This article will introduce you to the most popular personal cloud backups, and you can choose one of them based on your needs. Of course, step-by-step guides are also included.
By
Ivy
/ Last Updated May 11, 2020
Having a personal cloud backup of your important data is essential. Whether it’s photos, music, movies, thesis or any work papers, they all deserve a safe backup plan simply because you never know what would happen to your PC, and when.
Why use personal online backup instead of local or external drive backup? Let’s get the basics. Both local drive and external drive will be affected by computer issues, such as, system failure, hardware failure, virus, hacker, or other human error, because it’s connected to your computer or will. In addition, natural disasters can also affect, for instance, a sudden fire. In a simple word, backing up data to either local drive or external may result in data loss.
To avoid these problems, you should save your data to a place that is not affected by local or natural disasters. Specifically, you need to keep your data away from your home or office. And the clouds will be a great choice.
In the following, I’ll introduce you the most popular clouds, including Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox. With any of them, you can store photos, documents, videos, designs etc, and these data will be transferred to all of your devices. In addition, you can access data anytime, anywhere. This is the basic requirements for all clouds.
Then, continue to see below and select the most suitable personal online backup.
Capacity: 15GB free and 100GB, 200GB for paid
Capacity expansion: 2GB for completing security checkup
Platform: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS
File upload limit: 5TB
Price: $2.99/month for 200GB, $9.99/month for 2TB, $99.99/month for 10TB, $199.99/month for 20TB and $299.99/month for 30TB
Features: store any files, file upload from any device, share files with anyone, save email attachments from Gmail
Integration: G Suit tools, Backup and Sync desktop pp
Google Drive is best for team and collaboration. Also, you can use it for individuals. It offers free users generous capacity, but the space is also shared with other Google services including Gmail and Google Photos. To get more space without upgrading, you can complete the security checkup and you will get 2GB.
In addition to the basic features, Google Drive will offer users some integration feature, such as, Google Backup and Sync desktop app, G Suit tools – Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Calendar, Google+, Sites, Hangouts and Keep, Google Backup and Sync desktop app. “Backup and Sync” make file uploading effortlessly, even for specific folders.
Capacity: 5GB free and 50GB, 1TB, 6TB for paid
Capacity expansion: office 365 subscription start at 1TB
Platform: Windows, Android, iOS
File upload limit: 15GB
Starting price: $1.99/month
Features: access files in offline mode, SSL encryption, easy file sharing, latest office application, edit files online without downloading,
Integration: Microsoft office, Outlook, AutoCAD
Microsoft OneDrive is best for Windows users, especially Windows 10, because it greatly integrates with other Microsoft products, such as, Microsoft office – Word, Excel, PPT, Outlook etc. Also, it allows you to edit files online without downloading.
For its capacity, every free user will get 5GB of cloud storage. If you want more space, you can subscribe office 365 for extra 1TB. Besides, you still can choose to upgrade to paid options, including 50GB, 1TB, 6TB.
Capacity: 2GB free and several paid option, 1TB, 2TB, 3TB for paid
Capacity expansion: 500MB for each referral and up to 16GB, 250MB for completing the “Getting Started guide, 1GB for Mighty Answer on Dropbox forum
Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Windows phone,
File upload limit: unlimited
Starting price: $8.25/month for individuals and $12.5/user/month
Features: Dropbox paper, Dropbox Rewind, File Requests, 256-bit AES and SSL/TLS encryption, share any file like PowerPoint and Photoshop with anyone, anytime, anywhere access, free-trial for all editions
Dropbox is suitable for light data users, because it only offers free user 2GB. But it gives you a chance to extend the capacity free of charge, including, invite your friends to join and get 500MB each referral, up to 16GB, complete the Getting Started guide for 250MB, provide “Mighty Answer” for Dropbox forum and each answer get 1GB extra storage.
Beside the basic feature, store files, file sharing and transfer, Dropbox also provide some useful features, such as, Dropbox Paper, File Requests, Dropbox Rewind. Dropbox paper is a great collaborate working tool, which acts as group workspace and its desktop app will automatically backup your photos. If you are interested in these features, you can try it.
That’s all for brief introduce to cloud backup for personal computer. If you want to know more, please see Dropbox vs Google Drive vs OneDrive.
The above clouds have a common used way to do cloud backup for personal computer, it’s desktop folder. The steps are very similar, you just need to download the corresponding software and sync the desktop folder to your computer, then drag and drop files you want to backup in this folder.
Here, I’ll take Google Drive as an example to show you the detailed steps in the following. You can use it as a reference.
Step 1. Download Google Backup and Sync, sign in your account and transfer desktop folder to local computer.
Step 2. Select the files you want to backup on your computer and save it to a folder, then right-click the folder and tap “Copy” from the context menu.
Step 3. Go to the desktop folder of Google Drive, right-click on a blank space and select “Paste”. Then, it will be transferred to web-site.
Note: If you want to backup files to Dropbox or OneDrive, you can follow the corresponding part in the given link.
As you can see from above, the space free of charge is limited, Google Drive is 15GB, OneDrive is 5GB and Dropbox is simply 2GB. The space will run out sooner or later, you can choose to upgrade to the paid option, or get more space by gathering all of your free cloud storage.
Here, I highly recommend you free cBackupper, which can not only combine cloud storage into one, but also move files between cloud storage with extra features. Below are some useful features that you may be interested in.
Combine cloud storage: This is not a real feature, but it’s very useful if you are bothered by how to get unlimited space. You just need to connect enough cloud storage to cBackupper and this software will automatically combine cloud storage.
Schedule: This feature has three schedule settings, including, daily, weekly, monthly, which can free you from manually backup files and perform this operation automatically. Also, there is a specific time backup option for users who want to backup once and avoid the working hours.
File filter: With this feature, you can exclude or contain file types and backup files with a certain file extension.
Email notification: If you use this feature, you can leave without waiting for final result when you have an emergency and this software will inform you via email.
Step 1. Create an account and sign in. Just go to the main page of cBackupper, click “Sign up” at the upper right side, then type your email, password, and nickname.
Step 2. Add your personal clouds, even different accounts. Click the “Clouds” tab, click “Add Clouds” in the lower left corner, select your clouds (here is Google Drive) and click “OK”. Then sign in your account, authorize cBackupper and allow it to see, edit, create, and delete all of your Google Drive files.
Step 3. In the next window, modify the display name and allocate space for file backup. Then, click the checkbox before “Note: Please do not change the path directly in the third-party cloud disk, or modify or delete the backup file.” and click “OK”.
Now, you complete the entire process of adding cloud drives. To add more clouds, you just need to repeat the above steps. And you’d better change the default name to a unique one for distinguish.
Note: If you want to transfer files between cloud storages, you can go to the Task tab and follow the steps in the given link. The steps are suitable for all cloud drives regardless of different clouds and different accounts of the same cloud.
Speaking of best free personal cloud backup, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox may be a great choice. But you need to select based on your own situation. In sum, Google Drive have more free space and suitable for Google users, OneDrive is best for Windows users and Dropbox for light data users.
Having a copy of your important files can keep your data safe, but the space free of charge is limited. So, you need to get more space or unlimited space with cBackupper. You just need to connect enough clouds and this software will take care of the rest.
Also, you can move a file in Google Drive, transfer Dropbox files to Google Drive, backup files to OneDrive etc. Besides, this software can ensure security issues by OAuth, please feel free to use.
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