Cloud storage is a form of online storage. It is an internet hosting service, run by a third party, that allows user files to be held and accessed from different computing devices. An advantage of this is that you can easily access files held on your home computer, say, from a laptop or any other computer that you take with you on the move. You can also work on a file while away from your home computer, or retrieve one that you have lost.

You can have a personal cloud, which just stores all your own data, or a workgroup cloud in which you and your colleagues can access and, in some cases, work on each others' files. There are a number of companies that provide this storage service including boxnet and jungledisc.

Cloud storage can be a useful option if you have a project that you and several others are co-operating on remotely; if you work a lot away from home; or just if you have a large amount of data and have trouble storing it.