Thanks to faster internet connections, digital storage need not be confined to your local device. This is the idea behind cloud storage. You can keep your data and multimedia files at one place and access them from anywhere. So, if you have limited storage on your workplace computer, you can simply access all your files from your home computer without the need to install software on the office computer (where such an installation may be disallowed or frowned upon). Your mobile device, which has limited local storage, could use your home PC's hard drive as a repository, or you could use conventional cloud storage solutions like Dropbox to stream music and photos. Here's how to optimise your use of the cloud.
Use your PC as a personal cloud
To do this, you need to set up remote access to your computer, which is simpler than it sounds. A small server application needs to be installed on your home computer. LogMeIn provides free server software for Windows and MAC OS X. Once the server is running, you simply need to log in to your account (free registration) using a Web browser on any computer or phone/tablet. You can then remotely control your home system to run programs or transfer files to and from it.
Another alternative to remotely access your files is to purchase a network-connected hard drive, such as the Seagate Central Shared Storage (Rs12,000 onwards). It comes with various storage capacities and connects to your Internet router/modem using Ethernet. Once you set it up, you can view, stream or download files from it using a Web browser.
Access data using your phone
If you prefer a dedicated way of accessing content on your mobile/ tablet instead of using a Web browser, there are various free apps available for the popular smartphone platforms. As in the browser method, these apps require a server software to be installed on your home PC for accessing files remotely.
Tonido, a free app for iOS, Android and Windows Phone 7, works well over Wi-Fi as well as 3G. Head to tonido.com to download the desktop server software for Windows, MAC OS X or Linux. Once you link the app to your computer at home, you could be anywhere in the world and stream music directly to your phone, access and download files from your computer and upload photos/videos taken from the phone back home. The app has a custom server address, which makes it very easy to set it up.
Another app, Polkast, converts your computer into a personal cloud for free. The Polkast server software lets you pick the folders you want to share. Also, there's no limit on file transfers to and from the PC, making it easy to shift large files.
Stream music from your PC
Though apps like Tonido offer audio and video streaming to your remote mobile device, lack of on-the-fly transcoding (file conversion) can lead to a long wait depending on your connection. If audio streaming is your main priority, use the free Subsonic app (iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone). You can get the desktop software for Windows, Mac or Linux at subsonic.org. It takes some time to get started since you need to first create an account and set up the folders to be shared. You also need to provide a custom name for a 'Web server' that the app on your phone/ tablet connects to. Once done, the app will display all the music files from your computer anywhere in the world as long as you have a working Internet connection. You can also create playlists and it works with most audio formats. It also supports video streaming, which, needless to say, works best over a Wi-Fi connection.
Supercharge your Dropbox
Dropbox can be more than just online file storage. With some nifty add-ons, you can use your Dropbox storage for various things. For instance, if you have your music files stored on it, you can access and stream them using DropTunes. Visit droptun.es and sign in with your Dropbox account. You can have access to all your files from a Web browser and can play the files without transferring them. You could also get the DropTunes iOS app to stream the files to your iPhone or iPad; this solves the problem of limited space on the iDevice as well.
With Dropbox, you can also automate easy or boring tasks like file conversion or transfer. The Dropbox Automator from Wappwolf lets you do all this. At wappwolf.com dropboxautomator, you will have to grant permission to your Dropbox account (either one or all folders in Dropbox storage). Then create an 'action', say, for conversion to PDF. Once you place a file in this folder (from your computer or mobile device), the Automator will convert it into PDF and store it in the same folder. There are various actions available for many common tasks.