Like most parents, the amount of digital photos I took exploded When my daughter was born. By the time her umbilical cord was cut, I had already received an email from Google, but it wasn’t to congratulate me (thank you Google) However, I would like to inform you that my Google Drive is filling up rapidly.
Thanks to the plethora of photos I took of my daughter as she grew from a gray, slimy newborn to an adorable baby and started doing funny and cute things instead of just being a screaming potato, my Google Drive Capacity was under even greater strain. . As I reached my storage quota, the emails from Google became even more alarming.
As an Android user, Google Photos and Google Drive were my default services for cloud storage and I didn’t feel the need to look elsewhere. As an owner of the original Google Pixel smartphone, it actually makes sense to stick with Google Photos. Because the company used to offer unlimited storage for snaps. Sadly, not only did Google then stop offering incentives to get people to buy their phones, but by the time my daughter was born I had switched to Samsung phones.
It was very important to me that the photos I took on my smartphone were automatically backed up in full quality. These photos will be very shocking to lose if you lose or break your phone. So with the threat that my photos would no longer be backed up, I had to act quickly.
The most obvious step was to increase the storage capacity of Google Drive. However, I was already paying $2.99 per month for 200GB. The only big option was 2TB for $9.99, which was a significant increase in the monthly price. Even with my trigger-happy snaps, I didn’t think I’d need that much. As a new parent, I had to be careful about my outings. So I decided to shop around, and it didn’t end well for Google.
Putting aside my prejudices
When I was looking for an alternative cloud storage solution for my rapidly growing photo collection, there was one service I had already decided not to use. OneDrive.
This was Microsoft’s cloud storage solution, and they were promoting it in classic Microsoft style. difficult On Windows 11, it’s almost unpleasant. Every time I test a new laptop or PC (which I do a lot because of my job), I’m prompted to turn on OneDrive to sync all my devices.
I wasn’t a fan and was happy with Google Drive most of the time, so I didn’t want another cloud storage service. And I resented being constantly asked about it.
But I was no longer satisfied with Google Drive, so I decided to take a look at what Microsoft had to offer. Like Google, Microsoft also offers a free tier of his OneDrive, but it only has 5 GB, which isn’t enough for my photos.
However, the Microsoft 365 Personal tier gives you 1 TB of storage (much more than the 200 GB I was using, but not more than I needed) for $6.99 per month (less if you pay annually). Masu). Includes 1TB of storage, plus licenses for Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This was another big selling point for me. Because even in the age of Google Docs, I’m one of those weirdos who still prefers to use locally installed office apps, especially word processors.
For long-form articles, I was considering investing in Microsoft Office anyway (or I could have used the free alternative LibreOffice ). Having physical files on the PC also meant that he could back up those files to his NAS device while using cloud storage (paranoid? Perhaps).
One thing I do Like Google Docs, it’s always saved in the background, so you’re unlikely to lose much work if your PC crashes, and you can even log in and access your documents from other machines.
Even if your PC completely breaks down, you can still access your documents over the Internet from another machine. So I was very happy to see that Word (and other Office applications) offer similar functionality. If you save your documents to the OneDrive folder on your PC, you can choose to autosave all the time (rather than every 5 minutes) and access those files over the web. There’s also a version history, and you can edit documents within your web browser, so you don’t even need to install Word or Excel.
So I made up my mind and subscribed. So far, I’m very happy with OneDrive, but I’m a little disappointed that I ignored it for so long. Android apps are available that automatically upload photos taken with your phone. You can also save space on your phone by safely deleting uploaded images after they are backed up. It’s not as seamless as using the Photos app or Google Drive on an Android phone, but it’s not the nightmare I feared either.
So far, you can store all your photos with 1TB of storage space. I don’t feel the need to upgrade storage (no bugs either). In fact, I currently use OneDrive to store music projects created in Ableton Live. These can be quite large files, but there’s still plenty of space, so you can open these projects on your MacBook as well as your desktop PC. Yes, there is his OneDrive app for Mac, and it is very well integrated into macOS.
Of course, the Windows 11 integration is where it shines. Although I’m still annoyed that Windows 11 tries to make everything default to OneDrive storage and I have to scroll through all my OneDrive folders in File Explorer just to access my local storage (I don’t know if Microsoft wants to access my Downloads folder) ).
Also useful when reviewing new Windows 11 devices. Instead of getting mad at the offer to sign up for OneDrive, enable OneDrive using your Microsoft account when you set up your new Windows 11 laptop or PC. That way you’ll see all your files and folders without having to install a third one. party application.
So I’m willing to admit that I was wrong about OneDrive. OneDrive is a really useful and valuable service. I probably would have tried it sooner if Microsoft hadn’t been so pushy on me to try it.
