Jump to content
All visa questions and fresh Immigration updates here ×

Major Changes With Ms Skydrive & Reduced Storage Limits

TallGuyJohninBKK

By TallGuyJohninBKK
in IT and Computers

 Share

Recommended Posts

TallGuyJohninBKK Star Member

TallGuyJohninBKK

Posted
Posted

MS has just rolled out a bunch of changes for its cloud storage service called SkyDrive.

One of the biggest is that each SkyDrive account used to have 25 GB of FREE cloud storage space, although lately there's also been a 300 MB per file limit on uploaded files. Now, MS is reducing that amount to 7 GB per SkyDrive account for new users, and also for existing users unless you log into SkyDrive and choose manage your space, and opt to keep the 25 GB you already have.

Also, if you're an existing user and have a large volume of content stored on SkyDrive now, MS seems to recognize that and not automatically reduce your storage space. I had a couple accounts with GBs of data on them, and they still showed at 25 GB today, whereas others I was only using in a very minor way did have their allotment reduced to 7 GB...until I signed in and opted to say ...HEY.... I want to keep my 25 GB...

The article I linked below includes the following summary on the storage space issue:

However, any users that signed up for SkyDrive before April 22, and who have uploaded at least one file to the service, are eligible for a free upgrade to 25 GB. Existing users with at least 4 GB uploaded will pick up the 25 GB update automatically.

Elsewhere, there are updated SkyDrive mobile apps for Windows Phone and IOS.... And even a desktop SkyDrive client for PCs and Mac, something MS and SkyDrive have sorely needed for a long time, since their web only interface made it very difficult to effectively use the service. Hence SkyDrive stayed in the shadows while DropBox and SugarSync blossomed.

Speaking of DropBox, another of the changes to SkyDrive appears to be that it henceforth will function much like Dropbox, in that SkyDrive's new desktop app will place a folder on your hard drive and sync between that folder and your SkyDrive cloud storage, much the way the other services already have long done.

I'm not sure how well all these changes will work or what bugs and problems may emerge. But the changes are definitely worth being aware of, and having existing users take action to preserve your 25 GB per account of free SkyDrive storage if that kind of thing matters to you at all.

Another DropBox-like change is that SkyDrive users now will be able to buy additional cloud storage beyond whatever their free allocation is... something the other services have been doing all along...but MS never did until now. The pricing covers up to 100 GB extra beyond your free allocation for $50 per year.

An article recapping the various changes can be found at the following link:

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2012/04/microsoft-takes-on-dropbox-with-major-skydrive-update.ars

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
TallGuyJohninBKK Star Member

TallGuyJohninBKK

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Nice one. I elected in to SD when it started so I could have a decent load of mp3s in the cloud, but till now there was no easy way to batch upload.

Cheers.

You're pretty much right about that, and that was part of the reason SD has been almost invisible in terms of significant public use... until now, perhaps.

There has been, and still is, a paid independent program called SD Explorer Pro that allowed you to kind of have a Windows Explorer interface to your SD account. But every time MS would upgrade or fiddle with its own SD interface, it would tend to break the functionality of the independent, separate SD Explorer software, and its developers would have to scurry and try to rush out an update to reflect whatever changes MS had made. It wasn't a good or reliable workaround system.

Now, MS and SD appear to be moving much more toward a consumer/user friendly DropBox type approach, and it's great for those of us who already have SD accounts and thus don't have to worry about the new 7 GB account limit for new sign-ups... Probably, no almost certainly, they're doing it now as part of their whole Windows Phone and forthcoming Windows 8 push...

The one big thing they're still missing, AFAIK, is the ability akin to Amazon Cloud Music to PLAY stored MP3 files and such directly off your SkyDrive storage via a web interface. You've always been able to store audio and video files on SD, provided individual files didn't exceed their file limit, which used to be 100 MB per file and now is 300 MB per file. And you could download any uploaded files back to your PC... But you couldn't play them direct... then... or now as best as I can tell.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TallGuyJohninBKK Star Member

TallGuyJohninBKK

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

I opened several SD accounts years ago and I think they always had the 25 GB of storage as far back as I can remember... For a long time, I didn't use them at all. And in the last couple years, using SD Explorer Pro and very recently a somewhat improved MS web interface, I started using several of them for backing up my family/home photos... And SkyDrive works very well for that.

Back in the day, I figured that if any online cloud service was likely to survive in the computer kingdom, it was likely to be Microsoft, as I didn't expect that they'd be going broke or out of business any time in my lifetime, and thus pulling the plug on SkyDrive. And you can't say that about a lot of the other smaller, newer tech start-ups.

Of course, perhaps Kin mobile phone buyers thought the same thing... whistling.gif

So after a LONG time of waiting, it's nice to see that foresight finally beginning to pay some dividends via the new and seemingly much more useable SD interface.

