does anyone use cloud storage?

chinacup

And if so, successfully? Is it easy and smooth to use? If you do use it I would appreciate hearing your advice/experience with it for your given course. In the process of choosing a laptop and obviously the fear of losing assignments etc is there. So I was thinking cloud storage but don't know how practical it is for college use. Thanks in advance.

stevek93

I use my laptop to remote desktop to my PC at home. I hate using cloud as storage you have to download the document you want to use do whatever it is you are doing and upload the newly edited document without confusing which is the new one and which is the old a pain when you are working with multiple files.

yes there

Well if your getting a new laptop then most ship with w8 which provide their cloud service. Skydrive its called.

Dowl88

Tis grand. Handy to have everything backed up.

CatInABox

Any new Windows 8 laptop will allow you to set up a Microsoft Account* so that you can access their cloud service. It's built into the OS as well, so the default save location is there.

Also has good features, as you can log in from anywhere and use the free Office Online to edit word docs and such.

A Microsoft account can be set up as almost anything I think. Microsoft provide @outlook.com/@hotmail.com for free but you can set it up with a Gmail account if you want.

chinacup

yes there wrote: »

Well if your getting a new laptop then most ship with w8 which provide their cloud service. Skydrive its called.

I have skydrive with my hotmail a/c already should there be enough storage to last through coll on that ya? Or is it unlimited? Clueless here!

Dowl88

chinacup wrote: »

I have skydrive with my hotmail a/c already should there be enough storage to last through coll on that ya? Or is it unlimited? Clueless here!

Its 5gb I think, unless you have 25000 documents ull be grand.

CatInABox

Both Microsoft and Google offer 15GB for free, so unless your college requires you to work with large files like Audio/Video, then that should be more than enough.

Tom Dunne

I would say it is an absolute necessity.

I use Dropbox for all academic work - there are too many horror stories of students losing work at the worst possible moment.

In fact I would go so far as to say there should be no excuse for losing work with the many cloud storage technologies available.

jaymcg91

I use Microsoft OneDrive because it automatically saves when I'm using any Microsoft Office component. Plus with OneDrive you can actually edit documents in the web browser if you need! So if I need to update something last minute, I can use any computer, it doesn't even need to have Office!

mynamewasgone!

I use dropbox for most of my college stuff. Think I have about 7gb of storage from sending invites since they launched a few years ago.

chinacup

Tom Dunne wrote: »

I would say it is an absolute necessity.

I use Dropbox for all academic work - there are too many horror stories of students losing work at the worst possible moment.

In fact I would go so far as to say there should be no excuse for losing work with the many cloud storage technologies available.

Do you find it seamless enough to use or is there any awkwardness to look out for? Never really put cloud storage to use before always used usb or laptop storage so that's what I'm used to!

solomafioso

You'll need to weight up the pros and cons with using cloud storage. As in any storage solution, never rely on it. That is the network could be down / files not synched, etc.

A few mentioned here are Microsoft's One Drive (free 15GB storage / requires signup/login. You can also avail of free online Word / PowerPoint and Excel (basically like the desktop versions but stripped down functionality...eg cannot create a multi-column layout in Word).

https://office.com/start/default.aspx

If you have a Gmail / Google Account you can also use Google Drive. (again 15GB of free storage spread across G+, Photos). Google Drive was the first to include online / browser editors and it's integration is useful. But again it's what you're used to.

Dropbox (2GB free...upgradable). Dropbox's downside is that you cannot edit documents stored. So I liken it to an online safe. You need to upload the file, download, edit, re-upload, delete old file (if necessary).

drive.google.com

If you wanted to go with a more direct solution you can try BitTorrent Sync. There's no limit to space (well, your own hard drive!). Downside is that you cannot install on college machines.

http://www.bittorrent.com/sync

Always ensure you have a decent file naming and folder formatting starting off. That is, in a "College" folder you'd want "Year X", then in that you'd have "Semester 1 (or 2", then in that you'd have your modules. Just so you're not looking at a page full of files wondering what relates to where!

mdolly123

Find these great if you need to access files and can't lug personal computer around but not sure I totally trust that info in cloud files is totally secure..but I use it anyway

challengemaster

solomafioso wrote: »

Dropbox (2GB free...upgradable). Dropbox's downside is that you cannot edit documents stored. So I liken it to an online safe. You need to upload the file, download, edit, re-upload, delete old file (if necessary).

