Nas

stevemcol

bmewsd wrote: »

Skydrive because it's free and you get to access a whole 7GB? or because it's Microsoft?

Ashamed to say because it's Microsoft! Internet reviews are always contrdicatory. Geeks are notoriusly 'brandists' and often anti Microsoft, so difficult to rely on their views. Jouranlist pundits seem to like Skydrive, I have no experience of any other cloud service and when in doubt, Microsoft tend to offer reliable solutions.

I went for first Skydrive paid option. Think it was £6 pa. for 60GB (stand to be corrected, I can't check at the moment).

I wouldn't be surprised if Skydrive isn't the best but I've been running it for a month or so and it seems fine.


In terms of the benefits of Cloud: I have been burgled...I've never been hacked and I've been internetting for 20 years.

bmewsd

nothing wrong with Microsoft (a very large chunk of the planet is using their stuff).

Finding UK pricing for their skydrive service is notoriously difficult as they've hidden it. However, it works and if it's working for you, the main thing is that you're doing something.

If you're not worried about where your data may be and by consequence who can have access to it, then just stick with it.

I would however check to ensure what the pricing structure is just in case you start to hit limits where it becomes ridiculously expensive.

embrace the cloud (it's the future, even though it's just a reinvention of the past :j)

isofa

However, with a huge proportion on the UK population still stuck on dire upload speeds, you have to consider just how useful the cloud is to many at present. Unless you are on a fast cable connection or BT fibre (and even then the contention can be an issue), it's not so viable for those with large data throughputs.

Our uploads here aren't great on ADSL, and when I'm creating 20 to 40GB of RAW images a week on a shoot, backing up to the cloud for me professionally is a no-no. As secondary repository for lower file sizes it's fine, especially when I also pre-encrypt important files first. For me Dropbox is by far and away the best of the bunch, I have it running over multi-platforms and it's very stable.

stevemcol

bmewsd wrote: »

If you're not worried about where your data may be and by consequence who can have access to it, then just stick with it.

That's another story, I was talking about loss of data. I wouldn't ever trust non-encrypted sensitive data to any cloud service. It's easy to encrypt your sensitive stuff before backing up.

bmewsd

isofa wrote: »

However, with a huge proportion on the UK population still stuck on dire upload speeds, you have to consider just how useful the cloud is to many at present. Unless you are on a fast cable connection or BT fibre (and even then the contention can be an issue), it's not so viable for those with large data throughputs.

Our uploads here aren't great on ADSL, and when I'm creating 20 to 40GB of RAW images a week on a shoot, backing up to the cloud for me professionally is a no-no. As secondary repository for lower file sizes it's fine, especially when I also pre-encrypt important files first. For me Dropbox is by far and away the best of the bunch, I have it running over multi-platforms and it's very stable.

dropbox is running on amazon storage. Your upload speed is your upload speed irrespective of whatever service you use. If dropbox works for you then that's great, but it too is expensive.

You're right if you have poor uploads generally and you are creating large amounts of data. But, fibre is being rolled out to more locations as is 4G. it will mature over time as will the overall improvement of upload speeds (because the consumer will demand it).

My average upload speed is 83KB/sec I throttle it depending on how I use my connection and I run realtime backups both locally and to the cloud.

My stuff is accessible for me from any internet connected device. It's with a UK company, in the UK and i'm paying far less than I would if I used dropbox. and when I say far less I mean a massive amount (currently backed up over 8TB of stuff including 3TB of raw images).

I'm paying less than 100.00GBP per year it would be over 3K using googledrive. 500USD would buy me 500GB on dropbox.

Having spent all that additional money and i'd STILL have the issue of US companies providing unfettered access to my data.


I think you've hit the ideal scenario for you. For me? I do protect ALL my data on the cloud as well as locally.