Tips for choosing a private cloud storage provider
Here are factors you should consider before choosing a private cloud storage provider.
What’s your budget for private cloud storage?
Private cloud storage can be expensive. So, the cost of setting it up may play a major role in choosing a private cloud storage provider. Check closely how each provider’s pricing structure works, and figure out which plan will work best for you.
Some providers accept upfront payment that lasts for the whole year, but some have options for a monthly subscription. Other providers may offer you a certain amount of storage for free but require payment if you need more storage space.
Here are the three major pricing structures that popular private cloud storage providers typically use:
- Pay-as-you-use: You pay for the amount of storage you use with no upfront cost. It’s ideal if you don’t plan on storing a lot of data.
- Reserved or fixed rate: You’ll be required to pay upfront for a year or two before renewal. It doesn’t matter the amount of storage used.
- Volume discounts: As you acquire more services, you can receive volume discounts on certain services. This is mostly suitable for large businesses and enterprises.
How much data security do you need?
The level of data security you need is another factor to consider before choosing a private cloud storage provider. Cloud servers are constantly facing attacks from hackers. So, choosing a private cloud storage provider with top-notch security measures is essential if you have important or sensitive data stored.
One of the security measures you should look out for is the provider’s data breach protocol. If data protection is a priority, it’s good to consider a provider with advanced firewalls, encryption keys, event logs and internal firewalls. How well they can guarantee your anonymity is also a factor you might want to consider.
How much storage space do you need?
The amount of data you plan to store can also influence which private cloud storage provider you choose. Each storage platform has a different capacity, both for the free and paid versions. As a guide, here are the top private cloud storage providers and the storage capacity they can offer you:
- Google Drive: Offers users up to 15 GB of free file storage capacity. This is usually sufficient for normal use, but businesses may need more. You can get 100 GB to 2 TB when you use the paid version.
- Apple iCloud: Offers users 5 GB of free storage space and 50 GB to 2 TB for paid plans.
- DropBox: Offers 2 GB of free data storage capacity to users. Paid storage options include 2 TB, 3 TB, 5 TB or unlimited. This storage provider also works with Linux.
- Microsoft OneDrive: Offers 5 GB for the free version and up to 6 TB for paid plans. There’s also an unlimited data plan that includes unlimited traffic.
How do you plan to access the stored data?
How you intend to access the stored data is also important when choosing a private cloud storage provider. This is because some can be accessed using different device types, and others may need a particular type of operating system to access your data.
For instance, iCloud is data storage for iOS and Mac devices, Google Drive is for Android devices and OneDrive is for Windows devices. You can still use any other device to access your data on different platforms, but you should use the most compatible device for more efficiency.