Introduction
Cloud storage is a cloud computing approach in which data is stored on the Internet and managed and operated by a cloud computing provider. It’s on-demand, with just-in-time capacity and pricing, and it saves you money by not having to acquire and manage your own data storage infrastructure. With anytime and anywhere data access, you get dexterity and durability.
It is a service model where data is transported and kept on distant storage systems, where it is maintained, managed, backed up, and made available to users across a network — often the internet. Users often pay a monthly fee based on how much data they save in the cloud.
The foundation of cloud storage is a virtualized storage system with accessible interfaces, near-instant elasticity and scalability and metered resources. Cloud-based data is kept in logical pools on various commodity storage systems on premises or in a third-party cloud provider’s data center.
Cloud service providers are in charge of managing and maintaining data that has been migrated to the cloud. In the cloud, storage services are available on demand, with capacity growing and reducing as needed. Cloud storage eliminates the need for businesses to purchase, operate, and maintain their own storage infrastructure. [1]
Types and how do they work?
Large data centers are maintained by cloud service providers in numerous locations across the world. Customers that buy cloud storage from a provider hand up control of most aspects of data storage to the seller, including security, capacity, storage servers and computing resources, data availability, and network delivery. Customer applications can use standard storage protocols or application programming indicators (APIs) to access cloud data, or they can be transferred to the cloud.
There are three types of cloud storage stated as follows:
- Object Storage
Object storage’s huge scalability and metadata properties are frequently used in cloud-based applications. Metadata may be changed in object-based storage systems, making data access and analysis easier. Data may be saved in its natural format with tremendous scalability using object storage.
- File Storage
Some programs require a file system to access shared files. A Network Attached Storage (NAS) server is frequently used to support this form of storage. As a file storage system, data is saved in files, which are then organized into folders. To organize folders and find files and data, subdirectories and directories are employed. With this hierarchical style being recognizable to users and required by some applications, a file storage-based cloud can make data access and retrieval easier.
- Block Storage
Cloud storage systems based on blocks, such as Amazon Elastic Book Store (EBS), are provided with each virtual server and provide the extremely low latency needed for high-performance applications. It breaks big data sets into smaller components known as blocks. Each block has its own unique identity and is stored on one of the system’s hard disks. Block storage is quick, efficient, and delivers the low latency that databases and high-performance workloads demand. [2]
Providers and Cost
Some of the best cloud storage providers who offers great storage capacity to save your files and documents are stated as follows:
- iDrive Cloud Storage
It is fast spacious and very easy to use. IDrive saves all of your data, even those on network drives, to the cloud. Email, Facebook and Twitter are all supported via the online interface for file sharing. Users who are cautious may be relieved to learn that files removed from your computer are not automatically wiped from the server, reducing the risk of accidentally deleting something crucial. IDrive is also available for Andriod and iOS devices.
Cost: $3.98/year
- pCloud Cloud Storage
It is simple and easy to use. It is one of the few cloud providers that offers lifelong memberships, basically turning your computer into a virtual, permanent hard drive. It bills itself as a personal cloud area where you can store all of your files and folders with a user-friendly interface that clearly displays where everything is situated and what it does.
Cost: $3.99/month (500 GB)
- Blackbaze Cloud Storage
It is very easy to use and offers unlimited storage. It is a cloud storage catering to both personal and large-scale enterprise backup requirements. Backblaze’s important term is ‘backup’ because there’s no file synchronization or sophisticated collaborative capabilities here — it just backs stuff up, as the name implies. It is the only service on this list that provides actual unlimited cloud storage with no restrictions. Backup rates are quick, your data is encrypted for protection, and you may have a physical hard disc or flash drive transported over for a charge in the event that a restoration is necessary.
Cost: $7.00/month
- Icedrive Cloud Storage
IceDrive’s online storage may be shown on your (Windows) machine as a regular drive, much like your hard drive, with the goal of making it easier and more intuitive to use. It’s simply like accessing a local disc, and you can utilize services like opening or editing files at nearly the same speed as a local operation — as we saw in our assessment – there’s practically no noticeable lag.
Cost: $20 for a year ($1.67 per month) 150 GB
- NordLocker Cloud Storage
It’s a simple but efficient tool that provides you a cloud storage locker or can be used to establish a local file vault on your device for safe storage, both of which employ encryption to protect your data. It is free to use locally on your own PC, and with that free version comes a tiny amount of online storage – 3GB to be exact. NordLocker lets you sync all of your data in the cloud across all of your devices, and it’s a snap to use — simply drag and drop your files into the program, and they’ll be immediately encrypted and uploaded. Sharing files with others is possible, but they must also have a NordLocker account.
Cost: $3.99/month
Reference
[1] https://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/cloud-storage
