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It is now easier than ever before to access all data and information online. Not only that, but more and more businesses and individuals have started using personal cloud storage as a way of storing their own data. This data can be accessed from anywhere in the world, as long as you have internet connectivity and know your account credentials.

In 2016, more and more questions will arise about what will this year bring to use and in which way will the cloud evolve. Let us get straight to the point with a list of all these predictions for 2016.

Personal Cloud Storage

100 TB HDD

2015 ended up with HDDs being around 6, then 8, and finally 10 TB. However, in 2016 we are expecting an HDD with the storage space of around 100 TB. This is huge, and increasing areal density will definitely prove to be useful, especially when it comes to increasing the maximum capacity of that storage space.

SDD has taken over the HDD market, and HDD is slowly disappearing. This is the reason why HDD makers are trying to come up with new hybrid types of HDD (disk drives with flush), ones that will use direct Ethernet connectivity rather than SAS and SATA for low cost storage on network. This was a concept in 2015, and this year, we will see this concept come to life.

Cloud Storage

Another thing that started in 2015 and will end up big in 2016 is the renting of cloud storage. Namely, most companies used cloud storage for their needs, and most of them bought more space than they could even possibly fill. That is why clouds got richer and companies wasted more money on all that unused space.

This has pretty much caused a revolution, and clouds were forced to add a new option in order to stay in the business: renting cloud storage. This way, a company can rent as much space as it needs, no more and no less. By doing so, they do not throw away any storage space and spend only the amount of money needed for their services. Renting a cloud storage will be a huge thing in 2016, and it is expected that cloud services will start giving away monthly packages which can be customized by the needs of a business.

Company in a box

Since the first appearance of the cloud storage, people have been coming up with crazy ideas about how to store their confidential information. Someone came up with a concept of creating a company in a box. This basically means creating a company and putting all of its information on the cloud, with nothing present physically.

This endeavor has many downsides, however it also has a lot of positive aspects, like preserving a lot of money used for documents and printing and all that hardware purchased to store additional data. All of this will be safely put on the cloud, and only those with access will be able to work their way around it. This concept is still in development, and we might see it fully launched by the end of 2016.

Data Control

By storing your data on a cloud, you ensure that it is safely stored in a virtual space. But, having data control over your stored data was always limited to one account or user. That is why in 2016, we are looking at a broader spread of data control, which is working on allowing users to access their data when there is no internet connectivity present.

I am not sure how this one will be done, but there have been some speculations that public storages will get synchronized with private storages, which will then be accessed with a special USB located on the NAS unit.

All that is left is waiting to see what this year will bring us. 2016 will definitely bring a few new inventions regarding the cloud storage, but it all might be just an introduction to a broader picture. And by the 2020, who knows what might happen, for as far as I am concerned, we might get drives of compressed data holding up to 1 Petabyte.

This is a guest post by Oscar Waterworth for Techlass.com