15 cloud storage tips

Because not all cloud storage providers are created equal, we looked at current offerings from Amazon Cloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive, and SugarSync, pinpointing the services with the best attributes for accomplishing specific tasks. Along the way we assembled tips and hints for performing advanced cloud storage tasks such as merging multiple free cloud services into one massive free megacloud.

With so many new and improved online services vying to become your preferred online repository for documents, photos, music, and video files, why settle for just one? Use them all. Here are 15 awesome ways to get the most out of the free cloud storage craze.

The Best Ways to Sync Your Music Across Multiple PCs

You have many options for sharing a single music collection among several different PCs, such as using the Home Sharing feature in iTunes or online services like iCloud or Google Music. Another alternative is to drop your music collection into your cloud storage folder and have your desktop jukebox program (such as Windows Media Player) point to that folder as the default music location. Then, once you install your preferred cloud's desktop client on all your PCs, you'll instantly download your music to multiple computers. Depending on the size of your song collection, you may have to pay for extra storage to fit all of it in the cloud.
Of course, you can also follow this tip to sync any kind of media collection, such as photos, videos, or DRM-free ebooks.

The Best Ways to Sync Local Folders to the Cloud

If you want to sync folders to the cloud without placing them inside your cloud folder, you can find several services ready to help. Ubuntu One from Canonical, available for Windows and Ubuntu Linux desktops, includes the ability to add any folder to your cloud storage without moving it.