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Best Cloud Storage Solutions

Cloud storage refers to your ability to access your corporate data from anywhere at any time and from any place in the world that has an internet connection. The data is hosted in the cloud, which is a network of remote servers located off-site from your office.

How does it work?

Companies will rent space on the cloud-provider’s data servers. These companies will pay the host cloud vendor for the ability to run their applications, perhaps host any services or backup data to the cloud. This storage can grow or shrink depending on the application requirements or season or period of the year where higher than normal demand will occur.

Is it safe?

It is the responsibility of the host provider to ensure all files remain secure and are not lost or destroyed. The best cloud storage providers will use multiple storage methods or locations to securely store back-ups of the data. Additionally, these providers will guarantee uptime availability to keep running at all times.

To secure the data from others, cloud storage systems will use authentication processes like usernames and passwords. Data encryption is used as well to protect data that has been stolen or intercepted. The only concern is rogue employees of the data solutions vendor that may have access to your data.

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Benefits of using cloud storage for business

Data Accessibility: Access is granted to authorized users from multiple locations and devices. The ability to quickly and easily share files with other as needed is a major feature.

Scalability: Companies can quickly and easily scale cloud hardware or software (or storage requirements) any time without the additional costs incurred for hiring technical expertise to do so internally.

Disaster Recovery: If your company data is located at one physical location, it remains vulnerable to natural weather disasters, human influence and hardware failures. Cloud storage will use multiple locations, providing extreme redundancy.

Usage cost: Pay only for what is stored only. It is a sliding scale that moves as your data moves.

Cloud Storage Disadvantages

Security threats: While online storage will provide you with secure storage of your data, efficient data management and privacy protection against hacks, it is not completely impenetrable. Depending on your business governance and compliance requirements, locating data and entrusting it to a third-party may raise concerns about data privacy, confidentiality or even legal (or approved) geographical location of the data. Some of these issues can be mitigated by choosing to use a private (or hybrid) cloud solution. This is more expensive than the public cloud, but it will give your greater control of the data location and storage.

Data management is limited: When your company moves the data over to cloud storage using a public or hybrid solution, users will give up partial to full control of their data organization to and outside vendor. This is another area where a private cloud may be a better solution.

Vendor lock-in: It is one challenge when migrating data from on-premise to a cloud-based solution. It is another challenge to migrate from one cloud vendor to another. The longer you are contractually obligated to work with one cloud vendor provider, the greater the risk of vendor lock-in concerning contractual stipulations, vendor system incompatibilities or a lack of current cloud migration tools and services.

How is cloud storage managed?

Personal Storage allows a user to store data online securely and access it by using any number of devices connected to an internet enabled location.

Public Cloud Storage is used by a cloud storage vendor who manages large data from multiple users who are part of a ‘public cloud’. Each business will rent storage space and release any underlying responsibility for infrastructure to the vendor. While there exists many users and businesses sharing this public cloud, users cannot access another users’ (or company) data.

Private Cloud solutions are a storage service that is privately arranged by a single business for their own use. This storage solution offers a higher level of security than if the business used a public solution. Private storage solutions are less reliable though as they are largely designed for a smaller environment located onsite at the office or in combination as a hybrid solution.

Hybrid storage is the combination of both private and public storage. Some businesses who cannot afford the monthly cost for a full private solution will elect the hybrid solution.

How are files stored in the cloud?

There are three primary types of data storage:

File Storage: This is a hierarchical system that nests folders of data under directories and subdirectories. Inside of each folder resides ‘metadata’, which is great for data retrieval but only for smaller amounts of data. Large volume retrieval presents a challenge. While file storage is the most affordable types of storage, it doesn’t really scale up as easily as others.

Block storage: Data is organized in volumes of blocks. Each block represents files arranged in specific sizes (chunks) of data. Each of these blocks are then tagged with a unique identifier. While this method of storage makes for very fast retrieval of data, the fact that it is missing the metadata component of file storage means the information retrieved from search won't have the meta data with it to make reviewing it much more difficult.

Object storage refers to unique units called “objects.” Each of these objects contains unstructured data, metadata, and a unique ID. Objects are stored in flat address space (not a file directory) and they enable much more complex customization of metadata. It is extremely scalable and much more receptive to manual searches as the data that needs to be reviewed contains both file information and metadata.

Final thoughts

Companies who operate in the data storage space live and die by their reputations. They cannot afford breaches, so they do everything in their power to ensure your data information is kept under lock and key.

Top 8 Cloud Storage

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAPGoogle Cloud StorageNasuniGoogle WorkspaceDropboxBoxGoogle Drive EnterpriseAzure NetApp Files

How are rankings calculated?

