sea”, wondering if it’s frozen? Gavitex offers to download the application - for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android. Maybe things are different here? Alas, it’s difficult to check this - the downloaded installer refused to connect to the server: “error”.


Nevertheless, 25 free gigabytes- the thing is quite pleasant. Serious argument from Gavitex! I was pleased with the convenient function for generating public links: by clicking on the stylized “corner” near the desired file, a menu is called up Download links. Everything is clear and simple.
If you correct childhood mistakes, the main problem of the little-known Gavitex will remain in the brand itself. Are you sure that Gavitex will exist in 2-3 years? I'm not at all sure. The service is not suitable for storing valuable files - personal photo and video archives, documents - only as an “alternate airfield”.

♦ pCloud

https://www.pcloud.com/ru/
The deal: 10GB of free cloud storage


This cloud data storage service works like this: download the desktop application pCloud_Windows_3.5.6.exe(8 MB), install, launch. pCloud Drive creates a virtual partition that Windows refers to Devices with removable media, i.e. recognizes it as a regular flash drive.


This discreet app is so convenient to use that you can’t help but be amazed. IN Windows 7 64-bit it eats up from 18 to 135 MB of RAM. Can also be installed on Mac And Linux, plus a mobile application for iOS/Android devices.


Working with files is the same as when using a computer every day. With high Internet speeds, you can completely forget that a flash drive is not a simple one, but a virtual one. Chapter "P" now all the time Windows and, of course, does not disappear anywhere and does not require connection the next time you start the computer. You can work with him at least Total Commander, but I must admit, ordinary windows turn out to be more informative Windows.


The desktop application (launched by a shortcut on the desktop) also has tabs Sync And Shares, responsible for the so-called syncing folders and public links to your files respectively.
By logging in to the site pCloud, we will find a typical web interface: in the section Browse your folders (i.e. you can upload files here), section Basket, in which deleted free account files are stored for 24 hours. If the user does not have enough space in the cloud, you can upgrade to a premium account.


Rules pCloud state that if an account is inactive for more than 1 year, it is closed and the files are permanently deleted.

♦ Syncplicity

https://www.syncplicity.com/
The deal: 10GB of free cloud storage


Many of our competitors have the function synchronization(“backup”, “mirror”, “backup”), but there are also specialized Internet services. Their main task is not to save space on your hard drive, but to duplicate folders selected by the user to the server.
Thus, valuable files are stored in two places at once: on your computer and in the cloud, which ensures their reliable safety.


Such services include the wonderful Syncplicity. After downloading the client Syncplicity_Setup.exe(8 MB) and installing it, we get a convenient tray icon (in the lower right corner of the screen). By default, the service allocates a folder at My Computer / Favorites / Syncplicity– everything that is thrown there will be duplicated in the online cloud.


I recently did a service iDrive is also an interesting, high-quality project whose specialization is backup.

♦ hubiC

https://hubic.com/
The deal: 25GB of free cloud storage


"25 GB are not lying around on the road!" – I said to myself and rushed to create a free account on hubiC. Managing files and folders is very simple, you can hardly get confused in basic English phrases "Download – Other Actions – New Folder – Add Files"("Download - Other actions - New folder - Add files").


To create a public link, click the “corner” next to the desired file. By decision of the authors hubiC link lifespan is limited to a maximum 30 days.
The upload speed to the file storage is quite average; in any case, there are not enough stars in the sky.
hubiC– a calm, self-possessed, unflappable web portal with an excellent offer 25 free gigabytes virtual space. Deservedly included in the top ten best cloud data storage.

