Head in the cloud(s)

I need some space. Well, sort of.

I actually have plenty of storage space on my primary computer, a circa-2007 laptop with Windows XP and a keyboard that shorted out in the great Coca-Cola Flood of 2012. (It’s probably time to take this sucker out behind the woodshed and put it out of its misery, but that’s another story.) My computer came with a measly 100 gigabytes of storage space, but I later supplemented that with a 1-terabyte external hard drive. The latter easily holds all my applications, music, photos, movies, documents — really, just about anything — and I still have about 790 gigabytes to spare.

So what’s my problem? Well, I have a tablet with a 32-gigabyte hard drive and an Android smartphone with a 2-gigabyte SD card. Obviously, most of my important files just won’t fit.

Or will they?

Enter cloud computing, or “computing resources provided on demand from remote data centers and delivered over the Internet” (Sorensen and Glassman, 2011, p. 244). With cloud apps, I can compose and store important files online and access them from any of my devices, provided I have an Internet connection. (Luckily, that seems to be about 95% of the time these days, thanks to the popularity of Wi-Fi and 4G.)

So far, I’ve gotten the most use out of the following three cloud-based apps:

1. Google Drive (with Google Docs)

Figure 1. Google Drive app for
Google Nexus 7.

While Google’s website (n.d.) might be overselling this service a bit with its slogan “Keep everything. Share anything,” Google Drive certainly is convenient. Once you sign up for your free Google account, you get 5 gigabytes of storage and the option of adding more space for about $2.50 a month. The service also includes Google Docs, a set of free Web-based applications for word processing, presentations, drawings, spreadsheets, and Web forms. Better yet, the app allows me to share files with other users — a handy feature for group projects for work or school. Basically, Google Drive has eliminated my need for the pricey Microsoft Office suite.

2. Google Music 
OK, I admit it: I’ve become a bit of a Google fangirl. What can I say? Google’s Music app is really cool. The service lets users upload up to 20,000 songs for free. My entire 47.3-gigabyte music collection — about 10,000 MP3s — is now stored in the cloud, and I can play the songs from a Web browser or the Google Music app on my tablet or phone. Now that’s a space-saver!

3. Carbonite
Carbonite is the only cloud-based application that my husband and I have actually paid for. According to Carbonite’s website (n.d.), $59 a year gets you unlimited cloud space to back up all of your important files. Although I’ve already backed up many of my files on external hard drives and mobile devices, it’s nice to know that I also have everything stored safely online, as well.

I’m sure I must be missing something, though. What are your favorite cloud apps? Are there any others I should try? Feel free to make some suggestions in the comments section of this page. I look forward to hearing from you!

References

Carbonite. (n.d.). Carbonite Home online backup. Retrieved from http://www.carbonite.com/en/v2/online-backup/pricing-plans/home

Google. (n.d.). Google Drive. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/intl/en_US/drive/start/index.html

Sorensen, K., & Glassman, N. R. (2011). From desktop to cloud: A primer on Internet-based computing for librarians. Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries, 8(3), 243-255. doi:10.1080/15424065.2011.601991