Microsoft’s SkyDrive service has offered everyone a free 25GB hard disk in the cloud. This lets you store your files, backups, and even share files with others. It’s an amazing free offer that we’ve mentioned in the past.

Unfortunately, Microsoft has just reduced the free amount to 7 GB. That’s still generous, is more than Apple’s iCloud, and is what’s offered to new customers. For a limited time, any registered SkyDrive user *who has uploaded files to SkyDrive* as of April 22nd can opt in to keep 25GB of free storage while still getting all of the benefits of the new service.

So, if you already have a SkyDrive account, they are letting you keep your 25GB disk but you need to claim it.
Simply log into your SkyDrive account at skydrive.com with your Microsoft’s Windows Live credentials. On the bottom left of your account page, and click on the “Manage Storage” link. You’ll see a listing of storage plans, and under “SkyDrive Free” a button that says “Free upgrade!”

Just click it and you should see this:

Additional Resources

• Here’s specific information on the upgrade from Microsoft’s SkyDrive team.
• Not familiar with SkyDrive? In addition to being a hard disk in the sky, SkyDrive also has software you can install on your device (PC, Mac, mobile) and keep folders in sync. Here’s an overview of the new features from CBS Moneywatch: Microsoft gets cloud storage right with new SkyDrive
• For a more detailed description and video of how it’s used, see Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky explain the exciting new features and vision:
  Making personal cloud storage for Windows available anywhere, with the new SkyDrive

Note: After losing a court case in the UK, Microsoft has renamed SkyDrive to OneDrive.