♦ Ulozto

https://ulozto.net/
The deal: unlimited space (free)


An unusual participant in our review. At first sight, Ulozto looks like a typical commercial file hosting service. Soon you notice pleasant things: after free registration a paid account is not forced, the upload speed is above average, the download speed is acceptable, and, finally, the most attractive thing is unlimited space for your files, including large ones (3 GB videos are uploaded without problems). This stunning "feature" that makes Ulozto from the gray mass of exchangers, forces you to pay close attention to it.
Files can be divided into private And public. Marked as private (For me only), files will not be displayed in general search web portal.
How secure is file storage on Ulozto? It was not possible to find exact information, but “eternal storage” is implied. My files have been on the server for six months, no threats or warnings from Ulozto does not arrive.


Unlimited space for files is a complex and ambitious task for the company that created Ulozto. At the address in Facebook it is clear that she has Czech roots.

Many users have heard about cloud storage, but could not choose one cloud storage service. And now there are already a large number of free cloud storages with large volumes. All of them offer similar functionality, but there are still differences.

In this article we will look at the best cloud storages of 2018. We will also try to help you decide which cloud storage is better. To do this, we will compare cloud storage systems in 2018 and analyze the main features and differences of each of them.

Google Drive

  • Free 15 GB of Drive available
  • Setting up public access and the ability to comment on documents
  • Integration with other Google services

Google Drive is an ideal choice for owners of a device running the Android operating system, since it is integrated there. But Google Drive cloud storage can be used by all Google account holders.

There is also support for all platforms and the ability to use storage directly in the browser, namely edit files directly from the cloud.

Price: 15 GB free. 100GB for $1.99 per month. 1 TB for $9.99 per month.

Cloud Mail

  • Free 8 GB available
  • Setting up sharing
  • Edit files directly from the browser
  • Supports all popular operating systems

Thanks to a promotion from Mail, in order to popularize the cloud, many users were able to take a gift of 1 TB of cloud space, which is enough for a lifetime. But generally speaking, over the years Cloud Mail offers its users less and less space.

If we talk about functionality, then everything is good here. Thanks to Microsoft services, it is now possible to edit documents directly from your browser. And support for multiple platforms makes Mail's cloud storage top of our list.

Price: 8 GB free. 1 TB for $12.3 per month.

Yandex Disk

  • Free 10 GB cloud storage available
  • Integration with Office Online with the ability to edit documents

Cloud storage Yandex Disk used to give 10 GB of space for free, and it still does. In this regard, everything is stable. An interesting feature is support for a large number of formats and integration with Office Online.

You can use Yandex Disk both in a browser and on any operating system by downloading the official application. And also for mobile device users it is possible to use automatic uploading of photos and videos to cloud storage.

Price: 10 GB free. 1 TB for 200 rub. per month.

Mega

  • Free 50 GB available
  • Simple user interface
  • Availability of applications for different operating systems and browser extensions

A truly generous offer and simple user interface makes Mega cloud storage a leader. There is a convenient mobile application that allows you to directly upload files and photos, as well as synchronize with the client on your computer.

Mege claims that all data is locally encrypted on your device before it reaches the cloud servers. The company also opened the source code of its client to allow experts to check for vulnerabilities.

Price: 50 GB free. 200 GB for € 4.99 per month.

One Drive

  • Free 5 GB available
  • Integration directly into Windows 10
  • Integration with Microsoft services

Cloud storage One Drive, formerly known as SkyDrive, is integrated into the Windows 10 operating system. This means that you do not need to download additional applications, and it can be used immediately after installing the Windows 10 operating system.

A plus is the availability of applications for all popular operating systems. To use the cloud, you only need to create a Microsoft account. Automatic cloud synchronization on the Windows 10 operating system suggests that you can already use the One Drive cloud without knowing it.

Price: 5 GB free. 50 GB for $1.99 per month.

  • Free 2 GB expandable available
  • Supports all popular operating systems
  • Ability to configure sharing
  • Ability to recover deleted data
  • Availability of an affiliate program

Dropbox cloud storage offers a fairly paltry 2GB of free storage space. Agree, this is quite small when compared with direct competitors. But you have the opportunity to increase the volume up to 16 GB for free by linking your Dropbox to social networks and inviting friends.

