Over the years, cloud services have also grown tremendously with the internet’s boon. Cloud computing has become more and more common among businesses and individuals. Today, almost every person with a mobile phone and nearly all enterprises use the cloud, as it has unlimited access. With the cloud, you can access your data and work on documents from anywhere and anytime.
Yet, as users and businesses are moving to the cloud, the most common question everyone has is, “Which is the best to use, Sharepoint or Onedrive? They both seem to be the same, so what’s the difference? While both Sharepoint and Onedrive are offered by Microsoft cloud storage with similar features, there are a few key differences between the two.
So, here in this article, we will answer all your Sharepoint vs. Onedrive questions and help you to decide which is best for your file storage.
1. What are the similarities between Sharepoint and Onedrive?
While using both Onedrive and Sharepoint, you get the following features:
Cloud Storage
Both Onedrive and Sharepoint offer you cloud storage in Microsoft could space. In cloud storage, your data is securely stored within the vast network of datacenters or powerpod. Datacenters are essentially extensive facilities housing servers that contain customer data. Whenever you access your document, Microsoft pulls it from the datacenters to your dashboard. This process happens without you even being aware of the security process in the background.
Out of both cloud storage, you must be aware of all aspects of sharepoint online vs on premise. Both Sharepoint online and Sharepoint premise have their pros and cons. You must consider them and select the one that matches your requirements. Also if you’re trying to get Sharepoint connected to your Outlook email, there is the possibility of Outlook Sharepoint integration using 3rd party services, so there is no need to worry about that!
High-Grade Security
While using both Sharepoint and Onedrive, your data stays safe as they both include high-grade Microsoft security features. All your data in Onedrive and Sharepoint across the internet is encrypted by SSL/TLS security. SSL / TSL is a digital certificate that establishes a secure connection while accessing data using a public and private key.
Microsoft not only secures your data while accessing it but also when not being accessed. This security feature is known as Encryption at rest. It includes two components- BitLocker disk-level Encryption and Per-file Encryption of customer content.
BitLocker is deployed across services and encrypts all data on a disk. While per-file Encryption includes a unique encryption key for each file, every update to every file is encrypted using its encryption key. All the encryption steps comply with Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) and use Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).
Flexible Accessibility
The prime reason for using cloud-based services is the ease of accessing data. With an internet connection, you can access Sharepoint and Onedrive services from almost anywhere. In fact, as a user, you can access your information using any device at any place as long as you have a network.
2. What are the differences between Sharepoint and Onedrive?
Apart from the similarities, there are a few key differences between both Sharepoint and Onedrive.
Personal Storage and Collaborative Storage
Both Sharepoint and Onedrive are great options for cloud-based storage. But the main difference is the kind of data or document you want to store. If you want to store documents or files that you don’t want other people to have access to, then OneDrive can be your storage. Though it’s private, you still have the option to share the document with select people.
On the other hand, Sharepoint can be used for collaborative cloud storage. It means you would store a file or document you want to collaborate with your co-workers. For example, you want to work on a project requiring several people’s contributions. If you store the project in Sharepoint document library, anyone within your group can access the document and do the necessary edits.
The best way to remember the difference is – Think of “One” in Onedrive as the storage for one person, and “share” in Sharepoint is your share storage.
Sharepoint Create Intranet
Apart from collaborative storage, Sharepoint can also be used to create an intranet within your organization. It is helpful for any organization needing a company webpage with employee-only resources. For example, many HR webpages are Intranet pages only current employees can access using their official credentials. The intranet is also an excellent site for training materials. Moreover, Sharepoint allows the development of an efficient employee intranet that can facilitate internal communication, improve information dissemination, and enhance collaborative efforts within the organization.
3. How to Get Access to Sharepoint and Onedrive?
After understanding the key differences between Sharepoint and Onedrive, the last question you might be thinking “How to get both of these for yourself or your business?” Well, it is straightforward to get access to both of these cloud services. Both the services are included in all versions of Microsoft 365 for business and enterprise. Onedrive and Sharepoint are only two of the whole group of applications and services offered by Microsoft 365.
Conclusion:
While both Sharepoint and Onedrive are beneficial cloud services that you will use, it is totally up to you which one you will use, depending upon what you want out of it. However, now that you know the critical difference between the two, you can easily decide which cloud storage fits your needs.
