Free-Online-Storage
and not quite free!
Why Use an Online Storage Service?
If you’ve ever lost a disk or hard drive, or had your computer crash and important files disappear, you know the benefit of having a backup of your files. Online storage services allow you to backup your files on the Internet where they are safe and easily accessed.
Protect your important files from natural disasters, like fires and floods, from computer threats, like viruses, from theft, being lost or broken and other hazards.
Share your files with friends, family or the world. Online storage services make sharing easy and secure.
Access your files anytime and anywhere. Never get caught without an important file again. With an online storage service, you can access your files from any computer with an Internet connection. Additionally, some services allow you to view and listen to your media within the service.
Online Storage Services: What to Look For
There are many online storage services on the Internet so it’s wise to evaluate your storage needs and the quality of the service before creating an account. Some services offer a free membership so you are able to test drive the service before purchasing an account.
Feature Set
Practical features make uploading, storing, accessing and sharing your files easy. Online storage services should offer remote access, public and private file sharing, scheduled backup and a drag–and–drop window.
Security
Security is most important when storing data. Online storage services should offer encrypted file transfer and password protection. Reputation of the provider is also very important. Even though the various review sites cover this, take that with "a grain of salt!" Remember, most of the review sites are pushing a specific product!
Storage Space/Price
The top online storage services offer a lot of storage space for a reasonable price, free trial accounts and don’t charge setup fees.
Ease of Use
Online storage services should be user–friendly and not require a lot of instruction in order to upload and access files. Anyone should be able to learn the basic functions of the service in minutes.
Help/Support
Good help and support is necessary with any service. Online storage services should provide self–help through FAQs, user manuals and tutorials. They should also provide customer support through email, phone or online chat.
With online storage services, you won't have to worry about constantly using up all the free space on your hard drive anymore. These services take this struggle online and allow you to store your data securely and get more storage space if you need it.
Note: Many of my customers are using Carbonite, which is not free, but very reasonable!
For a bigger list and reviews
Another list and Reviews
On Line Backup has always been something that we want, but can't afford! But there is now available on-line storage that is free! With MozyHome and many others, You can get 2 GB of storage for free, then pay a modest amount for additional storage if you need it!
SkyDrive, you can get 25GB free, but you have to have Windows Live. As many of us use that anyway, maybe not such a big deal.
Google is now entering the game, with 1 GB free. We can watch to see where this goes.
is one of the most popular names I hear customers talk about. I'm currently using My Dropbox ( 2GB free!) Some of my commercial accounts are using Carbonite.
I still use an external hard drive, but I still do that manually (when I remember!). Online storage is fully automatic, so that helps! With pictures, music and data - about 30GB.
This storage is accessible by more than one computer, and is sychronized for automatic backup!
Now, there is the concern for I'm keeping my data in "the cloud", with and others can get to it! So the normal safety rules apply
1. Don't put out anything you don't want others to see ...or...
2. Encrypt it!
i'm using it now for shared data between my laptop and desktop. I plan to start doing major backups with it, because it is automatic, and better than anything else I'm using.
Interesting Article - Why Google is better than Microsoft.. Why would 1 GB be better than 25GB??
Give it a try. If you find anything else better, let me know!
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