An interesting feature is support for all known operating systems. It is very popular in educational institutions and companies because it is very convenient of its kind.

Price: 2 GB free. 1 TB for $10 per month with Dropbox Plus.

Which cloud storage is better?

Many users are interested in the question of which cloud storage is better. The answer is simple, it all depends on how to use cloud storage, namely for what purpose it is used.

If we talk about simple synchronization of photos from a mobile device, then the leaders here are Dropbox, Mail Cloud, Yandex.Disk, One Drive. If you need cloud data storage for study and work, then you should pay attention to Google Drive. It all really depends on your needs.

In order to help you decide on the choice of cloud storage in 2018, we will conduct a small comparison of cloud storage in 2018.

Cloud storage comparison 2018

Google Drive Cloud Mail Yandex Disk Mega One Drive
Memory 15 GB 8 GB 10 GB 50 GB 5 GB 2 GB
Add. extensions + — — — — —
Create documents in Office + + + — + —
Edit documents in Office + + + — + +

And it’s also worth mentioning Google’s distinctive cloud storage. Namely, you have the ability to connect many different add-ons to your cloud, from a PDF converter to lightweight audio and photo editors, as well as the ability to program in a number of languages.

conclusions

In this article, we have collected for you the best cloud storage systems of 2018. We also tried to help you which cloud storage is better to choose by comparing cloud storages in 2018.

Based on the comparison, there are two favorites: Mega - with its large volume and Google Drive - with the ability to connect different extensions. But if you caught a promotion from Mail, where everyone could get 1 TB of cloud space for free, then the Mail cloud most likely remains your favorite. And also, if you use Samsung smartphones, which provide 50 GB of space in the Dropbox cloud, then you don’t have to look for new clouds. The main choice, as always, remains yours.

Users and businesses will continue to move away from bulky and expensive servers and instead choose the cloud to store files. Given the variety of storage options available, you should choose carefully.

Lifehacker suggests paying attention to services that provide maximum free space with reliable data protection and high-quality service. Prices shown are for starter plans only.

  • Price: 2GB free, 1TB for $8.25 per month. The standard Dropbox Business subscription costs $12.50 per month per user.
  • Applications:
  • Russian language support: There is.

Initially, this cloud storage giant only gives you access to 2 GB of free space. But it can be easily expanded to 16 GB: just link accounts on social networks and offer a referral link to several friends.

A Dropbox Business subscription allows you to use your corporate account for collaboration, and also gives you unlimited space for your personal account. Moreover, you get a number of advanced features like file recovery and customization of access levels.

  • Price: 15 GB free, 100 GB for 139 rubles per month.
  • Applications: Windows, macOS, iOS, Android.
  • Russian language support: There is.

One of the most obvious options for owners of Android devices, since the application is natively installed on smartphones and tablets based on Google's OS. However, due to the considerable amount of free storage, the service may also be attractive to owners of other devices.

Among the disadvantages is that the interface of the browser version is not the simplest. But Windows and macOS users can download a much more convenient application.

3. Mega

  • Price: 50 GB free, 200 GB for 4.99 euros per month.
  • Applications:
  • Russian language support: There is.

Another service with a generous free plan and a drag-and-drop interface. Mega has a convenient mobile application for downloading files, as well as desktop clients for synchronizing them.

According to the company, all data is encrypted on your device before it ends up on the servers. The Mega client source code is available on GitHub and can be reviewed by any expert. Therefore, the statement inspires confidence.

  • Price: 10 GB free, another 10 GB for 30 rubles per month.
  • Applications: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, LG Smart TV.
  • Russian language support: There is.

The cloud from Yandex works quickly and stably, and is constantly acquiring new functions. The service has a high synchronization speed. The platform's capabilities are built into some third-party applications.

