I Forgot My Flash Drive

Whether you call them flash drives, jump drives, thumb drives, or pen drives, you probably own one {or seven}. For years, they've been quite handy when transferring documents from computer to computer, from home to school, from classroom to computer lab, etc. Flash drives are great until you lose it or forget it at home.

Cloud Storage sounds like something to do with weather fronts and storm systems, but it actually refers to saving data to off-site, online storage systems. Rather than save your files on your own personal computer or on a flash drive, you can save them to a remote database that you can access just about anywhere. Many cloud storage services offer free space (everyone likes FREE, right?). Most services will be more than happy to let you BUY additional space, if necessary.

Some of my favorite FREE online storage solutions are:

• SkyDrive - this file hosting service allows users to upload and access files from a computer; EM-S ISD employees have access to SkyDrive with our email accounts. 
• Google Docs - allows you to upload documents, spreadsheets, and presentations; users can edit files and can publish them so that others can access them or even edit them. 
• Dropbox - like SkyDrive and Google Docs, this online file hosting service allows users to upload, manage, and share all sorts of files. Although I shouldn't admit it, it really is my favorite. =)
• Office Web Apps - allows users to upload, create, edit, and share Microsoft Office documents directly within a Web browser or even on a smart device. These documents are stored in SkyDrive.
• YouTube - quite possible the most well-known online video host (Similar sites for teachers: TeacherTube, SchoolTube)
• Picasa Web Albums - Google's tool that allows users to store, manage, and share image files is called Picasa. The actual application runs on your computer and allows you to work with the images saved anywhere on your computer (it has some really cool photo editing tools!) Picasa Web Albums (PWA) is an online storage system for your images. (Similar sites: Photobucket, Flickr)

Other notable online storage sites include Amazon Cloud Drive (to back up music purchases and Kindle tables), Apple iCloud (syncs files, photos, videos, and more across Apple devices), Box (similar to Dropbox), Google Drive (similar to SkyDrive, works seamlessly with Google Docs).

What online storage solutions do you use? 

Keep Getting 25GB Free Storage Space in Skydrive now!

When our district transitioned to Windows Live last year for email, calendars, web apps, etc., we were excited about having 25GB of free storage in SkyDrive.

Microsoft has been making some pretty significant changes (including mobile apps and SkyDrive for Windows.) Recently, Microsoft reduced the size of most SkyDrives from 25GB to 7GB. Chances are, you were NOWHERE near reaching capacity, but if you act now, you can keep getting the 25GB free space by manually upgrading it. (If you already had more than 4GB of data in your SkyDrive, Microsoft already upgraded you to the 25GB plan.)

Upgrade from 7GB to 25GB Free Storage

1. Log in to SkyDrive (You can also get there by going to live.com, More > SkyDrive)
2. Click the link that says SkyDrive's free storage is changing - claim your free 25 GB
   If you do not see this link, look for the Manage storage link on the left
   
       OR
   
   
3. Click the Free upgrade! button for the SkyDrive Free option.
   
   

Tech Tip Tuesday ... Dropbox

If you've ever been at home and needed a document that was safely stored on your computer at school, OR you've been at school and needing a document from your home computer, Dropbox is for you!

Dropbox allows you to sync designated files online, allows you to share files with others, gives you access to your files virtually anywhere, and is even available on your smart phone!

The first thing you need to do is go to Dropbox and watch the little introductory video and then download Dropbox to your desktop.

In the interest of full disclosure, we do have something like this in district. iFolder is a similar tool that is available in district with your Novell username and password. Here are the reasons I've converted to Dropbox instead of iFolder:

• Dropbox is easier to install and run on your computer. 
• You get 2 gb of free space just for signing up - get friends, co-workers, or PARENTS to sign up, and you get additional space.
• I can get to dropbox on my iPhone (or other smart phones and mobile devices!)
• I can share documents, pictures, fonts, etc. with anyone - not just district employees. 

I'm a classroom teacher. Why do I need Dropbox?

• Easily share documents with other teachers on your team, campus, across the district, or anywhere in the world.
• Share class newsletters, class pictures, video or audio recordings of your class (with permission, of course). The only people that see it are the ones you have invited - no fear of internet predators.
• We all know it ... teachers work from home! Instead of emailing yourself that huge document or saving all those pictures to your flash drive that's in the bottom of your purse right now, just save them into Dropbox. You've got access to them from home, from your classroom, from the public library, from the Development Center ... anywhere!

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments about how we can use Dropbox, please leave a comment. (It's EASY ... give it a try!)