Choosing a file storage system for team work.

We work with large volumes of media data: video, render, photo, illustration. To ensure teamwork, we need constant general access to all these files.

At some point, we no longer have enough of our own server, and we started looking for cloud storage that satisfies our needs.
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We compare popular cloud storage for business: Google Drive, DropBox, Citrix ShareFile and Microsoft OneDrive.

Our requirements for cloud storage:

• Unlimited amount of data - we have a lot of data, an average of about 10TB. I do not want to constantly think how much space one needs to buy in this month and why the quota has suddenly ended.
• Versioning of files and logging - git taught us that all changes can be seen and rolled back. Therefore, the files should be exactly the same: any change, removal should be reversible and easy to control.
• Access rights - no more public folders available to everyone. Each employee must have their own area of ​​visibility.
• Upload without registration - clients no longer have to look for file hosting services to send us a heavy file. Files should immediately be uploaded to our repository without intermediate services.

As it was before

When there was less data, and there were no cloud services (for reasonable money), we had to keep a hefty server with crisp hard drives in a RAID array. Access to it was via SMB. It was necessary to constantly look after him, change hard drives, backup. Once a month something happened to him: either the write / read speed dropped sharply, then a folder or file became inaccessible due to invalid characters in the name, etc.

When employees became more, they began to work remotely, and also from different operating systems: Windows, macOS. To access the server, I had to deploy a VPN, which provided, though slow, access to the files. At some point, it became clear that this approach was outdated and we began to look for a replacement for it.

Storage capacity and prices

We store large amounts of data, about 10TB on average. During active work, this figure may increase several times. Projects have to be stored for several months after delivery to the client, and even forever. Therefore, we need unlimited storage, so that every month we don’t need to think how many gigabytes to buy.

The number of employees varies within ten, so for convenience we will consider the cost of tariffs for 10 employees.

	Citrix ShareFile	Dropbox	Google drive	Microsoft OneDrive
Volume	Is not limited	Is not limited	Is not limited	Is not limited
Price for 10 users per month	$ 150	$ 200	$ 100	$ 125

Most services have such a price tag only if they are paid a year in advance, and when paid monthly, the price is 20-40% higher. This must be taken into account.

Hidden restrictions

Usually, if something is indicated as unlimited, you need to look for small gray text in the conditions. Each service has its own features that you can not see at a glance. For some, they are so strange that they make them completely useless for our task.

• Dropbox - the maximum downloadable file size is 50GB
  
• Citrix ShareFile - the maximum downloadable file size is 100GB. Not very much, but tolerable.
• Google Drive - Google Drive has a maximum file size of 5TB!
  

  For each account or shared disk, the maximum size of an individual file that can be downloaded or synchronized is 5 TB. The maximum amount of files that can be downloaded in one day is 750 GB
  
  G Suite Administrator's Guide

Microsoft OneDrive

In Microsoft OneDrive business tariffs, the maximum file size is limited to 15GB. This is just some kind of misunderstanding! At a time when even budget cameras shoot videos with a bit rate of 200Mbit / s and easily generate files of hundreds of gigabytes in size. This restriction makes the OneDrive service completely useless to us.

Selective Sync

The accountant Svetlana does not need a 2TB video computer with which the videographer Andrey works. For this, the system must have the function of selective synchronization, that is, the user must manually mark which files he needs locally on the computer, and which files only upon request. All four services support this feature. However, the Google Drive application allows you to mark only folders in the root of the disk, that is, you cannot turn on synchronization only for Accounting -> Reports -> 2018 , you can only for the entire Accounting folder.

Access rights

Different employees should have access only to certain folders and files. The system should keep a detailed log of changes in access rights and file access. All four systems have such functionality. With Citrix ShareFile and DropBox, you can turn on notifications when accessing certain files and folders. This can be useful for files with specially protected information. For example, you can set an alert for access to the clientbank files and some documents, and be aware that someone else turned to these files during off-hours.

Versionality

	Citrix ShareFile	Dropbox	Google drive	Microsoft OneDrive
File versioning

Who accidentally deleted a file from the public folder? For what number do we have there last backup? Can someone survive? This is a very unpleasant situation. It is especially fun when someone launches a virus coder from home and broke all the files that he has access to. In addition to abnormal situations, it is often necessary to roll back to an older version of the file in order to compare changes or fix problems. Previously, you had to contact the admin who took him out of the night backup. And if changes occurred during the day, they were lost.

Now we can instantly turn to any version of the file. Particularly pleased that you can see how the user made changes. This excludes situations where you can say " it's not me, it already was ."


List of changes to the file in ShareFile with the date and account that made the changes.

File request and anonymous upload

	Citrix ShareFile	Dropbox	Google drive	Microsoft OneDrive
Anonymous download

A common situation - a client or freelancer wants to transfer large files to you, in our case, this video or render. And the torment begins: “where to fill 100 gigs? Maybe better to send a courier with a hard drive? And how to use FTP / SFTP client? ". Even if a client publishes a file to a file sharing service, you must first download it, and then upload it to a shared folder for all employees. And if there are a lot of files and they are large, it is much more convenient to upload them immediately to our storage.

Previously, we had to create a temporary account on the FTP server and issue it to the client. Along the way, for a long time explaining how to set up an FTP client, how to restore a download after a break, and so on. Now you can simply click "request files" on any folder, and the service will create an anonymous link that can be used to upload files through a browser. In this case, only downloading is allowed, it is impossible to see what is already in the folder or to somehow view it on the server. This eliminates the need to create temporary accounts for customers and to monitor their removal. This function is supported only by ShareFile and Dropbox.

WebDAV and FTP access

	Citrix ShareFile	Dropbox	Google drive	Microsoft OneDrive
WebDAV			Through third-party programs
FTP (S)

In some cases, installing third-party software on a computer is not desirable or impossible, for example, on corporate systems. ShareFile has (S) FTP and WebDAV access. Google Drive has third-party programs to access the disk via WebDAV, but all of them require the transfer of access to the account to third parties. Dropbox does not have support for third-party protocols, access is possible only through the client.

Clients for these protocols are embedded in most operating systems. True macOS client for some reason often mounts WebDAV in read only mode.


Citrix ShareFile storage can be connected via WebDAV without installing third-party software

Conclusion

We immediately dropped Microsoft Onedrive due to the ridiculous 15GB limit on file size. Google drive does not allow the normal use of the disk without mail on the g suite (former google apps). Therefore, at the moment we are choosing between Dropbox and Citrix ShareFile. The decisive factor, I believe, will be the quality of the software, because otherwise the services are similar. Everyone has their own oddities. For example, the program Dropbox for windows at some point silently stops synchronizing files, while apparently there are no signs of a problem. It is treated by cleaning the system folder temp.