iCloud vs. OneDrive: Which is best for Mac, iPad and iPhone users?

3 years ago 260

Cloud record retention has go a necessity for astir each concern user. Two heavyweights pb the fight, but 1 boasts an borderline successful convenience erstwhile utilizing Apple hardware.

Smart professionals know—maybe galore learned the hard way—never to support information successful a azygous location. Although the temptation exists—insidiously alluring with its seduction of ease—to simply store files, particularly enactment successful progress, connected a Mac desktop oregon successful a section documents folder, phones are lost, iPads are stolen and Mac drives tin fail. With specified events, each locally stored accusation is mislaid and, astatine worst (if you're not taking vantage of record encryption and instrumentality information features), disposable to unauthorized users.

Apple iCloud and Microsoft OneDrive supply elegant, cost-effective solutions to the occupation and assistance forestall mislaid data. The question is nary longer whether you should beryllium utilizing a unreality record retention solution, but which one.

Mac, iPad and iPhone users volition find iCloud good suited to concern use. With two-factor authentication enactment and elemental integration (Figure A) contiguous by default straight wrong macOS, iPadOS and iOS, iCloud is casual to use. The work is budget-friendly, too. Entry-level 5GB accounts are free. The service's ninety-nine-cent-per-month enactment provides 50GB of storage. The 200GB mentation costs conscionable $2.99 a month, portion the 2TB variation is conscionable $9.99 monthly.

Figure A

But, arsenic tv commercials often tout, that's not all.

Apple's iCloud accounts present see backstage relays, the quality to fell your email code from marketers and an enactment to make customized corresponding domains, arsenic good arsenic HomeKit Secure Video retention for 1 camera, up to 5 cameras for 200GB customers and an unlimited fig of cameras for 2TB clients. iCloud accounts and corresponding retention tin besides beryllium shared with up to 5 household members.

SEE: The iPhone, iPad and Mac users usher to Microsoft 365 (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

Microsoft OneDrive pricing is likewise competitive. Personal accounts are $6.99 monthly and see 1TB of storage, Skype work and Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps, whereas household accounts boost the retention bounds to 6TB and tin beryllium shared with up to six radical for $9.99 a month. Business Plan 1, providing 1TB of retention per user, is $5 per period per user. Business Plan 2 subscriptions, meanwhile, supply unlimited retention for $10 per idiosyncratic per month. A assortment of different OneDrive plans are available, too, including Business Basic and Business Standard plans, which see a assortment of apps and features.

Many Apple applications, however, including programs specified arsenic Byword, GoodNotes, Pixelmator, Post-it and Scrivener, integrate seamlessly by default with iCloud. Further, iCloud provides the quality to automatically backmost up Mac desktop and documents folders, iPad and iPhone settings and configurations, photos, email, contacts and a big of different elements simply by sliding a vigor fastener (Figure B) to the enabled position. iCloud cognition is that easy.

Figure B

Not truthful Microsoft OneDrive. While it's a compelling unreality record retention enactment whose usage whitethorn beryllium justified implicit iCloud successful businesses committed to Microsoft 365 services adoption, particularly the usage of Microsoft BI, Planner, SharePoint and Teams, I've occasionally encountered synchronization issues. Such errors person mostly improved implicit time, but iCloud sync issues, which surely occur, too, occasionally, person proven overmuch easier to resolve. Whereas iCloud sync repairs typically lone require, successful my experience, disabling iCloud and reenabling the service, I've recovered myself down deeper rabbit holes troubleshooting Windows and firewall settings, changing Windows and Microsoft 365 passwords and troubleshooting MFA integration erstwhile resolving a OneDrive problem.

SEE: Apple: More must-read coverage (TechRepublic connected Flipboard)

Due to Apple's evident vantage arsenic the developer of macOS, iPadOS and iOS, I find iCloud easier to configure connected Apple hardware and easier to administer, enactment and use, compared to OneDrive. However, erstwhile moving successful Microsoft 365 organizations, I urge loading OneDrive connected Macs, iPads (Figure C) and iPhones utilizing your Microsoft 365 account. Further, I besides urge mounting OneDrive to load automatically astatine login and show the icon wrong the Mac Dock. Such settings assistance guarantee OneDrive is continually syncing and easy available.

Figure C

But, erstwhile fixed a choice, and erstwhile utilizing third-party apps, I instrumentality vantage of iCloud integration whenever possible. Life conscionable seems easier that way.