You can say that the Dropbox cloud storage platform is the service
that started everything in the world of storing and saving files in the
cloud.
Or at least made it in the direction it is currently known for, but does
Dropbox it still worth its position due to the fierce competition in the
cloud storage services
market.
Before talking about the Dropbox cloud storage platform, let's first talk
about What cloud storage means?
Cloud storage service is a way that enables you to store your files outside
your personal devices, whether it is your phone or personal computer, and
they are stored in private servers located somewhere in the world, depending
on the presence of the company that provides the cloud storage service.
The cloud file storage service enables you to upload your files to external
storage spaces with the ability to access them again, share them, modify
them, or even delete them from anywhere you want, provided that you are
connected to the Internet.
The external storage service does not take any storage space on your
personal device, all you have to do is buy cloud storage space from
the company providing the service, then you can upload all your files to
that space, and of course you will get all the protection features for your
files.
Quick info about dropbox cloud
The Dropbox platform is an American company that specializes in the field of
cloud file storage.
The company's current headquarters is San Francisco, California, where the
services were first launched in 2007 on the Internet.
The service was developed by
Drew Huston
and
Arash Ferdowsi
while they were students at MIT with funding from the startup accelerator,
iComputer.
The idea for Dropbox came from Drew Huston, who said that I always forgot my
USB drive when it was new in MIT, so he decided to create his own personnel
file storage system, which later evolved into a public system available to
everyone.
Dropbox Features
Although Dropbox is one of the most popular platforms when it comes to cloud
storage, it is not a service that can rest on its former glories, as its
features are only basic.
But even so, it does it quite well, and offers it all in a nice, clean
package, and one of those features that Dropbox was one of its main
inventions is sync dropbox with computer folder.
This feature provides you with a special folder on your computer when using
dropbox, and this folder is an intermediary between the Dropbox platform and
your own device, as files are uploaded to dropbox when you put your files in
this folder.
Yes, there were problems with this extension, which was creating duplicate
items from files in the device's storage, but Dropbox updates solved the
problem with a new feature called Dropbox smart sync.
Also, one of the features that comes with the Dropbox service is the
integration with other platforms such as Microsoft Office and Google
Workspace, where you can sync dropbox to google work space or
Microsoft Office.
This feature allows you to create and edit documents directly from
cloud storage
if you need to create documents for work or study, in addition to the
advantage of collaborating with other people using Dropbox's stellar file
sharing feature.
This feature allows you to share your files either through a view link or an
edit link, where the view link will allow viewing and downloading the file,
while the editing link will allow the ability to edit files by people who
own the sharing link.
The platform has a Dropbox App Center feature, where you can get integration
with a wide range of other applications such as
productivity applications from Microsoft
(Slack, Trello), or other platforms such as Canva and procreate.
Dropbox and security
Here things get a little confusing, because the Dropbox platform is one of
the three largest cloud storage platforms on the Internet (dropbox, Google
Drive, Microsoft OneDrive).
These platforms are considered the most widely used on the Internet in terms
of cloud storage, and they have a very large load in terms of the security
of privacy and the files of their users uploaded to their servers.
The difference between them is that Google Drive and microsoft OneDrive have
billions of users who use their platforms, including the cloud storage
platform, so security is one of the most important things that they invest a
lot of money for.
While Dropbox does not contain this option, this has led in the past to many
serious security breaches, the latest of which was in 2018.
If you use the zero-knowledge service of Sync.com or
pCloud
for example, even with any data breach there will be no problem, because the
hackers will not be able to decrypt the files.
Even though Dropbox's protection isn't the best, its privacy policy is also
not out of criticism, as it collects some user data, but we don't accuse it
of selling it to third parties.
Dropbox plans and pricing
If all the reasons we mentioned earlier about dropbox cloud storage don't
make you look in another direction, I suspect that dropbox plans price will
make you review your accounts before you decide that you will be one of the
platform's users.
Well, when you create a new dropbox account, you will get a free
plan, as the rest of the companies do, as it will provide you with a free
dropbox space of 2 GB.
Yes, the free plan is stingy compared to other companies that may give you 5
GB to 15 GB of storage space as a free plan such as
iCedrive free plane
or pCloud free Plane, and of course, you will get fewer features.
If you decide to get more space than you don't have much to choose from,
dropbox personal pricing offers up to 2 TB of storage space for
$11.99/Mo.
Dropbox offers a discount if you subscribe to their yearly plan, which will
be at $10/Mo, i.e., $100/Years, which is not a very attractive plan when you
look at it.
The shared family plan, which comes with 2 TB of storage space that can be
shared between up to 6 people, costs $19.99/Mo, with the yearly discount you
can get it at $16.99/Mo.
If you are a professional, you may want to get 3 TB of storage space, and it
comes with some business features like sharing controls, you can get it at
$19.99/Mo or $19.99/Mo on the annual plan.
The verdict for dropbox platform
Yes, with all that we mentioned previously, the judgment on the Dropbox
platform will be a little bad, given the many companies that offer the
same service and offer good pricing plans, in addition to the multiplicity
of protection methods, I think Dropbox does not offer much.
There are a lot of dropbox alternatives that can be subscribed to
and get very strong security features that are not available in Dropbox,
but this is a personal view, and there may be different opinions about the
platform between each person.
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