Files go to the clouds. Choosing a cloud

After the recent events on the mass opening of new cloud storages, your humble servant wondered: “What are the storages now and where can I stuff my vital files?”
Some time yawing on Habra / Google and other offices led to the following list of repositories:

Baidu , Bitcasa , Box.net , Dropbox , Google Drive , Microsoft SkyDrive , SpiderOak , Wuala , Yandex.Disk

At the very end of the article look for a comparative table.
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Baidu

This article mentions a Chinese file storage service giving 15GB . After reading this, rushed to the site of this organization. Indeed there are 15 gigabytes for free, but there are a few BUT:

• The site is in Chinese, there is not even a hint of English, so you have to use the translator built into Chrome
• As a result of the undivided rule of the Chinese language in this company, its client under Windows could not be established, cursed something about the way and that's it. More precisely, it was installed but does not start.

The Android client turned out to be workable and English-speaking, so everything is fine here. With the increase in space, everything is simple: we send invites, wait for friends to register, we get 300 MB. Maximum + 3GB.
As a result: in general, a normal service, is now in beta stages and there is a chance that the client will be repaired.

Bitcasa

Many have already heard about this service. Storage is now not limited and free but this is only for now. There is a client under Windows. What is depressing is the slow rate of uploading files to the storage. Perhaps this is due to the large number of hungry for unlimited freebies and this collection will dissipate scared by the need to pay for data storage.
Also, I note that, unlike other services, it is not required to store data physically on a PC. Ie files thrown into the folder bitcoats are automatically uploaded to the server and deleted from the PC.

Box.net

Give 5GB . No free ways to increase storage size were found. The official Windows client is available only to paid users, and only at the Business level and above. However, in the application directory there is a third-party free client for Windows: GPDesktopBackup. Yes, there is a client for Android, there are no special complaints about it.

Dropbox

It could be omitted from the review due to the simple fact that it is widely known and written about it is not enough. Initially give 2GB , but without much effort, the size was increased to 25GB . The client under Windows is convenient and shows the synchronization progress both in the tray icon and in the folder. There is a client for android, which is also easy to use. By cons I'll take the lack of synchronization with an arbitrary folder, although this is a minus of almost all services (see the table at the end).

Google drive

The answer to all the services from Google. For me, he became a disappointment. Well, how could such a big company, with such budgets, be greedy and give users only 5GB each ? I sincerely hope that soon the limit will be revised at least to 10GB, not to mention the 25GB that I expected. This fact is somewhat crumpled my other impressions about the service. Yes, there are clients for Windows and Android. There is no synchronization with an arbitrary folder, but there is an interesting moment: files from Google.Docs fall into the synchronized folder, not as documents but as links to Google.Docs. On the one hand, it saves space, on the other hand, the possibility of offline access is lost.

Microsoft SkyDrive

As for me, in this round of competition between Google and Microsoft won the last, because initially provides 7GB of space, and for those who have been with the service for a long time, like me, as much as 25GB for life. There is a client under Windows, a client under Android Microsoft, apparently, religion does not allow to write. However, there are third-party alternatives. There is a display of progress in the folder and on the icon.

SpiderOak

Gives 2GB of space. There are clients under Windows and Android. The Windows client has the necessary element which almost all other services lack: it can synchronize any folder or folders. Another interesting fact: in the program, you can specify an auxiliary service for storing encrypted data blocks, and when restoring from a backup copy, this storage is checked first. This can be a local folder, FTP server or sFTP. With a sufficient degree of perversion of the mind, you can specify a local folder as a storage and cut off the program from the Internet with a firewall. But what then is a cloud?

Wuala

Those 5GB , clients under Windows and Android, synchronization of arbitrary folders and what's interesting is that he can show progress in these folders. One more thing - during the installation the client asks your desire to create a virtual disk with all synchronized folders, which also is good news.

Yandex.Disk

The only "domestic" repository. Give 10GB . In theory, ping before it should be less, and the circle of users is also less so that the upload / download speed should be higher, although I didn’t notice much difference. Web interface and client for Android, according to a strange developer logic, is integrated into the mailer. Well, it's just marketing and nothing more. Forgive them this weakness. And we hope for the separation of services. The Windows client completely repeats the Dropbox client with all the pros and cons.

Afterword

For myself, I could not decide on the winner. As it is not regrettable, but this is not a sign that everyone is good, and the fact that everyone doesn’t hold out a bit.
But the personal rating looks like this:

• Ease of use: SpiderOak, Wuala
• Free storage size: Dropbox, SkyDrive
• Best Windows client: SpiderOak, Wuala
• The best client for Android: SpiderOak, Wuala, Dropbox

For habra people made the comparative table on all checked storages. All criteria are important factors for me, if you are interested in other criteria, I will add what I can check.

Service	Free place	Windows	Android	WebDav	Synchronization of arbitrary folders	Display process in folder	Free ways to increase size
Baidu	15	± does not work yet	+	-	?	?	+
Bitcasa	not limited (yet)	+	-	-	-	-	-
Box.net	five	± third-party	+	-	± via third-party application	-	+
Dropbox	2-> 25	+	+	-	-	+	+
Google drive	five	+	+	-	-	-	-
Microsoft SkyDrive	7-> 25	+	± third-party	± strong limit on file size, literally several kilobytes	-	+	+
SpiderOak	2	+	+	-	+	-	-
Wuala	five	+	+	- but a virtual drive is created in the system	+	+	+
Yandex.Disk	ten	+	+	+	-	+	-

PS
Bookmark the post and check it periodically. I continue to use all these services at the same time and I will look for new ones. I will update this post.

Pps
I dropped clients for other OSs for the reason that I cannot install and check them.
Later I will add a column about data encryption to the table, since Wuala and SpiderOak, I don't know about the others yet.

- The next update of the article will take place on 04/30/12 (UPD: due to sudden holidays, updates will take place later, until I tell you exactly when, but it will take place 100%, it’s not for nothing that the zoo on my PC is growing). The services specified in the comments will be added, criteria such as the tariff scale, data download speed, the stated presence of clients for other OS, and the possibility of rollback of file versions will be considered.