storage

The cloud storage wars just got a bit more interesting. Box just recently announced its Box Drive offering to practically replace shared network folders at work. Now Google is also expanding the scope of its own Google Drive cloud solution but with a nod towards regular consumers instead of the enterprise. With the upcoming Backup and Sync tool, users on Windows and macOS will be able to select whole folders to sync with Google Drive, making it easy as pie to store all your data on the mothership.

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Computing devices are getting more powerful, more varied, and more ubiquitous, but the data storage in these devices hasn't changed that much. We are still beholden to the HDDs, SSDs, and eMMCs or UFS of yesteryears. In fact, the storage story has become even more complicated because each device has its own storage that you have to manage or keep in sync with other devices.

Enter cloud computing and cloud storage, with its promise of being able to access your data anytime, anywhere. Well, as long as you have an Internet connection, that is. It is an inescapable fact of modern day computing life and it pays to know the choices you have. Here are ten of the top cloud storage options this half of the year.

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The Xbox faithful are most likely having a great time at E3 this week. In addition to the long-awaited announcement of the Xbox One X, which previously went by "Project Scorpio", announcements like the expanded backwards compatibility library and new games seem to show that there is no better time to be an Xbox gamer than now. Or at least in the next few months. Jumping on that train of thought, Seagate is announcing its new Game Drive Hub for the gaming console, which gives owners not only more room for their games but also more ports for their peripherals.

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As fast as smartphones might be, the one part of them that is relatively slow is the internal data storage. Most smartphones still use the old eMMC type storage, considered one of the slowest. A few OEMs now use the faster UFS storage, which some companies have used as a bragging right. One such company is Huawei, who has been advertising the fast storage tech on its Huawei P10 and even Huawei Mate 9 flagships. That is, until it was caught actually using the older eMMC on some models.

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In early January, Seagate and DJI announced a new partnership between the two companies that would result in storage solutions for drone operators. Today we're seeing the first of those products, the new joint-branded Seagate DJI Fly Drive, a portable storage drive with a microSD card slot. The drive is available in capacities up to 2TB, and most notably it contains a microSD card slot for shuttling videos from a drone's camera (such as one from DJI) to the Seagate drive itself.

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Synology has taken the wraps off a trio of new products, the DiskStation DS1517+ and DS1817+, as well as the new Expansion Unit DX517. The two tower servers bring with them 5-bay and 8-bay arrangements, respectively, both featuring a PCIe slot with support for either the maker's M2D17 M.2 SATA SSD adapter or the 10GbE network interface card. Both of the products, as well as the Expansion Unit, are available to purchase now.

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The new MacBooks, especially the new MacBook Pros, are probably the most controversial MacBooks yet. The smaller models ditched all but one USB-C port while the Pros ditched all ports in favor of all Thunderbolt 3's. That said, the decision had one positive side effect on the computing industry as a whole. More and more accessory and peripheral makers are jumping on the USB-C train to become compatible with the new MacBooks. Like this G-technology G-DRIVE USB-C device from Western Digital that brings not only external storage but also power to the MacBook.

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ADATA has taken the wraps off a new sleek metal USB flash drive, one featuring a shiny and durable metal design with a large open loop on the end and dark, stamped branding on the top. The drive is long and looks well when paired with any device, including high-end and aluminum laptops. The style isn't unlike what we've seen from Samsung, though it does have its own small bits of uniqueness. This joins the company's array of other, mostly less attractive, flash drive offerings.

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Western Digital has taken the wraps off what it says is its fastest portable drive ever, the My Passport SSD. This presents a new category of external drives for Western Digital customers, one that features a solid state drive rather than a hard drive. The company says this model is palm-sized with rapid speeds and a durable body for safe, fast data storage and access. Among its other features, this new drive has a USB-C port for use with compatible computers.

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Sony has introduced a pair of new G Series solid state drives designed specifically for videographers or photographers who need expansive storage for Ultra HD 4K footage. Both drives are part of Sony's G Series Professional lineup, and they come in two capacities: 480GB and 960GB. The drives can be used with DSLRs or camcorders; they offer, among many other things, longer than usual lifespans alongside a high level of reliability.

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If you're a desktop user still green with envy from Intel's big Optane announcement last week, you can now revert to your regular color just a wee bit. Intel is now bringing that same ultra fast memory technology to the desktop, but not in the way you might think. Last week's announcement was about bringing Intel Optane SSDs to servers and workstations. This week, Intel is bringing Optane Memory to desktops in limited capacities of 16 and 32 GB not to replace your SSD or HDD but to supplement it.

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People produce and amass a staggering amount of files these days, and we're not talking about those who create media files for a living. From office documents to personal projects to family home videos, homes, and especially small to medium businesses, have a greater need for a secure and reliable way to store and access those files. The Drobo 5N2 was designed just for that very purpose, giving home users and SMBs the same peace of mind as professional NAS solutions, but in a smaller and more affordable form.

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