One of the more popular online storage providers out there currently is Google with their GoogleDocs application. This is a pretty cool application that allows you to upload and share all manner of documents.

Microsoft has done it one better with their latest offering called Microsoft Skydrive. Similar in concept, it’s one of the services provided by Windows Live that gives you your very own online drive where you can store just about anything.

More impressively, the space you are allowed to store is a mind boggling 25gigs! Thats a whole lot of space :)

So what would you store in these 25 gigs? Here is an idea.. practically everyone out there now has a digital camera of their own (my four year old has her very own.. in pink). And how many people out there keep back ups of their photos? I bet a lot of folks out there have no back up strategy and dump all their photos on their local hard drive only to lose it in the next boom-event (ie, virus, hard drive failure, accidentally formatting your hard drive while trying to install Linux on a separate drive – yeah.. that happens too ;) ).

So how do you get access to this free space and use it as an alternative to Google Docs and other sharing systems (such as Picasa and/or Flickr, etc)?

Right.. lets start shall we? 

Pre-requisites

We have to have a Windows Live account. If you use MSN Messenger or Hotmail, its likely you already have a live account. If you don’t use MSN Messenger, or you know you don’t have a live account, don’t fret.. we’ll create one on the way. (not really a prerequisite aye?)

Step 1

Open up your favourite web browser and go to http://skydrive.live.com

At this point, one of two windows may pop up. If you have already used live.com before and have marked yourself as always log on, then you’ll go straight to your home screen. If you haven’t yet (and i’m assuming you haven’t), then you get the following window pop up (left)

If you don’t have a Live id, then here is the time to create one. Its free and easy to follow through. Simply hit the Sign Up button on the left and follow through the wizard to get your live id.

You can also associate your live id with your current email address so are not creating yet another email address just to use Windows Live.

Once you have got it, return back to Step 1 and go back to the login page and log in with your Live Id.

Step 2

Right, we got the login page and our live user id. Simply log on by filling in your username and live password on the right hand side of the screen. You can use your own judgement if you want the user to be remembered on your computer or not. Ideally, if you are in a public or friends place, i would suggest not ticking the tickboxes :)

Click on Sign In when you’ve entered your information.

You will be taken to your Skydrive. The main parts of the screen are:

• Your Recent Folders (as well as any new folders you may create here)
• Amount of space free (at the top right corner)
• And anything new in your network (note: you get a whole bunch of options similar to facebook that you can play with by clicking on the "Profile" menu on the top of the screen. I’ll let you play with those).

Step 3

Lets create a folder to hold some photos. Click on "Create Folder" (a link just on top of Recent Folders). A small wizard will appear to ask for the name you want to give your folder as well as sharing options.

You can make this folder Public (ie open to all) or limit it to people you trust or just yourself.

Hitting next then shows you an upload page. You can upload documents in one of two ways, either using the "browse…" button and locating a file, or installing the upload tool. You’ll get a link on the top of the browse boxes if you haven’t installed the upload tool yet.

I would recommend installing it as it offers a nice drag and drop functionality. Simple enough to install. Email me or leave a comment if you need specific instructions.

Step 4

Lets upload some things into our new folder. If you have installed the load tool, you’ll see see a large box on your screen with "Drop files here" instructions. Open up My Computer and navigate to the document you want to upload and simply drag it into this box.

It should upload and appear in your new folder :)

The "Drag here" box will drop down and the photo will appear on the top window. If you want to add more files, simply drag more into the Drag box.

Step 5

Once you have finished adding the files you wish to upload, simply hit the Upload button. At this point all the documents you have selected will now be uploaded into your folder. It may take a while if you have chosen large files or large number of them. Once they are all done, a successful message will appear and you’ll be taken to the gallery.

And thats about it :)

Clicking on an individual photo will open it up in its own page. You even have facilities to add captions and if you share with people, they will be able to add comments against your photos too.

As an exercise, i created a Public folder to hold Windows 7 Wallpaper that someone released around the net :) You are welcome to browse my public folder by clicking on the gallery picture below:

I have only shown Image type files being uploaded here. Its also possible to upload other types of files and share them if required. I haven’t gone through all the features of Skydrive, so feel free to play around and leave a comment here to tell us if you like it or not :)

Above all, its 25gigs of space that you can put to use.. and for free.. and you can’t beat that.

Relevant links:

• Exploring Windows Live SkyDrive
• Wikipedia for SkyDrive
• Windows Live SkyDrive Team Blog (on live spaces)