Google Drive or Skydrive.

[twdawson]

Just wondering what people are using and which you prefer as i am going to use one of these to make automatic online backup and sync of my important pictures and documents.

But i can't decide which one to go for, I have 25 gigs on both (grandfathered in on the google drive).

Whats your opinions of both of these.

 

[youllbelost]

IMHO, Skydrive is a better option.
>7Gb in SkyDrive vs 5 Gb in Google's.(free)
>If you dont want your data more than 100 Gb on the cloud, then also Skydrive is cheaper.

YBL.

 

[Hanna 1]

Did you read this?

Microsoft offering free SkyDrive storage for new, existing users - AfterDawn

Make your choice

 

[kado897]

Don't rely on sync'd storage as a backup. The reason is simple. If you delete or somehow lose your local copy that will also be immediately deleted from the cloud. On this Google Drive is the better choice because it puts the deleted documents in a recycle bin. As far as I can tell SkyDrive will permanently delete them.

 

[OldMX]

I went for skydrive with 25GB of storage.

 

[pparks1]

Play with both and make a choice. Or do like I am doing and using them all. Dropbox is the one that I use for my sync stuff. I like the fact that it's been around a while, I've gotten plenty of free space based on referrals and I can control my upload speeds. And there are clients for Windows, Linux, Smartphones, etc. And for those doing large collections like Music, or pictures..if you use it on multiple PC's, you have the LAN sync feature which is much, much faster.

I use SkyDrive as a backup online because it offers me 25GB of space as I used it previously and took advantage of the free upgrade. I don't use this for sync, but rather copy stuff to it. As said above, with a sync, if I were to delete the source, I wouldn't want to lose the backup just a few seconds later. And even if there are undelete options or revision history, i feel safer not having to depend upon them.

I haven't really kicked the tires yet on Google Drive. I got it enabled and have the client installed, but haven't used it yet. But I will gladly take the free space and use it for something.

 

[kado897]

Google Drive is quite good. Although it only offers 5GB free none of the documents created by the Google Docs Apps count towards this so you can create as many documents as you like. If you need to download them it will convert them into MS Office or Open Office formats. Not only that but there are already Apps available to handle other than the basic needs and they will grow in time. I think I may use SkyDrive in Sync mode and Google Drive when I need to create documents online but I need to explore further.

 

[Brds7t7]

I've gone with Google Drive. True there is more storage with skydrive. But most of my syncing is between pc running windows 7, android phone and laptop running xp. As skydrive app won't support xp it's no good for me. I can use Google Drive sync on all my devices. I use that and dropbox.

 

[pparks1]

Am I missing something, or is there no concept of a recycle bin or recovery option with SkyDrive? It seems like once you delete something, even accidentally, it's gone and cannot be recovered.

I can recover files for 30 days from Dropbox for free, and I can delete anything from the Google drive trash unless I emptied the trash manually via the website, but SkyDrive doesn't seem to have this concept at all.

Am I just missing it?

 

[Brds7t7]

Hello pparks,

I've looked at that too and I don't think there is any way to recover a file deleted in skydrive. I really like the Recycle Bin feature in Google Drive.

 

[pparks1]

Google Drive has a Trashcan and everything stays unless you empty the trash can
Amazon Cloud drive has a Deleted items area and everything stays unless you permanently delete it
Dropbox has a previous versions option and it lets you undelete anything from the past 30 days with a free account.

Not having this ability in SkyDrive seems very disappointing. And considering how easy it is to accidentally delete a file from any synced computer and losing it in the cloud and everywhere else really stinks. Looks like I am going to be mainly using one of the other services listed above.

 

[Brds7t7]

No Recycle Bin and No XP support means it's not for me. I still use xp on my laptop.
I've stuck with Google Drive and Dropbox.

 

[pparks1]

Well, SkyDrive will work on XP via website, right? Just not with the sync application.

I'm not enamored yet on the sync apps...at certainly not one without an undelete option. A virus, or accidental delete on a PC, could wipe out your cloud copy at the exact same time. I kinda like my cloud storage as a secondary copy, where I actively copy up what I am attempting to protect.

 

[Brds7t7]

Yeah just the sync app that won't work on xp. I don't tend to store anything really important on them really so I don't worry about losing them too much. It's mainly just for transferring files between my PC, laptop and android phone.

 

[Airbot]

Yep. No way to recover deleted file with Skydrive. Reading their forum, they know it's a highly demanded missing feature ATM though.

 

[kado897]

Absolutely correct. It even warns you that there is no way to recover if you delete a file. It is SkyDrive's major fault and why It can never be considered as a backup solution. If you are syncing however it does put everything deleted into your local recycle bin.

 

[youllbelost]

Hello pparks,

I've looked at that too and I don't think there is any way to recover a file deleted in skydrive. I really like the Recycle Bin feature in Google Drive.

SkyDrive will permanently delete the file is deleted from the skydrive(that's online) but when you delete a file from your PC it will sync it to the skydrive rendering it unrecoverable. This seems to me a good feature to fight useless outdated data, on the other side, you may feel a "risk" of losing your data.

But what I cannot understand is why and how could anyone accidently(accidentally?) delete an important file. If a multiple users have access to your data then I think its not important enough.

But surely, it would be great if MS adds the feature of a time based recycle bin.

YBL.

 

[kado897]

OK. So I've been looking at SkyDrive and Google Drive for a few days now and have drawn up a short comparison of the two. Of the two Google Drive is the more complete product in my opinion. You can view my comparison here. SkyDrive and Google Drive Comparison

I will update as I find other features.

 

[Brds7t7]

Here's another good comparison that includes a lot of different services:

A comparison of FREE Cloud Storage Services | freewaregenius.com

 

[kado897]

I will be interesting to see their follow up article on the features. That one concentrates mainly on the free storage.