I don't know anyone that uses dropbox like that, unless it's on a public computer.

It's not cloud-based editing, if thats what you mean. But if I'm honest, I think that's rather pointless most of the time. The formatting is never correct anyway. There's no way you could submit something created in G-Drive as a final draft of a college assignment.

Install dropbox, sign in, it creates a dropbox folder on your computer that syncs every time a file is changed across any computer your account is linked with. All you need to do is save your folders/files within that dropbox folder, and you can continuously work on them from your computer within any app (word, etc), as soon as you hit save, it will sync to dropbox servers.

I'd agree with Tom Dunne, whatever shape or form, it is an absolute necessity.

solomafioso

challengemaster wrote: »

I don't know anyone that uses dropbox like that, unless it's on a public computer.

College PC's are 'public computers' essentially.

challengemaster wrote: »

It's not cloud-based editing, if that's what you mean. But if I'm honest, I think that's rather pointless most of the time. The formatting is never correct anyway. There's no way you could submit something created in G-Drive as a final draft of a college assignment.

Install dropbox, sign in, it creates a dropbox folder on your computer that syncs every time a file is changed across any computer your account is linked with. All you need to do is save your folders/files within that dropbox folder, and you can continuously work on them from your computer within any app (word, etc), as soon as you hit save, it will sync to dropbox servers.

I'd agree with Tom Dunne, whatever shape or form, it is an absolute necessity.

That method only works if a college has roaming profiles AND lets students install software (the desktop application) which is what I meant.

Dropbox, GDrive and Sky Drive all have desktop equivalents that enable you to treat the files as local, which are then synchronised to view / download on another PC either via browser or through desktop folder.

But again, it's a better alternative to an external drive / usb key if you're prone to losing those! At least if you can't sign in online, the file(s) are still there.

challengemaster

solomafioso wrote: »

College PC's are 'public computers' essentially.



That method only works if a college has roaming profiles AND lets students install software (the desktop application) which is what I meant.

I'm aware of that, but the OP mentioned buying a laptop.

CatInABox

challengemaster wrote: »

I'm aware of that, but the OP mentioned buying a laptop.

Indeed, one of the reason I was talking more about OneDrive than any of the others is that the OP will most likely be buying a Windows 8.1 laptop.

As a Microsoft Account is required to get the most out of an 8.1 laptop, and as OneDrive is integrated into the OS already, I think that that is probably the best choice.

chinacup

I've heard it may be a better idea to go for windows 7 as 8 updates regularly and wasn't all that practical for college. But that was just one persons opinion I'm not sure? Thanks a million for the responses they've been really helpful. In terms of the dropbox option, do I need to be connected to the internet for it to sync? Unlikely I'll be using college computers all that much with buying the laptop.

Tom Dunne

chinacup wrote: »

Do you find it seamless enough to use or is there any awkwardness to look out for? Never really put cloud storage to use before always used usb or laptop storage so that's what I'm used to!

Yes, very seamless. l typically use three platforms- windows 7 Pc, Linux Laptop and Android tab. Editing on one platform and viewing on another is very straightforward. Everything goes into the Drop box folder and is replicated across all platforms.

When editing, you do not need to be connected to the internet. As long as you save your documents to the Drop box folder, they will synch up the next time you connect to the internet.

challengemaster

chinacup wrote: »

I've heard it may be a better idea to go for windows 7 as 8 updates regularly and wasn't all that practical for college. But that was just one persons opinion I'm not sure? Thanks a million for the responses they've been really helpful. In terms of the dropbox option, do I need to be connected to the internet for it to sync? Unlikely I'll be using college computers all that much with buying the laptop.

