Online storage? Opinions please

zzzLazyDaisy

I have been looking at online storage as I like the idea of being able to access my documents and photos etc from anywhere, and also I want to back up my portable hard-drive which has everything on it and it would be a disaster if it died on me.

I've looked at justcloud.com which seems to be offering free online storage.

But I am concerned about security - if it is 'out there' somewhere, whats to stop someone else accessing it.

Does anyone have any experience of online storage, and can you recommend a decent free provider?

Many thanks for your help (as always!)

Dx

Spank

I'm using BeeCloud which has 512GB free backup. You can encrypt your data for safety.

S0litaire

I'd suggest "SpiderOak" https://spideroak.com
Everything is encrypted before it leaves your machine automatically.
"Zero Knowledge" means only you can see your data (Not even people at SpiderOak can access your data!)
Use multiple machines to a single account as standard
2Gb space free

Add extra 100Gb for $10 per month ($100 if you pay a year in advance)

I use it for all my storage and backups!

zzzLazyDaisy

Thanks, that's really helpful

Dx

aerostar

Just remember that if the company you choose goes "FUT" then you could still lose all your data, you really must have it backed in 2 independant places.

People who just use a portable hard disk are just asking for trouble, anything mechanical will fail, also at some stage memory keys and cds etc.

If you keep your backups on say computer and other device, do not keep them on the same premises, should you have a fire or burglary then you could still lose the lot.

zzzLazyDaisy

aerostar wrote: »

If you keep your backups on say computer and other device, do not keep them on the same premises, should you have a fire or burglary then you could still lose the lot.

Yes, this is my concern.

Most of my stuff is on my laptop, and backed up to a portable hard-drive. Stuff that I use away from home is also on my net book.

So in theory I am well backed up and could retrieve most stuff (as was evidenced recently when a virus wiped my laptop). My concern is that all my devices are kept at home - I really don't know where else I could keep them as I have no family around where I live and there is little point having a back-up 200 miles away.

Hence me exploring on-line storage. I take your point about what happens if the on-line storage goes belly up, the thought had occurred to me. I suppose I could back up to two on-line servers to be on the safe side, but it does seem like overkill....

paddyrg

Also worth a look - drivehq.com (1GB free with various backup, versioning and true FTP options, mobile clients, etc) and sugarsync.com (upto 5GB free, handy to synchronise all your data across multiple machines, versioning, online backups)

John_Gray

Buy/borrow a copy of this month's PC Pro magazine, which has a review of about a dozen online storage options...

zzzLazyDaisy

John_Gray wrote: »

Buy/borrow a copy of this month's PC Pro magazine, which has a review of about a dozen online storage options...

Thanks for the heads up :-)

Sooler

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

But I am concerned about security - if it is 'out there' somewhere, whats to stop someone else accessing it.

You could encyrpt it before you upload it.

esuhl

I use Dropbox, which gives you 2GB free.

It works really well, and synchronises a special folder on all your PCs. If the company were to disappear, you'd still have the original copies on your PCs. It's compatible with Windows, Linux & Mac (and you can access via their web interface, and I think mobile devices).

I wouldn't trust them (or anyone!) to keep sensitive data confidential, so one file I synchronise is an encrypted Truecrypt container. I put anything vaguely sensitive in there -- security problem solved!

If you're thinking of signing up, you can get an extra 250MB bonus of free space with this link: http://db.tt/6d0BLWq