Memory on the Internet is not a big deal anymore, as almost every online user accesses it. Countless private photos are now uploaded, managed and shared with friends in online photo albums. With many modern smartphones the phototransfer to the cloud is already automatically after the recording. Customers of Amazon, Google Play or iTunes will have their own online music store for their purchased song files, which will be available on the Internet at any browser-capable device with Internet access.
25 GB free cloud storage
However, in addition to online storage for special types of media such as photos or music, there are also many cloud storage devices for storing any files. Such online storage can be used, for example, under Windows as a common external drive. The only difference is that this drive is located on the Internet.
Cloud or home network?
The online memory opens up a number of interesting applications and is superior to a conventional data carrier. The drive is available in the cloud at any location with online access. The memory can be accessed from a PC, notebook, tablet or smartphone. A prerequisite is a browser or a suitable app and the Internet access.
Cloud drive in Windows
Many providers of Internet storage services facilitate mobile access via apps through smartphones. Cloud storage can also serve as an additional backup for certain files or folders on the Internet. Data stored online is always available in disasters. This includes damage caused by lightning, fire, or water that can damage the drive at home.
Fritz! Box stores data in the cloud and in the home network
The following is an overview of interesting solutions for the home network in combination with online storage, in order to compare data stored in the home network with the online memory on the Internet. In order to access the online storage in a way that is convenient to a local drive or share on the home network, vendors of cloud storage almost always use the WebDAV transmission standard
The abbreviation stands for Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning and is an extension of the HTTP transmission protocol and its encrypted variant HTTPS. They are used to transfer web pages and files in the browser.
WebDAV uses every online device with a browser. All serious providers rely on secure SSL-encrypted data transmission with HTTPS.
Practical: The online memory provided via WebDAV can also be directly integrated as a drive in Windows Explorer. All you need is the WebDAV access data (user name, password) and the associated Web (DAV) address. It starts with an encrypted access with https:.
In the table below, we have compiled several free offers for WebDAV-enabled cloud storage, which everyone can use free of charge up to the specified upper limit in GByte. The Hoster Strato, for example, offers every user free 5 GB WebDAV memory on the Internet. If you have a free Hotmail, Live or Outlook account with Microsoft, you will get free of charge for the included online store Skydrive 7 GBytes free of charge.
Particularly attractive is the United States's largest network operator: 25 GB of free online storage is offered by Telekom for every Internet user - even if they have their online connection with a competitor. If you are not yet a customer with a provider in the table, register at the indicated web address by specifying the required data.
Sometimes a valid e-mail address is also required for verification. If the provider is also an e-mail provider (for example, GMX, Web.de, Hotmail, Telekom), you will also receive a new mail address and password. The e-mail access data are then usually used as login data for the new online store.
Access to the free Telekom-Cloud-Speicher with 25 GB is available after registration as a new customer at www.telekom.de/mediencenter. Telekom uses mediacenter instead of cloud or online storage. In the following application steps you enter the required data (name, date of birth etc.). To do this, a new e-mail address must be entered at T-Online and a password.
These are simultaneously the access data for the online memory. In the next window of the proposed filtering of the e-mails, you should agree to spam and known harmful content (viruses, worms, Trojans, etc.). Once you have registered, you are automatically registered with the Telekom's online store.
Fritz! Box with SkyDrive does not work
The cloud memory can now be accessed from any device via a browser via the corresponding login area of the provider. For smartphones (Android, iPhone) is a suitable app called "Media Center" ready.
The storage of data exclusively in the cloud allows access only if a connection to the Internet exists. If this connection fails once, this data (at least temporarily) is not available. Furthermore, there is always the risk that the stored data on the Internet will be accidentally deleted by the free provider due to an error, a hardware defect, a malfunction or other unforeseen reasons.
If, on the other hand, you store your data exclusively in the home network, you do not have to do without the practical additional services of the online storage. Also, access from the outside to the home network is usually not so easy to set up, which is also braked by the mostly restricted upload speed of the domestic online access.
Any WebDAV cloud storage can be easily integrated into the Windows Explorer as a drive. Open the workspace with the "Windows key + E" combination, right-click on a free area in the workspace window and select "Add network address" from the context menu.
After two clicks on "Next", enter the WebDAV address of the cloud storage service, click "Next" again. Then, type your username and password. Confirm with "OK" and then "Next". After clicking "Finish", the cloud will now appear as a drive ("network address") in the "Computer" area of the Windows Explorer.
A particularly practical solution for the combination of cloud memory with memory in the home network, manufacturer AVM for his Fritz! Box models with USB memory port devised. The Fritz! Box-Router logs in to a corresponding online storage service. To do this, the device uses the WebDAV protocol.
The computers in the home network are connected to the Fritz! Box - the user places the data on a special network release with the name "Online memory". This is a connected to the Fritz! Box USB memory (stick, hard drive). The local directory "Online Storage" on the UBS drive contains a 1: 1 image of the real online store on the Internet.
All newly added files transferred (copied) the Fritz! Box from the USB memory to the cloud memory in the Internet. In this way, the data is always available on the Internet as well as in the home network. Once the DSL access is interrupted, the data are still available in the share folder on the USB memory of the Fritz! Box. If data from another device such as smartphone or tablet on the network memory, the Fritz! Box fetches this and synchronizes it with the connected USB memory.
The function of the online memory via the WebDAV access supports all "newer" Fritz! Box models, which are equipped with at least one USB 2.0 host port and also support as firmware the new Fritz! OS.
The same applies by the way also for suitably equipped Fritz! Box modem router for large Provider and Netzbetreiber produced. Here, the routers are sometimes slightly modified colors, shapes or customized firmware.
Unfortunately, Microsoft's comfortable cloud storage Skydrive is currently not used as online storage for the Fritz! Box. Anyone who takes the trouble to determine the personally assigned WebDAV URL of the service will only receive an error message after entry of the access data. It is as follows: "Could not connect to online storage. Error: /sbin/mount.davfs: 302 Found."
Most likely, Microsoft at Skydrive does not exactly meet the WebDAV guidelines, which is why the practical Fritz! Box online memory does not work. Regardless, Skydrive is a very convenient way to access shared data on the Internet from different devices. The integration into the computer, smartphone and tablet is very easy via appropriate tools and apps. The use of Skydrive is also comfortable in interaction with other free Microsoft services.
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