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP
8.8
Rating
10
Reviews
833
Words/Review
12,025
Views
7,477
Comparisons
Popular Comparisons
- NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs Azure NetApp Files
- NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for Google Cloud
The ability to do a straight SnapMirror from our on-prem to the cloud with no other data transitions is excellent.ONTAP is great for helping you migrate on-premise workflows to cloud environments.
Google Cloud Storage
8.7
Rating
46
Reviews
298
Words/Review
6,727
Views
5,573
Comparisons
Popular Comparisons
- Google Cloud Storage vs Huawei FusionStorage
- Google Cloud Storage vs Google Drive Enterprise
The most valuable feature of Google Cloud Storage is the shared folder.Everything I store in the solution is available on all of my devices.

Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp, Google, Nasuni and others in Cloud Storage. Updated: February 2023.

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685,707 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Nasuni
8.9
Rating
24
Reviews
1,679
Words/Review
6,202
Views
3,024
Comparisons
Popular Comparisons
- Nasuni vs Panzura
- Nasuni vs Box
My clients are happy with Nasuni because the transmission is seamless, and it consolidates all the existing file servers into one location. Also, Nasuni has no boundaries. It's infinitely expandable. They don't have to rely on the service provider for backup and restoration. It's self-serve.
Google Workspace
8.2
Rating
44
Reviews
478
Words/Review
5,965
Views
5,006
Comparisons
Popular Comparisons
- Google Workspace vs Box
- Google Workspace vs Dropbox
The initial setup is easy because it's all pre-configured.The initial setup of Google Workspace is straightforward.
Dropbox
8.1
Rating
44
Reviews
275
Words/Review
6,251
Views
3,947
Comparisons
Popular Comparisons
- Dropbox vs SmartVault
- Dropbox vs Box
The performance has been good. The most valuable features of Dropbox are it can be used as a repository of all the photographs and videos that you have on the cloud. You do not need to worry about the hard disk crashing.
Box
8.3
Rating
8
Reviews
387
Words/Review
9,095
Views
5,755
Comparisons
Popular Comparisons
- Box vs Dropbox
- Box vs SmartVault
The solution is scalable.It is a very user-friendly product.

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Google Drive Enterprise
8.5
Rating
36
Reviews
375
Words/Review
1,434
Views
883
Comparisons
Popular Comparisons
- Google Drive Enterprise vs Google Cloud Storage
- Google Drive Enterprise vs Google Workspace
It is very convenient and easy to access. Google Drive Enterprise has helped compile data in one spot.
Azure NetApp Files
8.5
Rating
4
Reviews
425
Words/Review
7,202
Views
5,361
Comparisons
Popular Comparisons
- Azure NetApp Files vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP
- Azure NetApp Files vs Dropbox
This solution definitely makes us more efficient in being able to provide storage quickly to our customers in the Azure Cloud.Azure NetApp Files has been stable.

See all 30 solutions in Cloud Storage

NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for Google Cloud
9.0
Rating
2
Reviews
1,397
Words/Review
1,734
Views
822
Comparisons
NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for AWS
9.0
Rating
1
Reviews
663
Words/Review
134
Views
92
Comparisons
Huawei FusionStorage
7.0
Rating
1
Reviews
226
Words/Review
1,095
Views
797
Comparisons
Panzura
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
1,253
Views
943
Comparisons
Tresorit
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
553
Views
479
Comparisons
Backblaze
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
446
Views
427
Comparisons
SpiderOak
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
447
Views
409
Comparisons
SmartVault
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
380
Views
321
Comparisons
Storj
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
299
Views
264
Comparisons
Zoolz Intelligent Cloud
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
216
Views
186
Comparisons
Datomia
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
194
Views
149
Comparisons
Onehub
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
179
Views
154
Comparisons
HPE Cloud Object Storage
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
200
Views
82
Comparisons
Oracle Storage Cloud Service
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
85
Views
73
Comparisons
AeroFS
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
89
Views
46
Comparisons
SureDrop
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
82
Views
30
Comparisons
Covata Platform
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
53
Views
38
Comparisons
EXAScaler
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
59
Views
32
Comparisons
KeyCloud Storage as a Service
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
46
Views
26
Comparisons
NetApp Cloud Volumes Edge Cache
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
31
Views
20
Comparisons
Ivanti File Director
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
42
Views
11
Comparisons
NetApp Keystone
N/A
Rating
0
Reviews
0
Words/Review
4
Views
4
Comparisons

Advice From The Community

Read answers to top Cloud Storage questions. 685,707 professionals have gotten help from our community of experts.

Rony_Sklar

Community Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

What are the benefits and drawbacks of using cloud storage?

Cloud storage has increasingly become more popular than using local storage. What are the pros and cons of using cloud storage? Are there scenarios where local storage is preferable?

reviewer1125696There are quite a few. Classical storage is either block/SAN (iSCSI/FC/direct… more »

Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp, Google, Nasuni and others in Cloud Storage. Updated: February 2023.

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685,707 professionals have used our research since 2012.