This Is How Cloud Computing Works For Private Users

Cloud computing can be roughly translated from English as “calculating in the cloud”. However, this is misleading because the technology has little to do with clouds. This means that software or files are no longer on a computer’s hard drive but a provider’s server.

Store pictures and other files on the Internet, where you often get the storage space for free: Here, you can find out what you should look for with this cloud computing and which necessary providers there are.

Photos, videos, e-mails, e-books, music files or digital magazines can be stored in the cloud. And those who are enthusiastic about computer games are already playing many in the cloud. In this way, a user has round-the-clock access – as long as his Internet connection works. The majority of citizens have been using this cloud computing for a long time, but it was not called that until now.

High Flexibility

Practical examples: Anyone with Google email access can access it from any computer with an Internet connection anywhere in the world without downloading any special software. Anyone who blogs or has a Facebook or Twitter account already uses capacities in the cloud. The first advantage of cloud computing is therefore apparent:

“Cloud computing makes users and companies flexible,” says Achim Himmel Reich, Vice President of the Federal Association of the Digital Economy. After all, the user is not tied to a specific end device. In addition, he does not have to worry about software updates – and the cloud is often cheaper too. A simpler model is sufficient because the user is not dependent on a powerful computer with a lot of storage capacity.

Cheap And Accessible Storage Space

Possibly the most significant advantage of cloud computing, however, is the cost or the savings: Many providers give away storage capacity to anyone who sets up an account. Using the application from different devices, you often get even more storage space.

Whether you are a Windows customer, use Apple or Android devices: the providers provide free cloud storage. This is very practical because you no longer have to worry about the backup file if you tick the correct box.

The devices automatically save photos, eBooks and music titles in the cloud. If the hard drive crashes or the smartphone is lost, the damage is only half as bad because most of the data has already been backed up twice.

Individual Solutions

It only becomes more difficult if you don’t want to save everything automatically, but rather proceed in a targeted manner. For example, because you want to back up a subfolder on the computer hard drive regularly – so that you can access it when you’re on the go. “Something like this can be set up via Dropbox, for example,” explains Kossel.

Apart from that, the cloud is much more than just a storage medium: “Perhaps you want to use additional functions in it,” says Axel Kossel. With Google Docs, for example, multiple users can work on a document in the cloud. And with Apple, you can make selected photos available to other users via a stream, for example.

It also becomes more complicated when data protection plays a role Telekom, for example, offers a lot of storage space in the cloud in the provider’s media center, some of it free of charge. 

Free or Rather Pay?

If you are well organized, you can distribute your data to many free cloud storage devices – for example, the photos of Telekom, the documents to Google. But then it becomes difficult not to lose the overview. Anyone who has large amounts of data, such as photos, films or music, will also quickly fill up their free storage space. If he wants to have all the documents in one place, he has to pay.

It’s better to have a real contract with a company and pay for the cloud storage. After all, you can expect something for your money: data protection, for example, and regular backups as well as constant access. Of course, the prices depend on the size of the storage space. 

Also Read: How Does A Business Benefit From The Internet Of Things?