Anyone use online storage?
 

I'm looking at online storage sites that I'd like to use for a general backup of maybe 50gb. I'd like to access the files from other computers. Just basically to use instead of an external HD which I hate using.

Anyone trust them?

I use Mozy. I've done a couple of sample-restorations of a file or two, and they've worked. $5 per month unlimited storage, and it does scheduled backups automatically. I currently have 66GB stored with them.

Online storage? Really? And it's reliable?

A friend of mine uses this.

Wow.

I was thinking about buying an external HD to back up all my music files and to store my original photo files, but if it's a secure option then I'd rather do this.

Thanks, popo, for bringing this up. I wouldn't have known. :)

I used Xdrive for a bit, but then they got like AOL and made it hard to cancel the subscription. That was a pisser because it took me months if not almost 1 year to keep denying the charge on my AMEX.

It was very handy to have and use.

A few years ago I started a web project I got webhosting, FTP etc. with something like 10Gb of space. for $15.99.

I find that it is the most flexible and usable. The backups are much more regular, responsive, reliable. Looking at some of the storage places TOS, they aren't responsible for keeping your data intact any more than a car wash or parking lot is responsible for the damage on your car. After all their normal customer is a business, not some person using webstorage.

Now this same company is 574Gb of space, because I've been with them for a few years. Every week as a reward for being with them they increase the storage 2Gb every week, so each month you automatically get 8Gb.

I can never use all this space and bandwidth. So I offer it to the rest of the family and ask that if they would like to contribute they can donate directly to the host to pay the bill.

It is also how some friend and I share music. I upload my mp3s there and so do they. It's a great way to reach out to my friends across statelines and oceans.

As far as my photos are concerned my online backup is KodakGallery since they offer a CD service to buy back all the original photos. After 7 years of picture taking it will cost me about $500 to buy them all on CD.

http://www.dreamhost.com

Thank you, cyn.

Looking at this though, the yearly plan being $119, I'm wondering if I wouldn't be better off just dropping the $200-300 for an external 500gb hd...

I just bought 2 1Tb drives for $199 (one was more expensive because of speed) they are dropping very quickly and should reach that as a regular price in a month or so.

You can get a 1TB for that much.

well, even better :)

ADrive gives 50GB of space for free. I just signed up to give it a try and 2 things I don't love is that 1) only 1000 files upload at a time. When I'm backing up my 9000+ photos plus all my other files, that's not convenient. 2) It doesn't show thumbnails view for the pictures.

How does Mozy work this?

I have a webhost, but I've never really used it for backing up critical data...

I dont think I would trust the people running the backup service not to have someone snoop thru some of my stuff. Guess you could encrypt it all with truecrypt or something similar

I have been wanting to build a home server with a raid 5 array.
would set it up to be accessible on all my computers at home, as well as on the internet.

Just as an FYI you can get 1 GB of file storage (10 MB per file limit) with 10 GB of bandwidth per month for free at www.box.net. I know it's much smaller than what you're looking for it but it's a great site for students and business people who need to keep documents safe.

I use Carbonite.com. Unlimited storage for $50 per year. A small app runs in the background, backing up all your files. I've used it for two months with no problem.

Mozy has no limit. I'm running it on a Mac, but there's Windows as well; no Linux. It runs a background application, and (as I have it configured), when my computer is idle for 20 minutes, it checks what has changed since the last backup and begins uploading. You can also choose the files to be backed up by folder, by filetype, or both. Restores are done over the web at no cost, or you can have them burn DVDs and overnight them for some additional fee, I don't remember what.

No thumbnails, though; you might want a photo-specific web backup method for that.

They also have a free 2GB account, so you can see how it works (or, if 2GB is sufficient, just use that). I used the 2GB for a couple of weeks, decided it was worth it, then paid.

I love their "alternatives":

This is my solution! :thumbsup:

I was thinking about using Amazons Simple Storage Service (S3) which seems pretty cheap and flexible. Has anyone had experience with this?

