Microsoft lures cloud users to OneDrive with free 100GB storage

Microsoft renamed the SkyDrive to OneDrive before the end of January to end a legal tussle with BSkyB in Europe. The company has transformed the bad situation into a marketing campaign by relaunching the product Wednesday and even lured in hundreds of thousands to sign up and sign in to their accounts for a good chance to win free storage space - a big one.

Microsoft promised 100,000 OneDrive users 100GB of free storage for a year if they were quick enough to sign upon the launch of the rebranded cloud storage product. The extra storage will come on top of the existing SkyDrive space.

"To celebrate the official launch of OneDrive, today we will also give 100,000 people 100 GB of free storage for 1 year. That's 10 PB of free storage-enough storage space for a photo of everyone on the planet. If you want to be one of those 100,000, keep an eye on @OneDrive for clues," the company announced on its official blog.

OneDrive also teased users through a series of posts Twitter.

"#OneDrive is here, as is your chance to win 100 GB FREE storage. Solve the puzzle for details...," the company tweeted. The message came with a link that led users to a puzzle.

The giveaway went quickly as the next message that came four hours after the first tweet about the promo hinted. "10,000,000 GB of #OneDrive storage given away in less than 30 minutes! Wow," the official OneDrive Twitter account stated.

However, those who still want to get a free 100GB of storage but was not quick enough to be among the first 100,000 to solve the puzzle must not despair, Microsoft gives you a chance through this weekend.

"Win up to 100 GB free #OneDrive storage at your @MicrosoftStore through 2/23!" the company tweeted with a link to a promo page that encourages consumers to check out Microsoft Stores in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico to learn more about OneDrive.

Signing up for OneDrive gives one 7GB of free space, a lot smaller than the 25GB initially offered by Microsoft to SkyDrive users in 2012. Account holders who refer the product to other users get an additional 500MB for each person who signs up. If one maxes out the 10 referrals, he gets a clear 5GB of extra storage. Tapping the camera backup will also mean 3GB more of space on the cloud for Android device users.

Users who need to add 50GB of storage space to their OneDrive need to shoulder $25. Those looking for 100GB and 200GB extra will have to pay an annual fee of $50 and $100, respectively.