Hello and welcome to another Cloudwards video.
My name is Mauricio and today we’ll discuss all the different types of cloud storage.
Now, cloud storage is more than just the place where your iPhone sends your photos.
People use cloud storage for a ton of different things, which means there’s no one-size-fits-all
cloud storage solution.
But while there are thousands of cloud services out there, you can pretty much group them
up into four neat categories, which makes it easier for the end user, like yourself,
to find the right service for your needs.
This video is part of a series on the basics of cloud storage, so make sure to subscribe
and hit the bell icon to get notified when the next one gets posted.
So without further ado, let’s jump right into it.
So, as we mentioned, there are four types of cloud storage services: Personal, Private,
Public and Hybrid.
Now, these names might not be the most intuitive, but stick with us and we’ll explain what
they all do.
But no matter what type of cloud storage we’re talking about, they all serve the main purpose
of storing files and providing remote access to them.
Whether it’s your personal iCloud account or a private company cloud, they all function
in a similar way.
The gist of it is that your device connects to a computer called a cloud server, whether
that’s over the internet or a private network, and it can use that computer to store files.
That’s pretty much all there is to it.
But who owns these servers and what their purpose is can make a big difference, and
that’s what sets these four cloud storage types apart.
So with that out of the way, let’s take a look at the first cloud storage type.
Public Cloud Let’s start things off with the public cloud.
Now, when you think of cloud storage, you’re most likely thinking of the public cloud.
This is where big-name cloud services like Dropbox and Google Drive belong, as well as
all our favorite cloud services, like Sync.com and pCloud.
These are services dedicated to serving the public, which is where the name comes from.
Basically, anyone can have an account on a public cloud service.
You’re probably already familiar with these kinds of services, but if you’re not, you
can check out our video on what cloud storage is here.
And if you do know a thing or two about cloud storage, but you need a recommendation, take
a look at our best cloud storage video here.
There’s a huge variety when it comes to public cloud offerings.
As an individual, your best option would be a secure and affordable cloud service like
Sync.com.
It’s the one I personally use and I can’t recommend it enough.
You can watch our review of Sync.com here.
Of course there are options for those who don’t feel like paying for cloud storage
too.
MEGA, for example, comes with 20GB of free storage, and you can see how it compares to
Sync.com in our comparison video here.
Personal Cloud Personal clouds are clouds that you set up
yourself.
If you have a server, you can have that function as your cloud storage server, where all your
cloud data goes.
Think of it as your own personal Dropbox that you have complete control over.
Just like you can with a typical cloud storage service, you can access this kind of cloud
server remotely, as long as it’s connected to the internet.
This lets you, for example, share images and videos with your family by adding it to the
household cloud server that all your family members can access.
You don’t necessarily need a full-blown server to run this kind of cloud, either.
A NAS device, like a Synology NAS or a WD My Cloud should be enough.
However, this type of cloud storage is difficult to set up and maintain, and it has an upfront
cost for the server hardware.
You’re also limited by the amount of storage your server has, and you'll have to purchase
additional hardware if you need to expand your storage.
That’s why it finds very little use outside of a few fringe users with the technical know-how
and willingness to make it work.
Private Cloud Now let’s move on to private cloud storage.
A private cloud is similar to a personal cloud, but for businesses and other organizations.
Like personal clouds, private clouds run on an in-house server to provide employees with
access to company files.
This type of cloud storage has a much more widespread application, since companies routinely
have IT experts on hand to help set up and maintain these systems.
One big benefit of a private cloud is that it lets employees access files remotely, even
if they’re not on company grounds, like if they’re working from home.
Another bonus is that if you’re in the building where the server is, you’ll have a much
faster connection than if you’re connecting to a remote cloud server.
And some companies are required to keep user data strictly on their grounds for legal reasons,
too, which prevents them from using off-site cloud servers.
The downside to this, as with any self-hosted cloud, is that if a server crashes, there’s
a risk that data on it will be lost.
That’s where our next cloud storage type comes in.
Hybrid Cloud A lot of companies just can’t rely on any
one cloud storage type.
Thankfully, they don’t have to.
By using what’s called a hybrid cloud strategy, they can store some data on their local cloud
servers, while hosting other files on remote cloud servers.
This has the advantage of keeping important data close to home, as well as making work
files available on local servers for faster access speeds.
Files that aren’t frequently accessed can go to a remote cloud, where they can be archived.
There are other advantages too.
If the company is mostly remote, with workers all around the globe, storing some files on
servers closer to its remote workers just makes more sense.
Services like Egnyte and Microsoft Azure can let you manage your hybrid cloud, so you can
choose which files go to your local cloud and which get stored in your online cloud
storage space.
That’s it for today’s video, we hope you enjoyed it.
If you did please give us a thumbs up, and remember to subscribe and hit the bell icon
to get notified whenever we post a new video.
We are all about cloud storage here at Cloudwards, so please check out our other videos if you’re
interested.
We also cover all of these topics in our written reviews on Cloudwards.net, so be sure to check
out our articles in the description box below.
If you have any thoughts or questions, please drop us a comment below, and as always, thank
you for watching.