Online Storage
Wednesday, September 26, 2012 by LizMarr | Discussion: Personal Computing
The sad part is my cute little Toshiba portable is speaking bad words as of late and I can't afford the $75+ USD to get another. A couple months ago my old clunker external just gave up with not even as much as a good-bye. So, I'm soon to be without my 500GB Toshiba and have nothing to replace the 500GB WD that I used to mirror it with. So, brilliant me has the idea to perhaps use some type of online service. I have one that promises 500GB fro free. It's an FTP type of setup. Some of those slick backup types of services don't even consider 500GB - most they got is 100GB. There is one, well recommended, service that does 500GB but you have to pay for a year at a time.
Anyone got some suggestions for 500GB storage service? For cheep? I'm thinking that buying a new hard drive might cost less, but then that leaves out the reason of safety in case dropped or fire or something.
Reply #2 Wednesday, September 26, 2012 12:25 PM
Just my opinion mind you but I would always feel uneasy about storing my backup, old files or what ever to an online service. The same things you worry about happening storing the info on your own external drives can happen to you with the online service, as they say things happen. I would save up your money and look for deals out there for external storage. The Holiday season is coming up and you very well might find some bargains. 
How much space do you require? When is the last time you looked at what you are backing up and made a decision that it all in fact needs to be backed up? There isn't a person I know that doesn't look at this kind of thing and says to themselves 'I wonder why I was saving that.'
Reply #3 Wednesday, September 26, 2012 12:32 PM
I've got about 10 years photography. When I go out shooting I take probably 2 GB or more. Even after judicious trimming I still end up with quite a lot. I have photos in a server that hasn't been turned on for years that I don't even know if they are any good.
Reply #4 Wednesday, September 26, 2012 1:06 PM
For higher capacity, it's either Dropbox or Skydrive. They are the only two reliable ones that will be around for a while.
The biggest bang for the buck will be an external drive.
Reply #5 Thursday, September 27, 2012 3:06 AM
I've been using Carbonite for years. UNLIMITED storage for about 60 bucks a year. Never had any problems with it.
Reply #6 Thursday, September 27, 2012 1:28 PM
Just as an experiment I got my free 7gb from MS and my free 5gb from Amazon. Right away I was totally disappointed with MS. MS copies everything you want stored to its own directory. So if it keeping track of 3gb on its server, it has laid in the same 3gb on your computer BESIDES your original files. Amazon on the other side seems to be just a simple file storage with an easy to use drop box. Simple, easy to access, well worth someone with 5gb or less to store.
A complete negative for MS with yet another of their fine inventions. I wonder what Apple is like (these are all cloud services - although I still am not 100% sure what that means) I will look at Carbonite again. If I recall the problem is I don't have enough coin for a yearly payment, it has to be monthly.
Reply #7 Thursday, September 27, 2012 1:35 PM
DropBox operates the same way. That's the feature I like the most.
While having an online backup of your files, you can always get hold of them even if offline (on any device your account is connected to).
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Reply #1 Wednesday, September 26, 2012 12:17 PM
DropBox
SkyDrive
iBackup
They are popping up like maggots on dead meat, so to speak.
Which is best? Haven't got a clue. (I use DropBox myself)
Use'em, but don't trust'em.