If you are the kind of person that carries a lot of flash drives in your wallet, backpack or laptop bag and have a Smartphone, then you are probably loosing data from time to time, when a flash drive fails or gets corrupted with a file. If you have a Smartphone with plenty of space, you probably do not need that extra baggage. Today I’m going to show you how to start your cloud storage with free 22Gb of storage space.

Google Drive by Google (15Gb)

Now, let’s continue with Google Drive, as with Microsoft, Google offers 15Gb of free cloud storage, if you have an account with Google Gmail, you have 15 Gigs now in your behalf.

If you don’t have an account follow these instructions. Go to http://gmail.com and open a new account:

Google® Sign In page

Similar to Microsoft® you need to fill out the sign up form:

Google® Sign In Form

Once signed up, you will be taken through the process of preparing your profile with Google+, the Facebook version of Google, you can do this later if you want, but I recommend to do it at once:

Gmail® welcome page

When finished in the top toolbar you will see a link called Drive, that’s you new 15Gb Google Drive, if you sign up also for Picasa, then you will add 1Gb of extra space for images only. That’s makes 16Gb for free:

New Google Drive page

You can download the App to keep files synchronized with all the devices that has the App (available for PC, iOS and Android). To see your new storage availability go to the very bottom of the page, left side and hover over the link that says Upgrade Storage:

Google Drive now offer 15Gb of Cloud Storage for Free.

OneDrive by Microsoft (5Gb) – Downgraded, no more 15Gb.

This is as easy as opening an e-mail account. If you have a Microsoft account then you have started. For example, if you have a Hotmail, Live, MSN or now Outlook account, Microsoft granted with 5 Gb of free cloud storage.

If you don’t have an account it is easy to open. Go to http://outlook.com and create a new account:

Microsoft Outlook.com sign in page.

As you can see almost at the bottom right corner of the screen you will see the Sign up now link. Click on that, this will guide you to the sign up form:

Microsoft® Outlook.com sign up form

Fill in your information and submit the form at the bottom of the screen (not shown in the illustration). Then you will see a screen welcoming you to your new Outlook.com inbox.

Outlook.com Welcome Page

Now, if you have a Microsoft Account then you would only need to follow the instructions from this point forward. At the top of the screen you will see the Outlook.com logo with a arrow pointing down:

This will show a drop down menu that will scroll from the top showing all the services available with your E-mail account like Calendar, Contacts and of course your new OneDrive Storage, click on the OneDrive icon:

This is your new storage, at the bottom left corner you will find the Storage capabilities that your new storage has, as it is shown in the illustration below:

oneDrive formerly SkyDrive Free Storage Capability

OneDrive Free Storage Capability

To have access to your files and keep it synchronized with any device you need to install the App available for Windows PC, Android, iOS and Mac.

Dropbox® (2Gb)

DropBox® Available for PC, Linux, Mac and Mobile

Dropbox® is a nice cloud storage web app, and it offers up to 2Gb of cloud space for free, plus if you refer friends or colleagues and they install the App for their devices (PC, Debian, iOS and Mac) you get and extra 500Mb storage space per each. This is more tricky so it’s hard to create multiple accounts with it, obviously it is a commercial storage.

For every friend who joins and installs Dropbox on their computer, we’ll give you both 500 MB of bonus space (up to a limit of 16 GB)! ~ DropBox

For extra caution I recommend to use the Two-Step Authentication, once you create your free account then go to Settings > Security and enable Two-Step Authentication Option, this is if you are planning to have personal stuff in your storage.

DropBox® Security Settings

DropBox® also allows you to see in the control panel any device that’s connected to your account, giving your more control over your stuff, if you see something you’re not sure about, just disconnect it.

Devices Connected – Dropbox®. You can even see the web browsers that are connected too!

Last but not least, a great Ubuntu application…

UbuntuOne by Ubuntu (5Gb) – Discontinued – NO LONGER IN SERVICE

Ubuntu, for my taste, is the best Open Source Linux Based Operating System, and it comes with a lot of tools that makes your desktop experience a real joy. One of the many features that this OS has is a free UbuntuOne Account with a 5Gb free capability. The procedure is very similar to DropBox®, for every friend you refer you can get 500Mb of extra storage for free. And you can download an App for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS, and of course for Debian, Linux systems.

UbuntuOne® Control Panel

There many options for free storage, but these are the ones Designer’s Gate team has been using for years, and they keep getting better and better. All of them have commercial options that meet all of your business needs, so give them a try and enjoy your (29Gb) of free storage with tools to synch in Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and mobiles.

Now thanks to this post I have extra e-mails to where you can contact me:

And also you can contact us through this blog or through http://plus.google.com/designersgate, I guess.

Give me some feedback and leave a comment here, like our facebook page.

Happy Storing!

You probably use it without knowing it… check this:

Over 850,000 devices in the World uses Android OS, base in Linux
8 out of 10 Financial Trades are powered by Linux
9 our of 10 Super Computers in the World are powered by Linux
Google®, Facebook®, Twitter® and Amazon® are powered by Linux
From over 700,000 HD TVs build, most of them are powered by Linux

The open source is a strong system that allows us to enjoy new technology at modest prices. Just think about it, if you compare prices among Smartphones, you know that Android Devices are the cheapest, not because they are cheap technology, but because the operating system that’s installed on them are FREE. Against iOS® and Windows® operating systems that are more expensive competitors.

But the numbers are clear, from the two leaders in mobile technology, Android Phones are in the lead, either in US or Worldwide, look for yourself.

Now Apple® is making the more revenue, of course, their phones are more expensive than Android Phones. But in all, in 2012 Smartphones shipment looked like:

21%	70.1%
iOS	Android

Based on fourth quarter of 2012 IDC smartphones shipments statistics

So, Linux Based devices are more in use than their most expensive competitors. So if you haven’t dare to test out the beauty of open source technology you should try with one of the two more user friendly operating systems. They are more stable and has more drivers than before, specially that Debian developers are starting to commercialize their projects. This giving the advantage to attract more commercial oriented businesses towards the open source community.

If you want to start trying them out check these powerful operating systems:

Ubuntu – the most preferred operating system by the Linux community, also with a lot of tutorials and forums that will answer most of all the question you might have to understand the system.

Mint – this is another flavour of Linux, and apparently the most favourable by the Linux community after Ubuntu.

As my most humble opinion. You should try this technology and help in anyway you can. Either for a computer for you children, a computer you are planning to donate to a school or a second computer in your house, the Linux Project is a huge advanced in computing and is considered the mayor development community in the World. This gives you the chance to keep technology at the reach of your and your neighbour hands.

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