OneDrive vs. Amazon Drive

Amazon Drive

Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers a complete range of cloud services for you to store, access and analyse your data to reduce costs, increase agility, and accelerate innovation. From object storage, file storage, or block storage services to data backups and migration options to build the foundation of your cloud IT environment.

In this article, we will look at its cloud storage option, Amazon Drive. Amazon Drive has generally lagged behind its Microsoft counterpart, but it is in a much better position than it used to be. Amazon has improved a lot and uses the same sync-folder model as Dropbox as well as using block-level file copying when synchronising content. This method of file copying produces faster syncs because it only copies the parts of files that changed rather than replicating the entire file. It’s the only cloud storage service we know of besides Dropbox and Egnyte that does this. It even has smartphone apps for Android and iOS.

However, the main problem Amazon Drive has is that it doesn’t include any work productivity integrations like Office Online and Google Docs. More bizarrely, the service doesn’t yet perform file versioning, which will detract some users. Two other big misses are no at-rest encryption and no password protection for links.

OneDrive

OneDrive is Microsoft’s cloud storage solution and provides an easy set up for Windows and MS Office users. It integrates perfectly with Microsoft Office programs so you can collaborate documents and spreadsheets in real-time. So, if you share an Office document with colleagues or stakeholders, you can all work on it simultaneously. You’ll see who else is working on the file, as well as any changes they make in real-time, with all changes automatically saved in your OneDrive account. Microsoft 365 also gives you access to Microsoft Teams. This opens up all kinds of opportunities for collaboration, using OneDrive’s integration with Office 365 within the Teams communication platform.

If you’re already a Microsoft 365 user, this is a no-brainer. OneDrive is perfect for anyone who uses Windows and Microsoft Office every day.

However, even if you’re a Mac user it’s a great choice, with OneDrive desktop app for Mac it syncs and collaborates perfectly with other users as well as boasting apps for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Xbox. Yes, Xbox.

OneDrive vs. Amazon Drive: Summary

When it comes to software, Microsoft is the champion, and its cloud storage solution boasts automated synchronisation and real time online collaborations in the cloud. Combined with MS Teams, it offers Unified Communications at its finest.

Amazon Drive has become a viable cloud storage option in many ways. It’s priced extremely competitively and is probably the best cloud storage solution to manage file synching. However, file sharing could be made more secure with encryption and password protection and we’d like to see Office Online, Google Docs or even a native notes application added for work productivity. Without those things, sync capabilities are of limited use. While Amazon Drive has some great features, it’s clear there’s still much work to be done.

If you are looking into leveraging OneDrive or Amazon Drive to host your cloud environment, please feel free to get in touch with us on 0330 202 0220. We offer various ‘do-it-for-you’ and ‘do-it-with-you’ options, and with more than a decade of experience in building cloud environments, Venom IT is the logical choice to help you get started.

Check out our resources and dig deeper on the best support for cloud computingfor your business.

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