After losing its legal battle with BSkyB, Microsoft decided to rebrand its cloud storage service SkyDrive and in line with that decision, Microsoft renamed its services to OneDrive. Officially SkyDrive is no more, but as an average SkyDrive user, what does that mean for you?
Skydrive is Now OneDrive : What’s New
Well, for one, if you an existing SkyDrive user, everything will work as usual as the upgrade to OneDrive will be automatic. What will change though is the fact that you can earn additional storage just like you do in Dropbox. Microsoft is introducing a referral bonus system giving you the chance to earn up to 8GB in storage space for various activities.
Refer Friends: Every friend you refer to OneDrive will give you 500MB of free space and you can refer up to 10 friends at the most. Friends who are setting up the OneDrive account through your referral will also get the 500MB free space.
Camera Backup: Another way you can earn free storage is by activating the camera backup feature on your Windows, Android, or iOS device. That will give you another 3GB of free storage.
So apart from the default space of 7GB that is allocated to you( unless you opted in previously for 25GB), you have the chance to earn an additional 8GB of free space. That’s actually more storage space than you’ll ever need. But if you still want more, you can go for the monthly payment option for 50GB, 100GB, and 200GB plans.
Microsoft has also updated its Android app, which will now include the automatic camera upload feature and if you’re keen to exploit the 3GB free storage option you can download the app from here. If you already have the SkyDrive app installed previously, then simply update the app and it will upgrade to OneDrive automatically. The refreshed app also offers improved support for working with Office Mobile for Android and OneNote, including editing Office documents and larger thumbnails for a nicer photo view.
OneDrive is a great option to store all your videos, photos and docments in the cloud automatically. Its integration with Windows 8.1 and Xbox means that you can share stuff in more ways with friends and family. In fact, there’s even a one-click sharing with Facebook users and option to share via email. Also, if you like to record and share your Xbox gameplay, OneDrive is right there for you.
OneDrive is also built into your Office suite, so files you save are automatically added to your account. This means you can access all your files no matter where you are with OneDrive. Not to mention share them with people who are just about anywhere as well.
OneDrive Promotion
And if you love OneDrive so much that you want a whole 100GB of it, you can follow OneDrive on Twitter and find out how you can be one of 100,000 peple to win it. More details here.
Hi Adeline
Thanks for the tip about earning more space on OneDrive 🙂 I already have 50 GB space there but would for sure love to get more space for free. Maybe Microsoft should prepare for another legal battle. My old hosting company is called “One”..!!