Google Drive or OneDrive? You've probably read our warnings about what can happen if you don't back up your files. If not, we recommend that you back up regularly for a variety of reasons.
But let's say you recognize the need for regular backups and are thinking about where to do it. In the following post, we will try to examine two of the largest cloud data storage services.
Google Drive or OneDrive: Cloud Definition
Cloud storage is a networked data storage model where data is stored in remote network locations. The data is stored in large data centers and the user can access it through a web interface. The data may be distributed across more than one server.
Wikipedia
Below we will look at Google Drive and Microsoft's OneDrive, two of the largest services available today.
Back up to Google Drive
Capacity
The free version of Google Drive offers up to 15GB of storage, but this space is shared with other company services such as Gmail, Google Photos, and Google Docs.
Unlimited photos
What's quite attractive about Google's Cloud storage is that the space your photos take up doesn't count towards the 15GB limit, as long as you upload them through Google Photos and choose High Quality instead of Original Quality.
Google Docs
Google Drive also works directly with Google Docs, which means your documents, spreadsheets, and presentations stored in Google Drive can be converted to Google Docs formats and viewed or edited on the web.
Pricing
If you need more than the 15GB of storage that the service offers for free, then Google will charge you $2 per month for 100GB, and $10 per month for space that reaches 1TB.
For an additional 10TB, the company charges $100 per month. But consider that the above storage space is a disk maintained by Google and accessible from anywhere.
Concerns about privacy protection
Perhaps one of the reasons you should avoid Google Drive is the concern about what Google does with your data. It’s no secret that Google analyzes all the data it can to create end-user profiles and maximize its advertising revenue. Of course, you won’t be the exception. Your only option in this matter is to use another service.
When to choose Google Drive?
If you have a lot of photos and don't mind saving them in sub-original quality.
If you need the cheapest and most storage possible
If you use Google Docs as your main Office application.
If you're not worried about your privacy and Google's tracking behaviors.
Back up to OneDrive
Capacity
The free version of OneDrive offers 5GB of storage that can be expanded once you refer a friend to the service. Every time one of your friends creates a new OneDrive account using the referral code you sent them, you both get an additional 0.5GB. You can reach up to 10GB this way.
OneNote integration
If you use OneDrive and OneNote with the same Microsoft account, then the two apps share the same storage limit, unless you use the paid version of OneNote and save your notes offline.
This is something you should take seriously because OneNote Notebookscanuse up a lot of space if you load them up with images, video clips, attachments, etc. If you're not careful, you could easily reach and exceed 1GB.
Online Office integration
Office documents stored on OneDrive can be opened, edited, and shared with Microsoft's free online suite: Word Online, Excel Online, and PowerPoint Online. OneNote Notebooks can also be accessed through OneNote Online.
If you work alone, then it doesn't matter as much as Office Online and Google Docs depending on your preferences. However, if you regularly work with DOCX, XLSX, or PPTX formats (at school or work), then you'll be better off with OneDrive and Office Online.
Advanced features
OneDrive has two important features:
File History: Every file stored in OneDrive, whether it’s an Office file or not, has a record of all the changes made to it over the past 30 days. So you can revert changes to any of those files at any time.
Files On-Demand: Instead of keeping two copies of each file—one on your computer and one on OneDrive’s servers—you can mark files as “online only.” That way, they’ll stay on OneDrive’s servers, not on your computer.
Google also has its Backup and Sync service that offers something similar to Microsoft's Files On-Demand, but it doesn't compete with File History, which is undoubtedly a very useful feature.
Pricing
To add extra space to the OneDrive you use or will use, you can do so for $2 per month for 50GB or $7 per month (or $70 per year) for Office 365 Personal which has a total capacity of 1TB along with the Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook applications.
When should I choose OneDrive?
If you use Microsoft Office regularly.
If you use OneNote and want to store other data in the same service.
You need the File History feature.
You trust Microsoft more than Google.
Other ways to back up Windows
Whichever service you choose, they are both among the most reliable (in terms of security) available.
But if you have reasons not to trust them, or you like the idea of storing data in the cloud, you can always store your backups on an external data drive or a hybrid external NAS (Network -attached storage) device.
