Windows Live Mesh, Skydrive, 5 GB or 25 GB??

Hello folks,

I use Windows Live Mesh to allow myself to easily share files between home and work computers. I have a 5 GB limit on the online synced folder. However, I've come across the very same service, from Microsoft, claiming 25 GB of online storage!
Windows Live SkyDrive - Online document storage and file sharing


So, what gives? Why does Live Mesh (which supposedly uses Skydrive) have 5 GB of storage and Skydrive have 25 GB? Anyone else figure this out?

 

Skydrive is only online storage. There is no automatic syncing of folders like in Live Mesh. You have to manually copy the files to and from the online drive. There might be some 3rd party apps that make syncing easy but I never looked into it. Live Mesh is basically an MS application build on top of skydrive.

Why one has a higher capacity then the other I dont know. Live mesh has other restrictions too. I think 20 folders is the maximum still.

 

The "why" restriction is easy - overhead.
Just putting something onto a server is easier than synchronizing stuff.

And I guess they don't want you to use it as backup storage - if you read the terms and conditions, they do not guarantee the safety of your data in any way.
If they accidentally wipe all skydrive folders clean and you loose data it's your fault.

With Live Mesh it's very easy to abuse the Skydrive as a backup folder which it is not meant to be.
(On that note though - as an external storage to at least a double backup at home it cannot do any harm)

 

Well, yeah, you get what you pay for. This is 25gigs of free storage, you can't expect them to also "guarantee" your data in any way. As an aside, feel free to check what you would have to pay for a service that, in fact, gives you anything even remotely resembling a guarantee that your data are safe. Hint: A lot...

Yep. Note that when you use Live Mesh, there's also a limit on the maximum size of the files that can be synched (50MB, I think), again, for obvious reasons.

 

The file limit also applies to the Skydrive if used otherwise. I think that's supposed to stop filesharing - things like games, videos - they tend to be large.

 

Thanks guys I feel enlightened on the matter.

 

Well I'm not enlightened. It's typical of msoft's multiple product confusion that they call both products "skydrive" but they aren't the same bit of cloud storage, even if you use the same account to access them.

the "live mesh skydrive" version is too small to be useful for backup, while the other version (call it the "windows live skydrive") has an utterly useless UI.

 

Neither is supposed to be backup!

-> Live Mesh is supposed to be for synchronising several computers.

-> Skydrive is suppose to be for sharing files that you are legally allowed to share.

Live Mesh makes use of the Skydrive.

 

You can download SkyDrive Explorer for free, which will show your SkyDrive as a regular drive in Windows Explorer. Some restrictions, but it may be what you are looking for.