dropbox, iCloud or other?

Katykat

I have a Macbook, iPad, iPhone and find it all a bit confusing when it comes to backing up. I back up the iPad and phone through iTunes and then in turn back my Mac up with Time machine onto an external hard drive, so I know that all my documents and photos are stored on the hard drive but they are not accessible to view unless I restore the back up. I know that iCloud stores my files if its turned on and I also have Dropbox but both of these systems only store a certain amount free, any more and you have to pay a yearly subscription. Is there any safe application or programme that I can use that is either free or allows me more storage?

esuhl

For backup purposes, I just take an image or my data partitions (using Acronis TrueImage), so that I can restore the backup if needed. The version of Acronic that I use actually allows me to mount an image (with a drive letter), rather than just restoring everything, so I could just copy across a single file from the image if I wanted to. I think more recent versions allow you to create an image from a folder, rather than a whole partition.

I'm not sure I'd trust a third-party with my unencrypted documents, and I doubt there are many guarantees if they lose everything (especially with the free versions of Dropbox, etc.). Also, it must take ages (and slow down your other connections) if you're uploading all your personal files... :-/

I just use Dropbox to synchronise a handful of files that I might want to access on multiple computers. Essentially, Dropbox has replaced USB thumb drives for me.

I haven't used any other synchronising software, but Dropbox works really well. And you can use it on Windows, Linux, Mac OS and handheld devices (iPhone, Android, etc.). I'd be happy to send you a referral code (for an extra 500MB free for each of us) if you drop me a PM.

Ant555

Do you know how much storage space you require? If its a lot then online services might start to get expensive.

iDrive for instance gives you 5Gb free but that might be nowhere near enough for you. aDrive gives you 50Gb free however I personally didn't really get on with aDrive when I tried it as there was something about it I didn't like.
Both iDrive and aDrive allow automated backup so once its set up you don;t really have to do anything.

I guess it might come down to convenience - you can probably purchase another external drive for the cost of an annual subscription.

I sync 4Gb of Dropbox data between 3 computers and for me the convenience of it is amazing.
I also fire up the aDrive app every month or so and this copies my 'dropbox' data to them so I have an additional fall back copy of my files.
If dropbox ceased to trade tomorrow then at least I have my local copies so the data wouldn't just disappear.

Gillor

If you want to back-up only try IDrive - https://www.idrive.com

If you want to sync across multiple devices try SugarSync - https://www.sugarsync.com

Both give 5gb of free storage and are set-and-forget.

Mr_Toad

I use Time Machine on both my Macs and I back up the phone, a Galaxy S4, to the iMac. I also have a free Dropbox account to store my phone photographs which uploads them automatically via either WiFi or mobile network.

I don't store any files or documents in the cloud, disk drives are so cheap that I don't feel the necessity to pay for cloud storage.

I keep another disk backup off site, that is on a disk connected to a friends network so that when I go round there my MacBook connects automatically and does a Time Machine backup there as well.

Backups are very necessary but I think we all have to find the solution that works best for us. Too complicated and we stop doing it.

I don't think about mine any more, it's fully automated and works, which is all you can ask of any system.

Katykat

It's good to hear how others view different methods of backup, which is why I asked the question. My Dropbox is full but I only have photos on it, I keep copies of files and documents on the external hard drive. I have been looking at some Cloud comparison sites and one that appeals to me is the top one- JustCloud. There is a free version but not sure how much storage it allows, but for $3.95 it gives unlimited storage. I think this is a one off fee, obviously based in US. It is automatic after the initial setup so that part caught my eye. I'll research it and let you know.

Ant555

but for $3.95 it gives unlimited storage. I think this is a one off fee, obviously based in US

I think there will be a fee per month

from their web site - looks like it might be a 24 month term too.
Home 75GB plan - 4.49 per month for 2 years (total charge 107.71)
Premium 250GB plan - 4.95 per month for 2 years (total charge 118.85)
Unlimited Plan - 6.95 per month for 2 years (total charge 166.85)

Although it looks like the whole amount is paid upfront and the monthly term is just an illustration!

securityguy

Crashplan is great, and cross-platform, but again not free. Clearly, no-one is going to give you Terabytes of space without being paid.

Katykat

you are correct Ant55, its a monthly fee. Back to the drawing board

zagubov

Gillor wrote: »

If you want to back-up only try IDrive - https://www.idrive.com

If you want to sync across multiple devices try SugarSync - https://www.sugarsync.com

Both give 5gb of free storage and are set-and-forget.

The sugarsync link to the free 5Gb version is very hard to find on their website so here's a direct link to the precise page.
Others have recommended wuala, and copy.com seems to offer 15GB for free.
Sugarsync works on older machines back to osx 10.6Leopard, and dropbox, bless them, work on10.4 Tiger onwards.

Katykat

Thanks zags, I'll have a look, although Dropbox does give 5gb, I wanted a bit more. I have been doing a lot of cleaning up and organising my computer photos so I'm probably ready to sort my Ipad/iphone photos out to free up some Dropbox space. It may just be enough for syncing.