What is Cloud Storage?

Flash Drives also known as pen drives or memory cards have made it easier to carry data from one place to another but now flash drives are old because Cloud computing is here. Google recently launched Google Drive which offers free 5GB Cloud Storage and one can upgrade account with minimal fee to upgrade the space further. Microsoft also offers similar service known as SkyDrive and so does many private players like Dropbox and box.com.

How does Cloud Storage works ?
In Cloud Storage, your data is stored in different web servers which are connected to high speed internet and can be accessed  from anywhere from almost any device which offers internet connectivity.One can download an App on their smartphone or synchronize their PC to their Cloud account and can upload or download files from their device to cloud with few clicks.
Advantages of Cloud Data Storage

Cloud data storage has many advantages. It’s cheap, doesn’t require installation, doesn’t need replacing, has backup and recovery systems, has no physical presence, requires no environmental conditions, requires no personnel and doesn’t require energy for power or cooling.

Disadvantages of Cloud Data Storage

Performance of cloud data storage is limited by bandwidth. Accessing data from slow Internet connected device might take longer time then accessing the data locally. Availability of cloud data storage is also a serious issue. Cloud data storage relies on network connectivity between the LAN and the cloud data storage provider. Network connectivity can be affected by any number of issues including global networks disruptions, solar flares, severed underground cables and satellite damage. Cloud data storage has many more points of failure
and is not resilient to network outages. Network outages mean the cloud data storage is completely unavailable.

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