What is Online Data Storage? Benefits or Advantages of Using ODS.

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Online Data Storage(ODS): Online data storage refers to the practice of storing electronic data with a third party service accessed via the Internet. It's an alternative to traditional local storage (such as disk or tape drives) and portable storage (such as optical media or flash drives). It can also be called "hosted storage," "Internet storage" or "cloud storage."

Benefits of Online Storage: One of the biggest benefits of online storage is the ability to access data from anywhere. As the number of devices the average person uses continues to grow, syncing or transferring data among devices has become more important. Not only does it help transfer data between devices, online data storage also provides the ability to share files among different users. This is particularly helpful for business users, although it's also popular with consumers who want to share photos, videos and similar materials with their friends and family. Online data storage also offers distinct advantages for backup and disaster recovery situations because it's located off site. In a fire, flood, earthquake or similar situation, on-site backups could be damaged, but online backups won't be affected unless the disaster is very widespread. However, online data storage does have some potential downsides. Some people worry about the security of cloud storage services, and some vendors have experienced significant outages from time to time, leading to concerns about reliability. Here are the top 10 reasons to give your external hard drive the boot in favor of online storage services.

Top Ten Advantages of Using Online Storage Services 

1. Cost – Backing up your data isn’t always cheap, especially when you factor in the cost of any equipment needed to do so – think external hard drives or backup tapes. Additionally, there is the cost of the time it takes to manually complete routine backups. Online storage services reduce much of the cost associated with traditional backup methods, providing ample storage space in the cloud for a low monthly fee.
2. Invisibility – For all intents and purposes, cloud storage is invisible; with no physical presence, it doesn’t take up valuable space at home or in the office.
3. Security – Storing confidential or sensitive information in the cloud is often more secure than storing it locally, especially for businesses. With online storage services, data is encrypted both during transmission and while at rest, ensuring no unauthorized users can access the files.
4. Automation – The biggest issue most consumers and businesses have with backing up is follow through; it simply just doesn’t get done. Online storage services make the tedious process of backing up easy to accomplish through automation. You simply select what and when you want to back up, and the service does the rest.
5. Accessibility – From tablets to smartphones, netbooks to desktops, we’re using more devices on a daily basis than ever before, and toggling files between each of these devices can be cumbersome and complex. Not so with online storage services. You can access your account from any internet connection, whether you're on a mobile browser or your work computer.
6. Syncing –Syncing ensures your files are automatically updated across all of your devices. This way, the latest version of a file you saved on your desktop is available on your smartphone.
7. Sharing – Whether you want to share a single photo or an entire folder with hundreds of documents, online storage services allow you to easily share files with just a few clicks.
8. Collaboration – Online storage services are also ideal for collaboration purposes. They allow multiple people to edit and collaborate on a single file or document. You don’t have to worry about tracking the latest version or who has made what changes.
9. Protection – Cloud storage serves as an added layer of data protection for your precious and irreplaceable files. Backups are kept in a secure location that is physically removed from the originals.
10. Recovery – In the event of catastrophic data loss, you’ll have backups of all your original files so you can restore them with zero downtime.