Discover the best Computer Network Attached Storage in Best Sellers. Find the top 100 most popular items in Amazon Electronics Best Sellers. WD 4TB My Cloud Home. At its smartest, it’s an always-on network computer that handles a wide array of data, media and backup tasks. For any of this stuff, though, you need hard drives for storage.
There are two smart solutions to overcome this problem and keep external HD connected on Home Network 24/7. The first one is to depend on NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices. The NAS devices have a built-in network card and a bit expensive, but a very reliable solution. Network attached storage devices are souped-up local storage machines, perfect for both driving collaboration in the office and creating your own cloud-based media system at home. With an excellent user interface, a vast amount of features, and stellar performance, the Synology DS412+ is the best choice for now if you want a four-bay network storage device for your home. Network-attached storage (NAS) devices allow users to easily create personal cloud storage for their files and system backups. We rounded up the best options for use at home from the likes of Apple, WD, and Seagate, among others.
Why Store Your Data in the Cloud?
Since the advent of the internet, the technology industry has been steadily moving away from local storage to remote, server-based storage and processing—what is known as thecloud. Look at music and movies: We used to play them from local media, but now they're streamed from servers. By keeping your own documents and media files in the cloud, you can reap the same advantages of anywhere-access and sharing. Productivity gains and reduced local storage requirements are additional benefits. We've rounded up the best cloud storage and file-sharing and file-syncing services to help you decide which are right for you.
These services provide seamless access to all your important data—Word docs, PDFs, spreadsheets, photos, and any other digital assets—from wherever you are. You no longer need to be sitting at your work PC to see your work files. With cloud syncing you can get to them from your smartphone on the train, from your tablet on your couch, and from the laptop in your hotel room or kitchen. Using a service like those included here means no more having to email files to yourself or plug and unplug USB thumb drives.
If you don't yet have a service for storing and syncing your data in the cloud, you should seriously consider one. Which you choose depends on the kinds of files you store, how much security you need, whether you plan to collaborate with other people, and which devices you use to edit and access your files. It may also depend on your comfort level with computers in general. Some services are extremely user-friendly, while others offer advanced customization for more experienced technophiles.
What Can Cloud Storage Do for You?
The very best cloud storage solutions play nicely with other apps and services, making the experience of viewing or editing your files feel natural. Especially in business settings, you want your other software and apps to be able to retrieve or access your files, so making sure you use a service that easily authenticates with the other tools you use is a big deal. Box and Dropbox are particularly strong in this regard.
The range of capabilities of cloud-based storage services is incredible. Many of them specialize in a specific area. For example, Dropbox and SugarSync focus on keeping a synced folder accessible everywhere. SpiderOak emphasizes security. Some cloud storage services, such as Apple iCloud, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive, are generalists, offering not only folder and file syncing, but also media-playing and device syncing. These products even double as collaboration software, offering real-time document coediting.
Distinct from but overlapping in some cases with cloud storage are online backup services. Some of these, such as Carbonite, are all about disaster recovery, while IDrive combines that goal with syncing and sharing capabilities.
In fact, most cloud services offer some level of backup, almost as a consequence of their intended function. It follows logically that any files uploaded to a cloud service are also protected from disk failures, since there are copies of them in the cloud. But true online backup services can back up all of your computer's files, not just those in a synced folder structure. Whereas syncing is about managing select files, backup tends to be a bulk, just-in-case play. With syncing, you pick the documents you might need and keep them in the cloud for easy access. With backup, you protect everything you think you might regret losing. Easy, immediate access is not guaranteed with online backup, nor is it the point. Peace of mind is.
The Deal With the Cloud
Just to clear up any confusion, the cloud part of cloud-based storage services refers to storing your files somewhere other than your computer's hard drive, usually on the provider's servers. As one tech pundit put it: 'There is no Cloud. It's just someone else's computer.' Having data in the cloud gives you the ability to access those files through the internet. Your data is usually encrypted before making the journey over the internet to the providers' servers, and, while it lives on those servers, it's also encrypted. Well-designed services don't upload entire files every time they change. They just upload the changes, saving your connection bandwidth.
You can access your cloud files through an app or software installed on your computer (once it's installed, it's usually pretty much invisible), though you need an internet connection for it to work. If you temporarily don't have an internet connection, that's okay. The service waits until the next time you do have a connection and takes care of business then. For a deeper explanation of the cloud, see What is Cloud Computing?
Free vs. Paid
Many cloud storage services have a free account that usually comes with some limitations, such as the amount of storage they provide or a size limit on files you can upload. We prefer services that offer some level of free service (even if it's only 2GB) rather than a time-based trial, because that lets you fully integrate a service into your life for several weeks while you get a feel for how it works and what might go wrong with your particular setup.
What could possibly go wrong? Human error accounts for a good deal of cloud storage tragedies, but the dropped internet connection is another common troublemaker. And every internet service suffers the occasional outage. Ask around (or just look through our review comments), and you'll hear sad stories of how cloud storage can go wrong. One of the benefits of paying for an account is that it usually comes with additional support from the provider, so if anything does go wrong, you can get someone on the phone to help you resolve the issue.
There are many other reasons to pay for cloud storage, from getting a lot more space (a terabyte really doesn't cost all that much anymore) to being able to upload really big files. That last benefit is relevant to graphic designers, video editors, and other visual artists who often host enormous files. Other perks of paying for your cloud storage often include increased access to file-version history (meaning you can restore an important business proposal to the version you had before your colleague made a bunch of erroneous changes), more security, or more features for collaboration and teamwork.