Despite the presence of clients for all popular desktop and mobile platforms, the Yandex.Disk browser interface is also very practical. The service also has very good opportunities to expand space through partnerships with companies. For example, if you are a Muscovite and use the OnLime tariff plan from Rostelecom, then the disk capacity increases by 100 GB.

  • Price: 5 GB free, 50 GB for 140 rubles per month, 1 TB for 269 or 339 rubles when you sign up for a personal or family subscription to Office 365, respectively.
  • Applications: Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Xbox.
  • Russian language support: There is.

The former SkyDrive is built into standard Windows 10 File Explorer. There's no need to download an app - everything is already downloaded for you.

The operating system's built-in Photos app can use OneDrive to sync all your pictures between devices.

When installing a client for macOS, you should take into account not the most positive reviews about it.

In addition to the regular pricing plans, Microsoft has Office 365 Personal and Office 365 Home. Both subscriptions include 1 TB of cloud storage, full versions of Office apps for Windows and macOS, and a host of other benefits. The second option gives 1 TB to five users at once.

  • Price: 8 GB free, 64 GB for 69 rubles per month.
  • Applications: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Windows Phone.
  • Russian language support: There is.

The closest analogue of Yandex.Disk in terms of available features, web version interface and supported platforms. Loses to its main competitor due to its extensive referral program. Among the advantages is a larger amount of free storage.

Among other things, the service has a tool for quickly creating and saving screenshots in the cloud.

  • Price: 5 GB free, 50 GB for 59 rubles per month.
  • Applications: Windows.
  • Russian language support: There is.

5GB of free space may not be enough, but iCloud is the most convenient way to back up your iPhone photos.

The service is integrated into the Finder program on macOS - the desktop of all MacBooks. Documents created through the iWork office suite are also saved in iCloud and can be synchronized between devices. The platform also has an official client for Windows, with which you can keep files on your PC up to date.

8.Box

  • Price: 10 GB free, 100 GB for 8 euros per month. Business subscription costs 12 euros per month.
  • Applications: Windows, macOS, iOS, Android.
  • Russian language support: There is.

The platform quickly gained popularity and is supported by a number of popular work services, such as Google Docs and Office 365. Box desktop clients allow you to not only synchronize, but also edit files.

The company is actively promoting business subscriptions. It is this that appears in the center of the screen when you click on the registration button. This plan gives you access to advanced collaboration features and unlimited cloud space.

  • Price: Free setup and use, space prices vary by hosting provider. Nextcloud Box costs 70 euros.
  • Applications: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android.
  • Russian language support: No.

The company itself is not a cloud storage provider, but does offer free software for setting up the cloud on your own server. The main advantage of this option is speed. You can also enable encryption and not worry about files leaving your home network.

If you do not have experience in setting up servers, you can buy a pre-configured option - Nextcloud Box. Inside the device there is a 1 TB hard drive. It easily connects to an inexpensive single board computer. True, in order to get your hands on a mini-server, you will have to use the services of third-party companies: there is no direct delivery to Russia and the CIS countries.

  • Price: 2 GB free, 250 GB for $9 per month.
  • Applications: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android.
  • Russian language support: No.

Another English-language platform that has long operated under a zero-knowledge protocol. It was implied that the company interacts with user data without disclosing its content in any way. Recently it turned out that there are some caveats here, and SpiderOak abandoned its main feature. But this did not stop us from striving to provide files.

The repository has clients for all popular desktop and mobile platforms. You can use the web client, but for privacy advocates this is the least preferred option since it exposes your password to SpiderOak employees.

  • Price: 5 GB free, 2 TB for $52.12 per year with special offer, then $69.5.
  • Applications: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Windows Phone.
  • Russian language support: No.

The product supports constant synchronization of all your files - even those stored on network drives. The web interface allows you to share data by mail, Facebook and Twitter.

The advantage of IDrive is that files deleted from the computer from the cloud do not automatically disappear. The company also has a service called IDrive Express: if you lose all your data, they will deliver a hard drive to you for quick recovery.

