Personal Cloud

What Does Personal Cloud Mean?

A personal cloud is a form of cloud storage for home users to store data. Although mainly designed for sharing photos, videos and documents, personal clouds often also provide streaming options for multimedia. A personal cloud works much like a private cloud but with more control.

Personal clouds are also known as personal cloud storage, mobile cloud storage and pocket cloud storage.

Techopedia Explains Personal Cloud

A personal cloud can take on a slightly different meaning depending on the implementation. First, is where the personal cloud is a storage appliance that can be accessed wirelessly or over the Internet. The second is any cloud computing service that is targeted at home consumers. In the first instance, you control the hardware, in the second, a 3rd party service provider controls the hardware.

In either instance, the term is somewhat of a marketing buzzword and doesn't have a precise technical definition. You could cynically say that a personal cloud is really just an external hard drive that you expose to the Internet with a simple front-end interface.