what is cloud drives ?

[rovingcowboy]

now to me when in a cloud and you drive it means your drunk.

so what is going on with this new term in computing?

whats the use of this new term and why is it being talked about like its the best thing since a banana peal on the floor,

[fizzjob]

It's internet-based storage, which you can access from anywhere (assuming you have internet access). Some services (such as Amazon) rely on browser-based interfaces. Some services (such as Dropbox) behave more-or-less transparently. Dropbox, for example, just creates a folder inside your "My Documents" folder, which is kept in sync with the "cloud".

The reason it's called the "cloud" has to do with the way network diagrams are drawn. Most devices are depicted with icons that are representative of what they are - network switches look like switches, computers look like computers, and so on. In such diagrams, the internet is depicted as a connection to a cloud.

For example, here's a diagram that could be of a typical home network with an internet connection:



So anything that gets stored on the internet is "in the cloud".

The main advantage is that whatever data is stored in the cloud is available anywhere you have internet access. There are, however, concerns about it - what if the storage provider goes out of business, or suffers some sort of catastrophe and loses your data? (For the record, that's one of the reasons I like Dropbox - the cloud contains a copy of your data, so even if Dropbox disappears, my data is still on my computer(s).) Additionally, some people have privacy concerns about cloud storage, which I can understand.

[rovingcowboy]

we have folders in the system for web storage no need to call it something different?

sounds like a marketing ploy to me.

also sounds like ms is trying to get us not to use our computers at home but use that online net crap they started a few years ago where we have to pay for their apps but we don't get them we use them on their servers over the web.

ain't going to work with this house. i'll get off line and stay a standalone unit.

[Eyal]

we have folders in the system for web storage no need to call it something different?

sounds like a marketing ploy to me. (...) ain't going to work with this house. i'll get off line and stay a standalone unit.

I share the same opinion.

[trixmoto]

I find it useful to have certain files which synchronise automatically between my work machine and my home machine, but for this I use Dropbox. I also have an application on my android phone, so I can take a photo on my phone's camera, store it in the Dropbox and then I get a popup on my computer a few seconds later to say I have a new file available.

There are many "cloud" applications that people already use, heard of Gmail, for example. Any webmail that you access in a browser is a cloud application. Google Documents is a cloud application, and a pretty handy one at that. It's much easier to maintain a hosted application of this nature, instead of having to roll out updates to ever user like Microsoft has to. It also makes it available to all operating systems, as all the operating system needs is a browser and you're sorted.

As browsers and download speeds both improve over the next few years, I think you will see a lot more of these kind of applications. I agree that just having a website you can upload files to and store them in the cloud is a little pointless in itself, but it's what comes next that is interesting. For example, once you've uploaded your music tracks to your Amazon Cloud Drive you can then stream/play them on your android phone using the Amazon MP3 application. Although I use the Last.Fm application for that, because it allows you to stream/play any track you've scrobbled.

P.S. I believe the question should be "what ARE cloud drives?"

[rovingcowboy]

P.S. I believe the question should be "what ARE cloud drives?"

i's sa readnek ain't learned nun o dat proppler spokein yat.


i know on line email is the same things. but what i don't like is they are trying to make us pay for
apps and not get what we pay for. to me thats tossin' money down the toliet.