OneDrive changes storage limits

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JohnMcafee
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OneDrive changes storage limits

Post by JohnMcafee »

Microsoft Moves the goalposts

Probably like many here, I've just had an email from Microsoft.
  • "We want to let you know about some upcoming changes to OneDrive. On 13/07/2016, the amount of storage that comes with OneDrive will change from 15 GB to 5 GB. We are also discontinuing the 15 GB camera roll bonus."
Luckily I use less than the new 5GB limit, so am not affected by this cut - at least for now! But I have to wonder, has this been Microsoft's ploy all along, to initially sucker us in to the "free" service in order to create a level dependence that allows them to introduce charges later?

While I can see many advantages to cloud based applications and storage, Microsoft have demonstrated just how vulnerable and powerless we really are when we hand over control of our valuable data to the cloud.

Does it bode well when giants like Microsoft, and also Google, can treat their users in such a cavalier manner.
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Graysalchemy

Re: OneDrive changes storage limits

Post by Graysalchemy »

I use drop box but when my free limit of 50GB was reached this week i switched to the 1TB I got free with my MS office 360 subscription. Now I keep all my image files for work projects on their so really I will have to continue 'paying' for it which is what microsoft want. However I might just buy a NAS drive which i can have at home.
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Re: OneDrive changes storage limits

Post by JohnMcafee »

How did you manage to get such a massive allowance, Alistair?

I also rely heavily on DropBox, using it mostly to synchronise between home and work computers, but manage within my 2.5GB free limit :)

Having a local drive as a backup is a good idea, though, and not relying 100% on the cloud for your storage/back-up needs.
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Graysalchemy

Re: OneDrive changes storage limits

Post by Graysalchemy »

I got it with my Samsung mobile a couple of years ago John. I was going to up grade but it was the same as my office subscription which I get 1tb anyway, so I have switched though I prefer drop box.
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Re: OneDrive changes storage limits

Post by Otters Pool Studio »

Graysalchemy wrote:However I might just buy a NAS drive which i can have at home.
Be aware with this that you might not be able to access a NAS drive remotely straight out of the box. Generally you'll require some IP jiggerypokery which may mean buying a static IP address from your ISP or some kind on DNS redirection. NAS boxes vary in functionality, so check the spec before buying one thinking you can just plug it in and access it from anywhere.

The 50Gb upgrade on OneDrive only costs $1.99 (about £1.40) per month, and with the average NAS costing at least £100, that's 6 years worth of OneDrive space for the same price without an up front payout, without configuration headaches, without the constant buzzing of hard drives spinning 24/7, and without the nightmare of rebuilding RAID arrays when a hard disc fails.

Saying that, I've just been given 100Gb bonus on my OneDrive account by installing the OneDrive app on my tablet. I've also got 15Gb of free GoogleDrive space, 2Gb of free Dropbox space, and Flickr gives you 1Tb of space free for your photos, so there's plenty of cloud storage available out there for free. Carephone Warehouse even offered me cloud storage when I just upgraded my phone!
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Graysalchemy

Re: OneDrive changes storage limits

Post by Graysalchemy »

Having it all in one place makes sense to me and also security. If I buy a NAS then I will be looking at spending £400-500 for a fairly decent one. I will look into static ips though.
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Re: OneDrive changes storage limits

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Re: OneDrive changes storage limits

Post by IFGL »

I have read that some of these NAS systems will integrate with cloud services like drop box and the one drive, effectively giving you more space, I need to investigate this further, I don't think £500 for your own cloud servers is bad at all really, I could do with about 8 terabytes, it could do with being in a mirror raid.
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Re: OneDrive changes storage limits

Post by Otters Pool Studio »

IFGL wrote:it could do with being in a mirror raid.
Absolutely - there is little point investing in a NAS and putting all of your data on it unless you are going to build in redundancy using a mirrored or striped array. I had a hard disc fail on my NAS a couple of years ago. I only knew when the NAS emailed me to tell me as it continued to run off the mirror. I bought a new drive, put it in the NAS in place of the failed drive, it chuntered away for a few hours and then gave me a green light. I didn't lose anything data.
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Re: OneDrive changes storage limits

Post by IFGL »

I have a striped, mirrored raid in one computer, I had the same experience, failed drive no data loss, all I did was replaced the defective drive, this set up is now 6 years old, the computer runs 24/7 for that reason I also replaced the other three drives one at a time, again no data loss and a absolute piece of cake to do.
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Re: OneDrive changes storage limits

Post by IFGL »

So Alistair got me thinking about NAS basically because I am unhappy with my cloud service, I have unlimited cloud storage but the retrieval rate is diabolical, I have decided to build my own Linux cloud server, it should cost £500 to £700 which means I will end up getting carried away and spending twice that :) If I do I will let you know how it goes.
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Re: OneDrive changes storage limits

Post by JohnMcafee »

Having full control of your own data and being able to access it from any platform is a brilliant idea.

A little play with OwnCloud has convinced me that a new dedicated server would be a worthwhile investment for us also.
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Graysalchemy

Re: OneDrive changes storage limits

Post by Graysalchemy »

I saw owncloud on cpanel and thought about upgrading my webserver to an unlimited disk and bandwidth until I read that you can't use it as a cloud.
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Re: OneDrive changes storage limits

Post by IFGL »

So, I did :)
It cost me £570 including VAT, made a boo boo though I should have spent less and got last year's hardware, this is much better supported by Linux, I guess that's why apple do it, anyway, I installed Ubuntu server 16.4, boo boo number two, it has just been released and not supported by owncloud yet.
It took some doing but I have got all these unsupported bits of software and hardware to all work with each other, I actually enjoy doing this kind of thing, it would drive most people up the wall.
The cloud it's self is very very good, on the system I have put together I can have up to 150 users and have full control over how much space they have and what folders and functions they have access to, so I can give a customer let's say a photographer an account, I can give them some space, let's say 20 GB, they can then put folders and files in there, I will not have any access to them whatsoever, even if I physicaly went to the location on the local machine the data in encrypted I can't get at it, the customer has an option to 'share with' they put Inframe in that box, this could be one file or a folder or an entire folder tree, they can also leave a comment on it, own cloud then emails me to tell me said customer has shared something with me, I have the option of having shared files and folder auto syncing to me print server, you can guess the rest.

This is an absolutely fantastic system for us, so thankyou Alistair for promting me to look into this.
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Post by Graysalchemy »

You will have to give me a bit of a hand then as that seems a lot better than a £600 Nas drive.
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Re: OneDrive changes storage limits

Post by IFGL »

Yup it is pretty bloody good, I gave myself a phone account, now every photo or video I take is uploaded to the server, I have shared this folder with my wife, she can almost instantly see any picture I take, this system is almost perfect, possibly perfect I may not know how to do everything yet.
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Re: OneDrive changes storage limits

Post by IFGL »

Well it gets better, I can intigrate my FTP server which I run on a separate machine, but in the same building, this is shown on owncloud as extra storage space, dropbox can also be integrated, this is pretty dam good.
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