Cloud drives are a great convenience, especially for those like me who divide their work between the office and home. For years I struggled to find a file syncing solution between work and home computers. I tried CDs, external hard drives, and USB thumb drives or hauling a laptop around. All of which could easily be misplaced, broken or forgotten, then I wouldn’t be able to complete my work. With the development of cloud drives there was finally a solution.
Currently, I use four cloud drives which include Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, DropBox, and Adobe Drive CC. It may seem annoying or overkill to be using multiple cloud drives for files and I would agree. But in doing so I am able to use each to it’s advantage and keep work files separate from personal files.
For this review I will only be focusing on the cloud drives that I have had experience. With all of these have been working with them on a Mac and an iPhone.
Google Drive
Google Drive was my introduction to cloud drives. The free account provides a generous 15GB to start. For a while this was great for all of my work and personal files but as I increased work files I started to run out of storage which lead me to find a different solution for those files. Now I only use Google Drive for personal files and the storage space is more than enough.
Why I like it:
- Integrated with all my existing Google accounts
- Easy to share and collaborate with friends and family
- Ability to edit Google Docs from the browser and in iPhone apps
- Clean simple browser interface
- App to sync and access files across multiple devices
- Quick share and view in browser links in Finder menus
- File version history
What I don’t like about it:
- Storage space is shared with Google Photos and Gmail accounts so managing available space can be an issue
Microsoft OneDrive
I was fortunate that I was able to use the Office 365 business plan through Netrix to open a OneDrive account. I use this account to backup for all my work files, due to those files outgrowing my other cloud solutions. Since everyone in the company has a Microsoft account, OneDrive works great for sharing and collaborating with co-workers.
Why I like it:
- Easy to collaborate and share files with others that have Microsoft Office 365
- Ability to edit Microsoft Office 365 documents in browser
- App to sync and access files across multiple devices
- File version history
What I don’t like about it:
- Accessing the browser interface sand requires logging in constantly
- Syncing is sometimes delayed
- Slightly more difficult to share files with clients who don’t have Microsoft account
- Doesn’t have a Finder quick link to go directly to file in the browser
DropBox
I’ll just go ahead and say it, DropBox is my least favorite cloud solution. I only use this account to share files between clients, for when clients do not have accounts or access to other cloud solutions.
Why I like it:
- Free to open account
- Can create file request for clients to drop files into no account require
- Quick sharing and view in browser links in Finder menus
- File version history
What I don’t like about it:
- Lowest amount of storage space for a free account
- Files shared from other users count against your storage space. So other users sharing large files creates constant alerts that space is close to capacity.
Adobe Drive Creative Cloud
When I had an individual Adobe Creative Cloud account I was using this cloud drive for everything since it gave a hefty 100GB of space. This cloud drive is unique because it integrates with Adobe software to sync library items between files.
Why I like it:
- Large storage space
- Just like Google Drive and DropBox, Adobe Drive has quick share and view in browser links in Finder menus.
- Library easily items accessible in applications
What I don’t like about it:
- Adobe Creative Cloud subscription required
- Library items sometimes don’t sync right away
- Requires logging in constantly
- File version history is not as easy to access
Amazon Drive
I briefly tried a free trial of Amazon Drive, it offered unlimited storage space which seemed too good to be true. At the time of my trail it allowed for complete backup of my personal computer. The problem I found with it is that it didn’t automatically sync how I expected and would really only work with one computer. It was a backup solution and not a folder solution like I wanted. So it did not work for transferring files between work and home computers.
Final Thoughts
If I could choose just one account to continue with it would be Google Drive. Over all Google Drive’s features are the best and the pricing plan allows for expansion at a reasonable price.
Do you have a favorite cloud drive that I did not list? If so please tell me how you use it and how you like it.