Remember the days when every megabyte of hard disk was precious and expensive? A 40-megabyte hard drive was sufficient for most desktop computers and buying anything larger could get very pricey. Then as storage costs dropped and software application sizes exploded to many megabytes apiece, multigigabyte hard drives became standard on new computers. As hard drive space becomes more easily available and inexpensive, Web use has exploded. Many computing and commerce functions have moved into the online arena. Previously high-priced functions have found their way to the Web, where they are offered for greatly reduced prices or even for free on advertiser-supported sites. As computers become an increasing part of our lives at work, at home, and even while traveling, Web-based storage options are becoming more attractive for several reasons. Their popularity has spread in part due to free and inexpensive availability of storage space. Several services offer 100MB or more free personal online storage space. These sites and services have many useful features despite several problematic aspects to the online storage revolution. TYPES OF STORAGE There are many free online storage services in a variety of formats. Oldest of all are the free Web page servers, such as Tripod, GeoCities, and Xoom. While these types of sites are not usually considered to be free online storage sites, thatis exactly how they function. Store HTML files and linked images on the sites, and the files are stored there for free. However, the features of these sites are rather limited, and their primary function has not been to store files. While most of these sites continue to focus on offering free Web sites and home pages, Xoom has expanded into the virtual storage space. Another type of online storage is the online photo gallery such as Ofoto and Shutterfly.
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