Edited by TallGuyJohninBKK
Link to comment
Share on other sites
TallGuyJohninBKK Star Member

TallGuyJohninBKK

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Ya... those were the kinds of figures MS used to explain why they were cutting their basic account limit to 7 GB for new users...

Unfortunately, the reason for that statistic is MS until now had made it largely impossible for people to use their SkyDrive service in any meaningful way. Limits on individual file size uploads and very difficult to upload multiple files until recently. No syncing until now. It was basically a crippled service, and thus drew few users.

Now, however, with the latest changes,. it seems to be vastly more useable. And I'll have no trouble making good use of my various 25 GB allotments, all for free.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TallGuyJohninBKK Star Member

TallGuyJohninBKK

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

BTW, I read somewhere last night that the new individual file size limit will be 2 GB on SkyDrive...which is a major increase, if that's correct. But I haven't found that confirmed by MS as yet.

Also, the new Google Drive launch is showing some very interesting and useful features (such as roll-back versioning),if they really work as promised... See the feature set link below.

https://drive.google.com/start#features

Edited by TallGuyJohninBKK
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Pib Star Member

Pib

Posted
Posted

Maybe you hadn't uploaded any files to some of them? Post 1 indicated if a SkyDrive didn't have at least one file in it, then it couldn't be upgrade for free to 25GB....it would be limited to 7GB.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TallGuyJohninBKK Star Member

TallGuyJohninBKK

Posted
  • Author
Posted

As posted above in this thread, here is the supposed SD policy on GB upgrades for existing SD users:

However, any users that signed up for SkyDrive before April 22, and who have uploaded at least one file to the service, are eligible for a free upgrade to 25 GB. Existing users with at least 4 GB uploaded will pick up the 25 GB update automatically.

For all my less than 4 GB current content SD accounts, when I went to the "manage my space" link in the main SD page once you've logged in, I had the option to choose to keep the current 25 GB allocation.

The only people with 7 GB allocations should be those just signing up now or in the past couple days.

Prior to this latest change, SD's standard account size has been 25 GB of space for a long time. It just was very difficult to use, until these latest changes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TallGuyJohninBKK Star Member

TallGuyJohninBKK

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Just installed SkyDrive....quick & painless. I'm now no longer a cloud storage virgin.giggle.gif

One of the nice things about Hotmail and SkyDrive is the ability to link multiple user IDs there all under a single log-in... You do that linking process under the Options menu in Hotmail/SkyDrive.

So for example, if you have four different Hotmail and associated SkyDrive user IDs (also known as Windows Live IDs), you can link them all together. And then when you log-into any one, you'll have the name of that account in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

If you click to pull down that account name menu, it will show any other linked Hotmail/SkyDrive IDs, and you can change to that other account just by clicking the other ID... And then same method to go back to your original one or any other linked one.

It's nice in that you don't have to keep logging in and out of different account IDs to do business in any of them. Once you've logged into one, you have direct access to any of the ones you've linked. And Hotmail and SD I believe allow up to 5 different IDs to be linked together.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
4evermaat Platinum Member

4evermaat

Posted
Posted

i never really researched these other options. I always thought these cloud storage options were a bit of a security risk. But I suppose no more than using email, perhaps less so after all. The good news about the syncing types are that you can use your own encryption, like truecrypt to encrypt your files so even if someone happens to get ahold of your cloud folder, they must also crack your encrypted container (folder) to see what is inside.

I first got turned on to this with 1Password suggesting dropbox as a means to share the password keychain (encrypted) amongst multiple computers vs storing separate keychains with each device. This creates big problems when you need to access a website you saved a password for.

I really missed out on a lot of space. I guess I have to settle for dropbox's 2gb (free). Those that are getting 25-30gb free should be very thankful. Hard drive space, especially connected to the internet and can be downloaded, is very limited these days (good quality).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Pib Star Member

Pib

Posted
Posted

My GoogleDrive just got activated - less than 24hrs.

Took about 36 hours to get the emails from Google that our 4 GoogleDrives were ready (4 Google accounts between the wife and I).

Still playing/learning with my 7GB MS SykDrive I setup a few days ago...will learn it a little more over the next few days before trying out GoogleDrive...may help me from getting confused between the SkyDrive and GoogleDrive. Will have to say for the few days I've used SkyDrive I like it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Pib Star Member

Pib

Posted
Posted

Dropbox have released a new version that will auto upload from cameras and usb's etc. They will give you an extra 3gb if you use this facitlty. Get it here.

Some more details on the extra 3GB storage which is focused towards photo storage and given out in 500MB increments. Link

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.







×
×
  • Create New...