There's no doubt that every part of our world is rapidly virtualizing. The question has become just how massive a digital suitcase we'll need to hold all of our online belongings — from photos to music to documents — and how easy it'll be for us to access them from wherever we are.
In that race, Microsoft's OneDrive — a free, personal cloud storage service — is upping the ante. A study commissioned by Microsoft found that at least 77 percent of consumers store content on a device that isn't backed up anywhere. That's a growing gamble for a society that loves to hoard data as much as we do. National Geographic reported that in 2011, 37% of photos taken in the U.S. were taken with camera phones. By 2015, that share will be 50%.
To meet demand, OneDrive will be offering 15 GB of free storage. Have no concept of what you can store in all that space? The below infographic will break it down:
Not enough space to accommodate your hoarding habits? Microsoft Office 365 users will receive 1 terabyte. To put that in perspective, every man, woman and child in Los Angeles could upload a selfie to OneDrive and there'd still be 180 gigs to spare.
So relax, shutterbugs, music mavens, and fanatical file-keepers. Your stuff can live on OneDrive cheaply and safely for years to come, no matter how many new smartphones, tablets, laptops, and hard drives come in and out of your life.
Andréa Ford is a freelance journalist covering technology and other topics. She has a specialty in infographics and previously wrote for TIME Magazine.
This post is a sponsored collaboration between OneDrive and Studio@Gawker.