Online storage? Opinions please

SnowTiger

esuhl wrote: »

If you're thinking of signing up, you can get an extra 250MB bonus of free space with this link: ...

Shame about the spam.

londonTiger

Most backup providers do not allow you to set your own private keys, what they do is they create a key and supposedly keep it secure. But you can't really trust them.

The online backup services I know that allows it's users to set their own secure encrytion key which is sos. You basically enter a password which will encrypt the data BEFORE it is uploaded. Not even SOS staff can see yuor data. (which can be a good and bad thing depending on how smart you are with creating keys and keeping them safe).

A lot of entry level computer users forget their encryption keys and are then locked out of their online data, then they blame the backup company, so the backup companies have resorted to managing the encryption key which is kept hidden from you.

with sos you have to turn the "manage your own encryption key" on in settings

check out some side by side comparisons. http://www.onlinebackupservices.co/compare-services/

If you're looking to skimp out and use free online storage, SugarSync ofers 5GB completely free. If you join SugarSYnc for the free 5GB account, use my invite code, I get 500mb extra and you get 500mb extra. Win win

(referal link which will get us 500mb extra each with SugarSync)

claire07

Is there any reason why no-ones mentioned Windows Live Skydrive? I've just started using it to back up my photos and was thinking of doing it for my files as well.

It's free with 25gb storage and seems fine but as no-one mentioned it I'm wondering if I'm missing something!

Gloomendoom

Nice one. I've just been looking for some online storage and I'd forgotten that I had set up a SkyDrive account back in 2009.

londonTiger

claire07 wrote: »

Is there any reason why no-ones mentioned Windows Live Skydrive? I've just started using it to back up my photos and was thinking of doing it for my files as well.

It's free with 25gb storage and seems fine but as no-one mentioned it I'm wondering if I'm missing something!

Skydrive is good, the 5GB Live Mesh portion of Skydrive is good in particular, but the rest is "meh".

These days people have desktop,s laptops, netbooks etc. You want the storage service to syncrhonise the data. Makes life a LOT easier. Trust me. before I use sugarsync, I used to have to transfer files back and forth using a flash drive. I lose track of which computer had the recent changes and it was a management nightmare.

I think that's really the future, and MS and Apple are both pushing for cloud backup and synchronization features.

The problem with skydrive is that you get 5GB synchronisation max, with sugarsync you get 5Gb on their free account and you can increase that to 10GB max by referrals.

ChiefGrasscutter

aerostar wrote: »

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.

Not just for that reason either.
If the company is found to be holding copyrighted material it could be taken off line instantly by law enforcement proceedures.
Actually if the company goes belly up you probably would have a better chance of getting your data back one way or another than if the servers are 'removed' for legal reasons.

giraffe69

I use Live Mesh and it syncs between main computer and netbook fine and stores fine but in my case 5gb is enough for this.