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Online Backup Solutions
Some people have a fear of spiders. Others heights. Up until a few years ago you could be excused for having a fear of losing all your important files. Sure, you can transfer them to a USB drive every so often and hope that drive doesn’t fail, but who has time for that? Well fear not. We live in an age where cloud computing is taking off and although I can’t help with arachnophobia or acrophobia, by using some online backup services, it might take the edge off any file loss related phobia you may have.
For the last year or two I have been using a service called Dropbox to automatically backup files and have them accessible on any computer or mobile device. Overall I’ve found it works perfectly. After installing the software simply drag and drop the file or folder you wish to backup into the special Dropbox folder. And that’s it; Dropbox handles the rest.
Dropbox syncs all files and folders in it's special folder
Whenever you change, add or delete a file in Dropbox the changes (not necessarily the whole file) are automatically sent and updated on the server. I no longer find a need to email myself attachments or put files on USB storage as the Dropbox client can be installed on Windows, OSX, Linux and even a mobile client such as the iPhone.
Security wise Dropbox is very good. They encrypt all data before sending and it’s stored on their server using AES-256 encryption. They also have big men with guns and lasers securing the perimeter of the data server, you know…just in case.
Currently (and for as long as I’ve been using it) Dropbox has been offering 2GB of storage for free. They also offer larger allowances for a fee per month.
So what alternatives are out there? I think the main contender is Apple’s iDisk. As part of their MobileMe suite of cloud computing software iDisk allows for up to 20GB of online disk storage and a nice browser interface to access the files remotely. Like Dropbox there is an app for iPhones and iPads to allow mobile users access these files as well as desktop integration. At the time of writing Apple are charging $99 a year for the MobileMe service.
The other which I have been testing out for a client is DriveHQ. What I like about this one is you can select individual files and folders to backup without moving or copying them to a designated folder. You can also specify your own passkey to further encrypt your files when they are backed up online. Unfortunately the desktop software is Windows only, however there is a web interface to access the files from a web browser. DriveHQ has a free account with 1GB of storage, or plans with pay per month or year if more storage is required.
All three previously mentioned solutions provide a way to share or make public some or all of your files. This can be helpful if you need a group of people working on the same files.
Cloud computing has become increasingly popular over the last couple of years and now more services, like Office 2010, are integrating these features to provide users with a secure and easy way to store and share documents and files.
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awesome, I’m going to try this!
Mum says: great site!
i didn’t think she was in my target audience. i was wrong!
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