The Best Cloud Storage Services
Here, we highlight only the best cloud storage services among those we've tested. When PCMag tests these services, we evaluate their feature sets, ease of use, stability, and price. There are many more cloud storage services on the market that didn't make the cut for this article, however. If you love a particular service that we didn't include, please be sure to let us know about it in the comments. Click on the review links below for more detailed information on each of our favorite cloud storage and file-syncing services.
Best Cloud Storage & File Sharing Services Featured in This Roundup:
Best Home Network Storage
IDrive Review
MSRP: $69.50Pros: Easy setup. Unlimited devices per account. Disk image backup. File Explorer integration. Folder syncing. Bulk uploads and restores via mail. Fast upload speeds in testing.Cons: No true continuous backup option. Fractured web interface. Storage isn't unlimited.Bottom Line: You won't find a better overall online backup service than the full-featured IDrive, especially for the price.Read ReviewSugarSync Review
MSRP: $89.88Pros: Dedicated desktop interface. Solid mobile apps. File Explorer integration. Protected folders.Cons: Expensive. Lacks advanced collaboration features. Difficult to cancel.Bottom Line: SugarSync is an intuitive file-syncing service with good mobile apps, but it's expensive and lacks advanced collaboration features.Read ReviewDropbox Review
MSRP: $0.00Pros: Effortless file synchronization. Apps for just about every operating system. Tight OS integration. Supports collaboration. Shows history of actions. Good features for Pro users.Cons: Skimpy free version. Expensive.Bottom Line: Dropbox is a simple, reliable file-syncing and storage service with enhanced collaboration features, but it's not as inexpensive or integrated as platform offerings like Google Drive, iCloud, and OneDrive.Read ReviewMicrosoft OneDrive Review
MSRP: $0.00Pros: Excellent interface. Clients for Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows. Well integrated with Windows 10 and Office 365. Strong online photo presentation and management. Powerful file-sharing and document coediting.Cons: Less free storage than Google Drive.Bottom Line: OneDrive, the default online storage and syncing service for Windows 10 and Office 365, offers a wealth of powerful features, as well as apps for more platforms than any of its competitors.Read ReviewBox (Personal) Review
MSRP: $10.00Pros: Easy to use. On-demand file syncing. Well designed for collaboration. Generous free storage allotment.Cons: Expensive. Lacks some collaboration features offered by the best of the competition. Desktop app options too numerous and unclear.Bottom Line: Online syncing and storage tool Box is easy to use and integrates with a wide range of apps and services, but it costs a lot more than similar products.Read ReviewCertainSafe Digital Safety Deposit Box Review
MSRP: $12.00Pros: Renders bulk data breach of cloud-stored files impossible. Authenticates user to server and vice versa. Secure file sharing. Retains past file versions. Secure chat.Cons: Relatively expensive. If you forget password or security answers, you lose all access. Office integration currently unavailable.Bottom Line: When storing your sensitive files in the cloud, CertainSafe Digital Safety Deposit Box makes security its top priority, without sacrificing ease of use.Read ReviewGoogle Drive Review
MSRP: $0.00Pros: Generous free storage space. Excellent productivity-suite collaboration. Includes desktop-to-desktop file-syncing. Many third-party integrations. Cross-platform apps.Cons: Consumer desktop utility stores everything locally. Privacy concerns. Productivity software less capable than Microsoft Office. No password-protection for shared files.Bottom Line: Google Drive is one of the slickest, fullest-featured, and most generous cloud storage and syncing services, with excellent productivity suite collaboration capabilities.Read ReviewSpiderOak ONE Review
MSRP: $69.00Pros: Strong privacy features. Unlimited computers per account. File syncing included. Well-designed, full-featured desktop application.Cons: Buggy mobile apps. No search in web interface or mobile app. No two-factor authentication. Slow performance in testing.Bottom Line: SpiderOak ONE offers top-notch security features and flexible backup and sharing options, but it's more expensive than the competition.Read ReviewApple iCloud Drive Review
MSRP: $0.00Pros: Slick app and web interfaces. Compatible with Windows as well as macOS and iOS devices. Account includes 5GB storage when you buy an iOS or macOS device.Cons: Less straightforward than competing services. No search in web interface. No Android app. Collaborative editing lacks expected capabilities. Nags to upgrade storage.Bottom Line: Apple's iCloud Drive file-syncing and storage service is worth using, especially if you're committed to Apple's ecosystem, but it doesn't quite measure up to the competition from Google and Microsoft.Read Review
Best Home Network Storage For Mac
- #1Synology DS218j 2 Bay Desktop NAS Enclosure
- #2Synology DS119j 1 Bay Desktop NAS Enclosure
- #3Buffalo LS210D0201-EU 2TB (1 x 2TB) LinkStation 210 1 Bay Desktop NAS, Black
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- WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra - Black, 8TB
- QNAP TS-451+-2G, 4bay, 2GB RAM, Quad-core NAS (Network-attached Storage), Private Cloud, Backup, Share & Restore Files, stream multimedia files with DLNA, HDMI output
- WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra - Black, Diskless
- Synology DS218+ 6TB (2 x 3TB WD RED) 2 Bay Desktop NAS Unit
- Synology DS218J 8TB 2 Bay NAS Solution | Installed with 2 x 4TB Seagate IronWolf Drives
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- Synology DS218J 8TB 2 Bay NAS Solution | Installed with 2 x 4TB Western Digital Red Drives
- QNAP TS-253Be-2G, 2bay, 2GB RAM, Quad-core CPU multimedia NAS (Network-attached Storage) with PCIe slot, ideal private cloud, backup, data & multimedia centre