  • Price: 10 GB free, 500 GB for $3.99 per month, pCloud Crypto encryption price: $3.99 per month.
  • Applications: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android.
  • Russian language support: There is.

The service has restrictions on the speed of downloading files, but there is no limit on their size. The storage can be used from any platform - through an application or website.

The company is registered in Switzerland, a country known for its strict privacy laws. For an additional amount, you can use the pCloud Crypto service to encrypt individual files.

A cloud is usually a large object that occupies a large area. In the technical field, a cloud is a virtual remote service that provides users with data storage, application hosting, or physical space virtualization. Nowadays, cloud computing is used not only by large but also by small companies.

There are mainly three types of cloud services.

SaaS(Software as a Service, software as a service) - providing users with access to other public clouds of large organizations to store their data, for example, Gmail.

PaaS(Platform as a Service, platform as a service) - providing the ability to host and run applications on their clouds, for example, Google App Engine allows users to host their applications.

IaaS(Infrastructure as a Service, infrastructure as a service) - allows you to virtualize any machine and, using the client, the user can get the feeling of a real machine.

Cloud storage means storing the user's local files on special dedicated servers on the network that are designed for this. CompuServe was the first to offer its customers 128 kilobytes of disk space that could be used to store their files. Now this area is at the stage of active development and due to potential threats such as loss of data or information, hacking, and other similar cases, many organizations are releasing their cloud solutions that guarantee data confidentiality, this strengthens confidence in the success of cloud technologies.

In this article we will look at several solutions in this area. We will focus on open source software that is used by a huge number of people and large organizations. We will analyze only the best cloud services of 2016.

In the list of the best cloud storage services, OwnCloud is one of the first places. A Dropbox replacement for Linux users, it provides many features similar to those of Dropbox. Just like Dropbox, OwnCloud allows you to sync files between your local computer and a remote server.

Since it is an open source solution, users can get unlimited free storage space for their data by hosting this software on their server. The project started in January 2015 with the goal of providing an open source replacement for private, closed cloud storage. It is written in PHP, JavaScript, and is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS, and there are also mobile applications for Android and iOS.

OwnCloud uses Webdav server for remote access and can integrate with a large number of databases, including SQLite, MariaDB, Oracle Database, PostgreeSQL.

A large number of functions are supported, such as encryption, file storage, music streaming, content sharing via URL, Mozilla synchronization server, RSS aggregator for reading news feeds, one-click installation of programs, viewing videos, PDFs, editing office documents and much more.

The latest version of OwnCloud 8.2 adds several new features such as an improved design, the ability to notify users, and a time limit for storing files in the trash.

2. Seafile

Another file hosting based on open source software. It is written in C and Python, the latest stable version is 4.4.3, released on October 15, 2015.

Seafile's best cloud storage providers provide a desktop client for Windows, Linux, and OS X, as well as mobile clients for Android, IOS, and Windows Phone. Along with the free implementation of the Community Edition, released under the GPL license, there is a professional edition under a commercial license that provides additional features - some user protocols and the ability to search for text.

The project switched to open source distribution in July 2011, which attracted a lot of attention. Its main functionality is data synchronization, with an emphasis on security. Key features: online file editing, differential synchronization, minimal network bandwidth usage, and client data encryption. It is these features that have made this software popular in many foreign universities: University of Mainz, University of Berlin and University of Strasbourg, as well as among many people around the world.

3. Pydio

This is a free cloud storage, or rather file hosting, formerly known as AjaXplorer. Its goal is to provide its users with file hosting, file sharing, and synchronization. The project was started in 2009 by Charles DeJue and since 2010 has been supplied on all NAS equipment from LaCie.

Pydio is written in PHP and JavaScript and is available for Windows, Linux, MacOS, and also Android. There are now about half a million downloads from Sourcefoge. The service is endorsed by companies such as RedHat and Oracle. This is one of the most popular cloud storage services on the market.

