5 Reasons you should invest in The Cloud

Cloud systems over the past ten years have launched to the forefront of the tech atmosphere. Nowadays most people in the corporate world to say nothing of people in their personal lives have a Cloud account of some verity or another. But what exactly is “the Cloud” anyway?

 

The most straightforward answer is that “the cloud” is a system whereby people can access a remote hard drive to store their information (documents, movies, music, pictures, etc.) through the internet. This remote server allows people the ability to access their data from any internet connected device.

 

Previous to this we would have to save our files directly to our computer’s hard drive. Eventually, your hard drive would run out of space and cause your computer’s functionality to slow down dramatically. By using cloud technology, your system slowing down is no longer an issue. That alone should be enough reason to spend some money on a cloud service to store your information, but if that wasn’t reason enough to buy a subscription to a cloud service, here are five more reasons that should convince you;

 

1) Accessibility – This is the essential advantage because where before we would have to carry around notepads or books or more recently CD’s and thumb drives if we wanted to have the ability to access our information, now we can access it from the same interface, folder structure, and account, anywhere in the world.

 

2) Non-hardware dependence (Cross-platform) – for the longest time the war between PC and Mac had plagued users with many levels of inability to cross over should one need to. This is MOST DEFINITELY not the case anymore. Cloud technology program makers are doing their utmost to ensure that BOTH Mac and PC users can use their programs. Indeed Evernote (My favorite note taking program) is one of those who have strived to provide that BOTH Mac and PC’s could use their effortless program as efficiently as possible

 

3) Virtually unlimited storage space – Like I said back in the day when we were reliant on our computer storage to hold all of our files, hard drive space was at a severe premium. I had on many occasions thrown things on random external hard drives and delete them from my computer to save a few more files. No more. Now, if you need more storage, you can go to one of the cloud providers. If you run out of space, the ability to get more is a simple process of paying a few extra dollars a month. I will warn you that prices and the amount of storage you get vary from each of the providers, so you can pick the plan you want to suit our needs.

 

4) Increased speed of your machine – The more memory you use on your computer, the slower it gets. That is because it takes Random Access Memory or RAM to run your device. If you use the space on your machine and not the space on the cloud, you will end up slowing your computer down. This is mostly because the amount of memory on your physical device is limited. Going back to the previous point, Cloud Storage is not limited.

 

This is more useful than you could imagine. Having more space on your machine allows it to devote more memory resources to running your programs and needing less to store your files. The more you keep on your desktop or somewhere else on your computer.

 

5) Cloud services allow for better transferability – throughout our lives, we will more than likely buy more than one computer, and the less stuff that is primarily kept on our physical machines the easier it will be to transfer from machine to machine. Having your information located in one secure area allows you to transfer from device to device in a seamless manner.

 

For some, the switchover from one computer to another can be jarring enough having to learn the ins and outs of a new operating system without having to worry about file transfers from one machine to another. I recently swapped out my Mac Book Air for a Mac Book Pro (A seriously excellent computer by the way), and the transfer from one machine to the other of all my information only took about 20 minutes.

 

Cloud services are essential for all of us to take time and put both our money and our energy into. Using Cloud technology is a simple and relatively inexpensive way for people to keep their data securely that is not on their physical machines. Most of the major companies who offer cloud storage offer a free version with a relatively small amount of storage. OneDrive (from Microsoft) iCloud (From Apple) and DropBox are my top three recommendations for cloud services. I have used all three of them, and I have found that their online interfaces to be handy and beautiful, and they each have apps that work on all devices. Using Cloud services is a definite first step to Organizing your Digital Life.

 

Do you use Cloud Systems?