Microsoft Skydrive! Free 25GB of Online Storage!

I mentioned a little about Microsoft’s online service, Skydrive, in my post about how to create a simple backup strategy. However, I feel the service deserves more recognition than just a simple shout-out. It rightfully deserves its own post, which I’m dedicating to it here.

Online storage has been gaining popularity in the last couple of years or so. This comes as no surprise as many other services are ‘cloud based’ as well. It seems as if the words ‘computer’ and ‘Internet’ can’t be mentioned without the other. Everything revolves around online services. Want to legally stream music to your audio speakers? Then you got GrooveShark and Pandora at your services. Want to create word documents and other office productivity files without needing to actually download the software itself? Then you got to try out ThinkFree and Google Docs. Or how about catching up with the latest television shows you’ve missed? Then you’ve got Hulu and TV.com to thank for. So where do we turn to for free online storage that allows us to backup and share our photos, documents and other files? Microsoft’s Skydrive is the answer!

We all know Microsoft is the king of all kings when software is concerned and we know that they didn’t achieve that status by giving out freebies. So, you can imagine how some people felt when they found out that the software giant is giving away 25GB of free online storage to everyone and anyone who is interested! Remember, while 25GB in terms of storage space doesn’t seem a lot when physical hard drives are in the hundreds and even thousands of gigabytes. However, we don’t usually use online storage space the same way we do with our regular hard drives so trust me when I say this, 25GB is no slouch! Do also realize that your uploaded data resides on physical servers as well so you can imagine what a gift Microsoft has given us. Remember, you can upload all types of files besides just photos to your SkyDrive account. Everything from movie clips, documents, software, and music is fair game. The main restriction is that a single upload can be no larger than 50MB in size and that it of course, isn’t anything offensive in nature and that you will not use the service for illegal file sharing.

The Many Uses for Online Storage

You might ask what are the benefits of storing your data online. For the most part, online storage is a great place to backup your important files. You’ll never have to worry about external and internal hard drive malfunctions, which might damage your data. You’ll also know that your files can be accessed wherever and whenever you have a Internet connection. How about when you want to share your photos and files with your friends or family members? Microsoft’s SkyDrive takes care of that as well. You can upload files to public folders for everyone to see and download or you can upload them to folders where access is based on permissions you have set. So, while AnonymousUser can freely browse whatever I have uploaded into my Public folder or whatever other folders I have given the permission for ‘Everyone’, only my friend Bob at Bobismyname@live.com can view my family vacation photos in my other restricted folder. This privacy gives you the option of sharing only what you want others to see. I will show you how easily this can be accomplished further down the post.
Another huge benefit of using Microsoft SkyDrive, especially if you are a heavy blogger or social networking fanatic, is needing a good image host to show off your latest work. No doubt popular image hosters such as ImageShack, Photobucket and TinyPic have been the norm for the most part, but SkyDrive can become a great image web host as well. With 25GB of storage space and unlimited bandwidth, you know you are in good hands! I recently made the switch to SkyDrive as my image provider for Anotherwindowsblog from Photobucket. They only give me 1GB of free storage space and they impose bandwidth restrictions on my images. Not cool at all.

Using SkyDrive

To begin using SkyDrive, all you need is to create a free Hotmail or Live account with Microsoft. Live Services is a collection of software and online services created by Microsoft to enhance your presence on the web by using your LiveID. SkyDrive is one of those services. You can read more about Live Services here. If you already have an account, than you’re all set.

1. So, the first thing you’ll want to do is login to SkyDrive with your LiveID.

2. You will then be presented with the main menu. Here, you will see the folders created in your SkyDrive account. You can create more folders to categorize your files. You’ll also notice that there are some default folders already created for you to use.

3. Uploading files is just a matter of picking the right folder and specifying the file on your computer to be uploaded. Remember, uploading files is usually slower than downloading so if you have files over 8MB+ or so, there will be waiting. Luckily, SkyDrive allows you to upload multiple files at once. So, you could create a folder called Christmas 2008 and then upload your photos to that folder for easy recognition. As with everything, it is best if you keep your SkyDrive account neat and organized by utilizing folders. You also have the option to comment your photos so that you and whoever you share them with can see that extra information.
In this example, I will create a folder labeled My Friends Only, store some photos inside, and assign permissions so that only my friends can view them.

4. The big advantage of using SkyDrive is the ability to limit who you want to share your files with. So, I’m now going to assign permissions to the My Friends Only folder. I’m going to type in my friends LiveID or Hotmail account and allow them the permission to ‘View the Photos’ only.

You’re probably now wondering about your friends who don’t have a LiveID or Hotmail account. Are they out of the loop? Certainly not! SkyDrive gives you the ability to send a link to your SkyDrive folder to anyone with an valid email address. Once the person clicks on the link in their email, they will be able to view the files as well! You could play the bad guy role as well by requiring the recipient to create a Hotmail or LiveID before they can view your album. To send the link , simply select your folder and select the ‘More’ link. Now, you can select the ‘Send a Link’ option. Type in the address of the recipient, add a friendly message if you want to and check the ‘Don’t require recipients to sign in with Windows Live ID’ option if you don’t want to force them to create a new account. The recipient will then receive the email (if not, please tell them to check their Spam folder) and the link to view your album.

SkyDrive’s permission is folder based from what I see. You don’t have the ability to say, create a folder with 10 pictures in it and edit the permissions on each of those pictures individually (sort of like how you could with NTFS). Instead, you set the entire permission on the folder itself so be careful with how you share them!

5. If you wish to make your files public for anyone to see, you can certainly do so. You can either create a folder with the permission for ‘Everyone’ or simply dump your files in the default Public folder. For example, I’ve created a SkyDrive account specifically for hosting all my pictures in this blog. I’ve created an album for it with the Everyone permission turn on. Therefore, anyone can view them. If you click on this link, you will be taken directly to my photo album where you can view all of the pictures. Because you are not the owner, you obviously can’t delete or alter the files. You can however choose to download them if you want. Also, you won’t be able to see my other ‘protected’ folders as well because you don’t have the permissions to it. If you somehow manage to get a link to a folder that you don’t have permission to, you will get a big fat error message telling you that the item isn’t there. Please consult with the owner to allow you the appropriate permissions.

As you can see, SkyDrive’s permission settings allow you to easily upload and share your files with anyone or no one if you so desire. If you don’t have the money to buy a external hard drive for simple backup, this is a awesome alternative. Heck, even with a physical backup, it would do you well to still upload your utmost important files online. Sometimes you’ll just never know when that next physical device would go out on you. Plus, being able to pull your data from anywhere with an Internet connection sounds pretty good to me as well. With 25GB, it should take you a fairly long time to fill it up. Even if you do manage to use everything, simply make another account and you have another 25GB! Simple as that!