There’s certainly no shortage of online cloud storage services out there. Some are better than others. Some are more expensive than others. Some use encryption protocols, and some are unclear about it. Some cloud services provide more free storage space, allow sharing and so on…
What we want to know is – Which Cloud Storage Service Do You Use? We have a few of the more popular services on our poll list, but we certainly can’t list them all. If yours isn’t on the list, select Other and tell us which one it is in the comments. Let us know which one you use and why. While we’re talking about Cloud Storage, check out some of our articles on popular cloud storage services and backup strategies.
Crashplan – A Quality Online Backup Solution SugarSync vs Dropbox: The Alternative You Never Asked ForCreate a Solid Backup Strategy in OS XMap Box.net 50GB Account as a Network FolderDropbox vs Box.netMount Windows SkyDrive to a Drive Letter in Windows ExplorerGetting Started with Windows Live MeshWindows SkyDrive for Apple iOS
I also use Dropbox for sharing and SugarSync — in fact we use SugarSync a lot here at GP. It’s not as intuitive as Dropbox, but does a spectacular job. I play with SkyDrive, but don’t use it as a main backup solution. SpiderOak sounds really promising and I will have a full review on it next week! Crashplan – Full home PC and all my music and photos and documents Dropbox – Basic file sharing and sync between all my boxes Sugarsync – Just started using Sugarsync more and more being that I have a few hundred gigs of free space with them and it HONESTLY is more powerful and useful than Dropbox. Google Docs – I wouldn’t really say this is Cloud Storage but… it is and I use it of course for all kinds of stuff. https://www.groovypost.com/howto/google-download-all-personal-data-from-services/ Then for backup, Crashplan seems to be a good way to go and I’m thinking of doing that. But I think iCloud SHOULD offer some kind of Mac backup — https://www.groovypost.com/commentary/icloud-backup-osx/ Yeah — I’m a sucker for Crashplan. Brian swears by Carbonite…. but my guess is they are both very similar. Whatever works! My main home backup and file service is via Window Home Server 2011, but that still leaves me vulnerable to theft of equipment, fire, etc. So, I’ve been dabbling with Dropbox, SugarSynce, Google Docs and Skydrive. Here is my take on each. Dropbox seems to be the community standard for sharing, so I’m on board. Easiest and most intuitive to use, by far. SugarSync, nice flexible interface, seemless operation, nicely priced additional storage. Josh, I’ll have to check into your concerns about bandwidth and memory use – I’ve not noticed those issues. Google Docs, the leader in terms of low priced additional storage, but I sure wish they had a more standard interface to their file system. I don’t like the clutter it adds to my Docs view. Skydrive, well engineered solution but a kludge as currently configured. Also, its lack of additional storage makes it a non starter for me. All that expected to change with the Windows 8 rollout, so we shall see. Right now SugarSync has my heart but Google Docs has my pocketbook vote. What are you doing then to protect your overall PC then in the event your house is torched or broken into? The offsite service I use is Carbonite. Have been using it for 2 years now…works great. Then you can access your files from the Carbonite account from any device that has an Internet connection. So, not only is it for backup, but also comes in handy for accessing files when I need them. Well, of course I can remote into WHS 2011 too…but you get the idea. AND as a even further step, I backup the most important files on my Home Server to an external 3TB drive that I swap out with another 3 TB drive and I sneakernet them between my parents house and mine and swap them out every couple months. So, no matter what, I will ALWAYS have my data. Man I am a backup freak. But I tell you what, backing up your data is the most important thing you can do. That is if you choose to store your important documents, photos, music..etc digitally. So many people take it for granted — but when it happens and your trusty hard drive suddenly fails after 10 years and you have no backups…your out of luck… Crashplan baby! ;) I’ll have to take a look at it. Looks like you get 5GB of free storage and it has personal cloud options also by hosting it on your own machine. Thanks for the FYI — will play with it. I’ll have to take a look at Carbonite. One issue that concerns me about being able to access the files from all devices is how the data is stored there. Do you access the data using just a User and PW? Doesn’t sounds like very good encryption. 10GB free and I just love the drag-and-drop plus the mobile apps. Minus — Big Fan —> Steve The only issue I’ve found with that feature is you need to open holes up on your Firewall to allow Crashplan in to do the backup. Not a big deal however trying to get that setup on the friends PC (for me anyway) was not easy…. :) What I did was buy a 1TB external drive then made a visit to my mothers house and set it all up. Now I’m backing up to her system 60 miles away. Handy solution! Easy to use and generous capacity. I’ve been hearing a lot about SpiderOak and I’ll be the first to admit I know little about the service mainly because the ones I already use work so well. I will dive into SpiderOak a bit and write a few reviews about it. Would love to hear your feedback on them when I do. Thnx
