How many smart devices do you own? Well the answer for most of us is two. The more affluent lot of people will have around five or six and all of them carry data. It is only logical to expect a way to sync your data through all your devices so that you can access it from anywhere and on any device of yours. Google Drive was the popular choice for cloud storage and file syncing solution but now we have a new player in the market, Microsoft SkyDrive. Each app comes with its own skill-set and it is our job and instincts to compare so let us begin with it.
Microsoft SkyDrive
Let us talk about the new kid first. Similarly like Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive stores your data on its servers so you can access them from anywhere and any of your devices. Microsoft starts you off with 7 GB of free storage while Google offers only 5 GB. The app’s interface markedly similar to Windows 8 style is attractive. You get to create folders, upload any kind of data directly from your device and delete items if you have to. There is a provision for editing permission to collaborators while you share MS Office files with other Microsoft users.
Now the screw ups- Microsoft SkyDrive doesn’t allow you to rename files or move them to different folders which make the task of organizing data tough. The SkyDrive doesn’t come with a built in interface for editing, you can store all your Word, Excel etc. files but if you want to work on them you have to download a third party app like Quickoffice or Kingsoft Office. Even after that you will have to work on downloaded copies which mean when you are done, you will have to re-upload the new file.
Google Drive
Apart from losing to Microsoft on the free storage availability, Google wins everywhere else. Google allows you to rename and move files conveniently between folders. The biggest advantage is that you can edit documents through a built in user interface, obviously it is limited to Google Docs only but it is a huge convenience as you are actually working on the cloud file and thus after editing there is no need to re-upload, the changes are already synced. You can collaborate with other Google users in real time, thus making group projects easier to handle.
Winner
The winner is obviously Google Drive. Microsoft needs more work on their app if they want users to choose them over Google.
September 17, 2012 at 9:03 am
I agere, googledrive is better than skydrive. However, 4sync is better then both of them. You are not restricted to only googledocs with 4sync. In addition, they give you 15gb of free storage and faster upload speeds. A true hidden gem.
September 17, 2012 at 1:52 pm
Not sure what you mean… Skydrive is not the new kid, I have been using Skydrive for years when it had 25GB free storage.
I can move, rename doc with Skydrive app (desktop or mobile). The mobile app does not has Office Web App support but you can always use the browser version. The Skydive app is only for file organizing and synchronization. While the ability to edit google doc on mobile app is nice, I found this feature very unstable on iphone, I submitted a few crash reports already so hopefully things will improve. For mobile use, I mainly use Skydrive for photo and it works really well.
I will check out 4sync, heard about 4Shared but never really try it myself.