Interesting, I didn't know that many people used online storage regularly. Of course, it's a good idea; as the mozy site says, your house could burn down, and with it all computers, internal and external hard drives, and there goes your data.
But I wonder if there is a small chance that those online services might lose/corrupt your data, or get shut down. What kind of guarantee do they have? Also, is it safe to assume that they will never ever go through your files?

My thoughts/concerns exactly. Yeah, my house can burn down, but I think I have problems slightly more important than my data is gone. I keep very important data encrypted on CDs\DVDs and file them with my neighbor. If I really wanted I can even distaster proof my PC... not a bad idea actually.

The only online storage I use is Google Drive linked through my gmail account. Else, I create my own online storage with a combination of Hamachi and Cerberus FTP server (or Home FTP server).

From what I see, Carbonite doesn't give you the ability to view your files online. True?

Yes, you are correct. It is strictly backup storage.

I'm too paranoid to trust sensitive data to some corporation. Fortunately, I do have a private ftp server thta only I and a friend of mine use, where I can back up all critical data. Truth be told, I've never actually bothered to set up a cron job, because my mission critical data doesn't update frequently enough for it to be necessary. I just back up manually. Between that and my external hard drive I feel like I'm well covered.

I don't know what people without nerdy friends who run fileservers out of their basements do. I guess if that's your situation one of these companies is the better option. Still, though; what guarantee do you have that they're not trawling your data?

having worked in IT for 20 years and covered 10,000s of desktops and fileservers....

None, but truth be told, I have more important things to do than bother looking in onto people's files and folders. If you leave it out obvious akin to leaving personal private photos on your desk when soemoen walks into your office, well you get what you deserve.

simply zipping up files is enough to keep the honest people honest.

This deal looks almost too good to be true! Thanks Cynthetiq!

I currently run a virtual machine at the geeky Bytemark which is fantastic as I have complete control to configure and screw up my install. Compared to dreamhost the bandwidth, space and backup features are not good value. I assume that dreamhost don't provide you with root access? Have you found this limiting in any circumstances?

I haven't found any reason for root access for my personal needs. My personal needs are a simple website, vbulletin, phpged, and wordpress.

I recently started a new project at a different host with a VPS as I was instructed I needed root access in order to complete some of the modifications I required.

I really didn't. The php limitations were satisfied by .httaccess. The only thing I could not get past is the resource requirements, since I'm doing ffmpeg conversions the CPU overhead is a bit much during conversoins.

Ironically my VPS company doesn't do backups to my satisfaction so I actually FTP my tarballs to dreamhost. This lead me to find a program SyncBack which allows me to backup to an FTP site and my USB drives with little hassle or overhead.

I am touching copious amounts of wood, but I'm using the same HD that came with this PC in 2001 and it's still going strong.

I wouldn't like to trust others to hold my data, and would prefer just to burn the properly important stuff to a CD, or copy it to a second HD, then risk the rest.

That initially sounded dirty, but I just left the Exhibition forum. Sorry about that
What happens when your office catches fire? Get some stuff off-site. Mozy uses encryption, I'm sure the others do as well. (Also, Mac Mozy just left beta, if that was a reservation for anyone.)

I just started using SyncbackSE and am quite happy with how I set it up.

I setup an initial backup that zips everything and then I upload that to the server.

I don't know how "good" this type of encryption is, but using the simple lock idea for homes, I know that it keeps the honest people honest. Dishonest people will still crack things because that's what they do.

I'll explore this encryption type upload as I get more into the system, but for the most part, it's pictures, mp3s, and simple things. I don't keep sensitive or banking information on my computer at the moment.

You can store 5gigs free with gmail. I use that for files I want to access from multiple places.

It's not online but with the price of hard disks being so cheap, I find ghosting a 500gig drive and saving it somewhere to be a good form of backup. If you had a safe or safety deposit box those would be great places to save them.