Pydio itself is simply a kernel that runs on a web server and can be accessed through any web browser. Webdav's interface makes it an ideal online file management solution, SSL/TLS encryption makes data transfer secure and maintains privacy. Also available is a text editor with syntax highlighting, audio and video playback, integration with Amazon S3, FTP, or MYSQL, an image editor, and file and folder sharing using public URLs.

4. Ceph

Ceph was originally developed by Sage Well as a PhD thesis, but in the fall of 2007 he continued working on the project and expanded the development team. In April 2014, Red Hat took part in development. Currently, eight versions of the program have been released, the last release took place on April 7, 2015. This is a distributed cluster written in C++ and Perl with a high degree of scalability and is also freely available.

Data can be brought into Ceph as a block device, a file, or as an object via the RADOS gateway, which supports Amazon S3 and OpenStack Swift.

These free cloud storage services are data secure, scalable and reliable, here are the additional features:

  • Network file system with high performance
  • Compatible with virtual machine clients
  • Object-level mapping

Syncany, released about two years ago in March 2014, is one of the lightest on the list - the best cloud services of 2016 for data storage and file sharing systems. Currently under active development by Philipp Heckel and available as a command line tool for all systems. The GUI is still under development.

One of the most important things about Syncany is that it is just a tool. Therefore, you need to have your own storage accessible via FTP, SFTP, Webdav, Samba or Amazon S3.

6. Cozy

This tool provides not only file access and synchronization, but a complete package of features that will help you build your own application platform.

Like Syncany, Cozy provides flexibility to the user in terms of disk space. You can use your personal servers or trust data to Cozy servers. To function properly, this software requires two more projects - CouchDB for database storage and Whoosh for indexing. The program is available for all platforms, including smartphones.

The main features that make this solution one of the best: the ability to store all contacts, files, calendar in the cloud, and synchronize all this between a laptop and a smartphone.

Another notable feature is that Cozy is lightweight. A version of Cozy Light has been released that can even run on Raspberry Pi or cheap VPS hosting.

7. GlusterFS

GlusterFS is a network file system for storing files. The project was originally developed by Gluster Inc, but has now been taken over by Red Hat. Following a 2011 lawsuit from Gluster Inc, RedHat renamed its product Red Hat Gluster Storage. It is available for most platforms: Linux, OS X, NetBSD, OpenSolaris. The project was used as a basis for scientific research.

GlusterFS uses a client-server model, with servers deployed as storage clusters. The client can connect to the server using a native protocol over TCP/IP, Infiband or SDP and store files on the GlusterFS server. To ensure data storage reliability, file-based and replication-based data mirroring, load balancing, disk caching scheduling, etc. are used.

Another useful feature is that the data is stored in native file systems such as ext4, xfs, etc.

StackSync is a Dropbox-like tool that runs on OpenStack, designed to solve the problems of organizations to sync all their data in one place. It is written in Java and released under the GPLv3 license.

Its structure consists of three main components: a synchronization server, OpenStack, and a desktop or mobile client. The server handles metadata and logic, OpenStack is focused on data persistence, and desktop clients help users synchronize data with their personal cloud.

SyncStack uses various data optimizations that allow the system to scale to meet the needs of thousands of people to efficiently use cloud resources. Additional features: RESTFull API as a Swift module, which allows you to use mobile applications and applications from third-party developers to synchronize data. There is also a separation between data and metadata making this solution very flexible for deployment on different configurations.

Another prominent entry on the list of the best cloud storage services of 2016, Git-annex is a file synchronization solution developed by Joy Hess and released in October 2010. This solution also provides file sharing and synchronization, but does not rely on any commercial service or central server. It is written by Haskell and is available for Android, Linux, OS X and Windows.

Git-annex - manages the user's GIT repository without saving the session. Instead, it only stores links to files in the GIT repository, and manages the files associated with the link. It also provides file mirroring, which is necessary when restoring data.