It's a bit of personal choice on that one, tbh. I don't care much for Win 8, and it was designed for laptops using touchscreen, as such it takes a bit of getting used to. Win7 is much more in line with what people are accustomed to as a desktop operating system.

The best thing you can do is pop into a computer store like PC World / Currys / etc, and just play around on one of the display models - most likely they'll be running Win8. See if you like it.

Yes, you do need to be connected to the internet for files to sync. Basically what happens is when you change a file in your dropbox folder - the application detects the change and uploads the new version of the file to dropbox servers. However, the dropbox folder does not solely exist in cloud storage. All the files in your dropbox folder are always stored locally on your computers hard drive. This means you can work away without internet if needs be, all changes are saved locally (to your hard drive copy) and when you regain internet connectivity, the files get updated on the dropbox servers.


If you then connect to your account from another PC you have dropbox installed on, all the folders/files that have been sync'd to the dropbox servers will get downloaded / updated to that computer. You can still access your files via the dropbox website for access on public computers, but as already said, it's a little tedious that way.

It sounds much more complicated than it is, once you start using it you it's very easy to use.

And I wouldn't be too worried about internet connectivity on-campus. I don't know of any campus that does not have campus-wide wifi, and campus internet is as fast as you'll get unless you work in google! Usually your access to campus wifi is your student ID and password for campus account services.

You can also manually pause syncing incase you are somewhat that has a very slow internet connection, and dropbox is causing a major slowdown.

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Yes, very seamless. l typically use three platforms- windows 7 Pc, Linux Laptop and Android tab. Editing on one platform and viewing on another is very straightforward. Everything goes into the Drop box folder and is replicated across all platforms.

When editing, you do not need to be connected to the internet. As long as you save your documents to the Drop box folder, they will synch up the next time you connect to the internet.

Again, just to echo what Tom has said - because dropbox isn't solely cloud storage, there is a copy stored locally - it's perfectly seamless. My laptop is Mac, my desktop is Win7, and my iPhone - it works perfectly on all of these.

CatInABox

chinacup wrote: »

I've heard it may be a better idea to go for windows 7 as 8 updates regularly and wasn't all that practical for college. But that was just one persons opinion I'm not sure? Thanks a million for the responses they've been really helpful. In terms of the dropbox option, do I need to be connected to the internet for it to sync? Unlikely I'll be using college computers all that much with buying the laptop.

They're much the same when it comes to updates. Microsoft issues updates every second Tuesday of the month, in what is called "Patch Tuesday".

Windows 8.1 generally gets more updates as it's the newer system, but I've always found that in general, the average home user is much better off installing all the updates that Microsoft puts out. People ignore security updates at their own peril.

With all of the cloud options given, their will be a folder on your computer into which you can save files. Those files will be on your computer at all times, and will sync to the cloud when you have internet access.

As to whether you should go with Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, it's really down to personal choice. It took me about a day to get used to Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 introduce plenty of measures to make it easier on people that don't have a touchscreen(I don't). The problem that most people seem to have is the fact that the start menu fills the entire screen, but I've found that once I've taught people to start thinking of it as a highly customisable start screen rather than the start menu that they are used, most people prefer it.

Other than that major issue, I believe the updates in Windows 8.1 (Better file copying/moving, better task manager, etc) outweigh the downsides.

At the end of the day, it's all personal opinion.

carti2k

I still have about 12 invites, if someone wants go get free 500 MB just signup within my referral link: https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTE5MTUzMzczOTk?src=global9 and install on your PC dropbox - both of us get additional 500 MB

miezekatze

I think cloud storage is really handy for college assignments etc., I don't understand why anyone wouldn't do it. When working on group assignments, one of us would usually create a folder on SkyDrive or Google drive and grant all group members access and then everyone would just work off that folder and upload new versions rather than sending documents by email. It makes working on group assignments so much easier. I had a lot of IT subjects so it was really handy for that too - you can work on your stuff on a college PC and then just upload it and you can use it at home, no need for memory sticks etc. anymore.