Dropbox Now Gives 5GB Free Storage, Matches Google Drive

Dropbox, a popular online storage space, announced on Friday that it is upping its free storage to 5GB, an amount that matches competitor Google Drive.

Of course, there is a small catch. While a normal free subscription includes 2GB of space, users who want to test the company’s new beta software are allowed 5GB. In a post on their website, the company stated:

“During this beta period, we are also offering additional free space to test automatic uploading of photos and videos. For every 500MB of photos and videos automatically uploaded, you’ll receive another 500MB space bonus, up to 4.5GB total. You can get up to 5GB of free space with this feature, if you count the initial 500MB space for the first photo import.”

Essentially, Dropbox works by syncing folders on your personal computer with a disk drive in the “cloud,” and also with mobile devices.

The beta software, which was announced on Friday as well, will automatically import photos and videos from portable devices, such as cameras, mobile phones, and SD cards.

The company highly encourages backing up your files before switching to the beta version, as it is less stable (beta means the program has not been finished, and is still in testing phase).

Cloud storage has become increasingly popular and, for the most part, each company allows the user a different amount of initial free space. Microsoft’s SkyDrive, for example, allows the user 7GB of free space (although initially they offered 25GB free of charge). Also, SugarSync, along with Dropbox, both offer 5GB.

Check out more information about Dropbox and their beta program, as well as the new free space, here:

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