In addition, this service provides instant access to files as soon as you need them. It should be noted that git-annex is available for many Linux distributions, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debain, etc.

10. Yandex.Disk

Yandex Disk is a cloud storage system and synchronization service released in April 2012 and available for all major platforms, including Windows, Linux, OS X, Android, iOS and Windows Phone. It allows users to sync their data between different devices and shares it with everyone on the internet.

Yandex Disk provides its users with many different functions: a built-in flash player, sharing files between users by exchanging links, synchronizing files between different devices, unlimited storage time, WebDav support.

11. Bitcasa

Developed by Bitcasa Inc, a California-based company, this is another cloud service for data storage and synchronization. Available for Windows, OS X, Android and Linux. Not all components of the program are open source, but it is still related to it, since it uses projects such as gcc/clang, libCurl, OpenSSL, APR, Rapid JSON, etc.

The main features are file storage, sharing, and encryption, which makes data storage much safer. It is these features that make it popular among customers from more than 140 countries around the world.

12.nas4free

NAS stands for Attached Network Storage or connected Internet storage. 4free means its free and free nature. The program was released in May 2012. This is a network server for storing data, with a user interface written in PHP. It supports i386/IA-32 and x86-64 architectures.

Nas4Free supports sharing between multiple operating systems, ZFS, data encryption, protocols such as Samba, CARP, Bridge, FTP, RSYNC, TFTP, NFS.

Unlike other programs, nas4free can be installed and run from USB, and can also be run from Live USB or LiveCD. Nas4free has won several awards, Project of the Month (August 2015) and Project of the Week (May 2015).

conclusions

These were all the most interesting and best cloud services of 2016 for data storage and synchronization, they have either already gained great popularity over the years or have just been released and are ready to make their huge contribution to this industry. Our review of free cloud storage is complete. If you know of other great cloud services that you or your organization uses, please post in the comments.

On the Internet there are often comparisons of various cloud storages, but they are not entirely objective, since most people are based on the storage capacity and the availability of clients for iOS and Android, and no one thinks about the data transfer speed. We decided to look at the 5 most popular “clouds” from personal experience and test them for the speed of uploading and downloading files.

Subjected to testing OneDrive, Google Drive, Yandex Disk,iCloud Drive, And Dropbox. Uploading to the server and downloading files was carried out exclusively through the web versions of the clients. All actions were performed through the Chrome browser on a Mac with an Internet channel of 100 Mbit/s. Testing the speed of cloud storage consisted of two stages - uploading a 1.28 GB file to the cloud storage server, and then downloading the uploaded file back to the computer.

As time measurements showed, the slowest cloud storage out of the five was OneDrive. It took 43 minutes 13 seconds to upload a 1.27 GB video to this “cloud”, and 37 minutes 18 seconds to download it back. The fourth place was won by the legendary Dropbox, which is actually the “father” of all cloud storage. It took him 19 minutes 33 seconds to upload the file to the server, and 16 minutes 19 seconds to download it.

Third and second places were shared between each other Google Drive And iCloud Drive. Measurements showed that the time it took to upload a 1.27 GB file to Google cloud storage was 3 minutes 2 seconds, while Apple’s iCloud Drive coped with this task in 4 minutes 39 seconds. In terms of download time for a similar file, Apple's cloud won with a result of 2 minutes 7 seconds (this is a record among all 5 cloud storages), while Google Drive took 2 minutes 49 seconds for a similar procedure.

Russian is in first place "Yandex Disk", which showed the best result in terms of upload time to the server, and second after iCloud Drive in terms of time to download a file to your computer. Uploading the 1.27 GB file to the server took a record 2 minutes 34 seconds, while downloading took 2 minutes 21 seconds.

For clarity, we have created a small table to make it easier to navigate the data. It turns out that the Yandex Disk cloud storage turned out to be the fastest in terms of upload time to the server, while iCloud Drive gave the shortest file download time.

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