You have heard of Dropbox, Google Drive, or some form of cloud storage service by now. Now there are personal cloud devices, with unlimited free storage!  Videographers, photographers, graphic artists, music programmers and producers can now backup their large project files and raw footage on cloud storage devices.  Essentially technology has provided us with the affordable ability to have a personal network attached storage (NAS) device on which to store and/or backup files. Some examples are: Western Digital’s My Book Live, the LaCie CloudBox and D-Link’s ShareCenter 2-Bay Cloud Storage 2000.

Connect remotely, locally, or through video game consoles (depending on your hardware).  Share files through a secured link. Obtain remote access via mobile apps across platforms. When considering your purchase, make sure the hardware you’re purchasing is compatible with the operating systems of your other devices.

*Remember to always keep a backup of your backup.

Pros of personal cloud storage:

• No longer solely dependent on public cloud servers like Amazon and Google.
• Greater privacy and security
• Wifi connectivity for seamless content sharing

References:

Nadal, Brian. Here, there, everywhere: 3 personal cloud storage systems. (2013, May 28). [Review]. Retrieved from http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9239223/Here_there_everywhere_3_personal_cloud_storage_systems

O’Rourke, Jennifer. CLOUD STORAGE – ARE YOU WAITING FOR A RAINY DAY? (2013, May 31). [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.videomaker.com/videonews/2013/05/cloud-storage-are-you-waiting-for-a-rainy-day

http://www.dlink.com/us/en/home-solutions/share/network-attached-storage/dns-320l-sharecenter-2-bay-cloud-storage-enclosure

https://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?id=10597

http://www.seagate.com/gb/en/do-more/what-is-personal-cloud-master-dm/

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=280