Cloud storage: what, how, why? How to connect a cloud drive to Windows, Android - secure file storage in the cloud, available anytime, anywhere

Good day!

Lately, more and more often I hear questions regarding cloud storage, cloud, cloud disk, etc. In fact, behind all these words there is one thing hidden: you will have your own hard drive on the Internet (figuratively), for example, 10-size. 100 GB.

You can place any files on it: photos, videos, programs, games, etc. (relevant, for example, for a phone that often lacks memory: instead of a flash drive, you can connect the cloud and upload photos there automatically).

And the main advantage of the cloud: you can get the data from any of your devices that is connected to the Internet: phone, tablet, computer, etc. It is convenient to transfer files from one device to another, share links with friends to the necessary files.

And, perhaps, I would highlight one more advantage of a cloud disk: its reliability, And safety files stored in it. No matter what anyone says, your files on the same phone are at much greater risk: imagine accidentally dropping the phone (or spilling something on it) - and that’s it, there are no files. Another thing is about cloud storage: even if your phone or computer is completely disabled, connecting from another device will give you access to your files again.

I think I have given enough advantages! In general, in this article I wanted to talk about how to create such a cloud for yourself, how to connect and configure it. So...

Where to get a cloud drive - the best services

With the popularization of cloud storage, services of this kind are becoming more and more common. Many users are only chasing the amount of space allocated for files. Meanwhile, I would also recommend choosing reliable and time-tested companies. And using a disk with a high access speed (even if it has a smaller capacity) is more pleasant than a slow one.

I'll give you the best of them...

I'm an index drive

One of the most popular cloud services from Yandex. Many users also already have mail from this service, which means there will be no problems connecting the disk.

Main advantages:

By the way, I will show further description and configuration of the cloud disk, using Yandex disk as an example. In principle, work with all services is similar...

Cloud @mail.ru

A similar cloud disk service from Mail.ru (a well-known mail service). By the way, if you follow all the recommendations of the service, you will get as much as 100 GB of disk space (current on the day the article was published)!

Main advantages:

1. files on the disk are accessible from a smartphone and computer;
2. high reliability of hosted files;
3. the ability to automatically upload photos from your phone;
4. full integration with mail (very convenient, for example, to attach files to a letter directly from a cloud drive!);
5. quick ability to exchange files with any other user on the Internet.

Google Drive Drive)

For those who use services (mail, for example) from Google - Google Drive it will come in handy. After registration, you receive 15 GB of space to store any files: pictures, videos, archives, etc. If there is not enough space, then for an additional small payment it can be significantly expanded!

I would especially like to note that, having got yourself such a disk from Google, you will not even need to install Word and Excel on your computer - because... You can edit and create files in this format directly from Google Drive.

Google's cloud drive is closely integrated with other services of this company. For example, you can easily attach files and send them by mail. In general, it is a good competitor to the first two services.

Dropbox

The service has been offering cloud storage since 2007 (older than many competitors). Compared to them, it offers much less space in the free version, only 2 GB. But you can expand the space by following the recommendations from the developers, or get 1 TB of space (or more) for a relatively small payment per month (~$8). It might be hard to find storage that's as huge if you want to back up your entire hard drive, for example.

Otherwise, the service is similar to the previous ones: there are all the same things about downloading, synchronization, working with documents, etc. By the way, the service fully supports the Russian language.

One Drive

Service One Drive presented by the famous company Microsoft. In the free version, you will receive a 5 GB disk. But for ~2500 rubles. per year you can get a disk with a size of 1 TB (1000 GB). Agree that the name of such a capacious disk, you can transfer and work with hundreds of photos and videos.

You can work with the disk from almost any device: PC, Mac computers and devices with Android and iOS. You can work with files from Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote for one or several users at once. Agree that creating documents in 2-3 is much easier and faster.

By the way, in OneDrive, photos that are uploaded to the service are automatically tagged depending on what is captured on them. Thanks to this, using albums in OneDrive, you can easily organize them and quickly find the photos you need right now (a super thing for those who have a lot of photos).

Connecting Yandex disk (cloud) to Windows and Android

And so, I will assume that your email is already registered. Now the easiest way to connect a drive in both Windows and Android is to install special applications. This is done in a standard and easy way, so I won’t give a detailed description. The download links for these apps are provided below.

Yandex Disk application (For PC):

Yandex Disk application for smartphone:

After installing the application on your PC, in “My Computer” you will see a link to “Yandex. Disk” (as in the screenshot below). Now you can upload any of your files and folders there.

Perhaps the only negative: to access your files on such a disk you need the Internet (and preferably a fast one ☺).

On your smartphone, after installing the application, you will have a link to “Disk”, by opening which you will immediately gain access to your files. By the way, for installing the application on a smartphone, Yandex gives 32 GB!

Now files from your computer (laptop) can be transferred to your phone (and back) in a matter of minutes (no need to download and install any drivers on your phone). Comfortable!

Like a network drive

By the way, in Windows, a cloud drive from Yandex can be connected like a regular network drive (without installing additional software from Yandex). This can be very useful in some cases.

How it's done:

How to share files with friends, how to transfer files

In general, when you connect, for example, a smartphone to Yandex disk and have a Wi-Fi connection, all photos will be automatically synchronized and uploaded to the cloud disk. Below are some frequently encountered tasks.

Transfer files or photos between your smartphone and PC

In general, everything is very simple:

Transfer files from a smartphone or PC to someone else's smartphone or PC

If you need to send photos or files to a friend, acquaintances, or relatives, you can share them and provide a link to download them.

To do this, you need to open Explorer in Windows and go to Yandex disk. Next, find the file or folder to which you want to give access. In my example, I selected the file.

Just right-click on the desired file and select from the pop-up context menu "Yandex disk - copy public link" . Now this link can be sent (for example, by mail, as an SMS, in Skype, in Viber, etc.) to whoever needs it, and he will be able to download your file(s).

If you want to find out which files you have links to, or over time you want to remove links to download certain files, then just go to Yandex disk, open the item "Links" in the menu on the left, and you will see a list of files that you have shared with someone previously. In this tab you can remove everything you previously shared.

That's basically all I wanted to talk about in this article.