Cloud Storage? What do you use

[BDF8]

I currently have a bunch of home video and pictures that are pretty much priceless to me. Kids first step, kids first word, brother getting his wings, stuff like that. I get scared thinking what if my external hard drive and computer some how get stolen or break or whatever. It got me thinking about internet storage. You guys got any advice?

 

[bigmoose]

Google drive has pretty good pricing. Depends on how much you need. I have 100G for 1.99 month. You can get a full TB for $10/mo which is pretty reasonable.

 

[Fox-4]

I use google drive for my documents and files and Flickr for my photos.

 

[CobraBob]

I would not consider any cloud storage to be 100% loss proof, no matter what claims are made. Cloud storage IMO is more about giving you access to your files from anywhere. If it were me, I'd keep copies of your precious photos in a cloud storage account as well as on a physical backup drive at your home. Or even two backup drives. And also on a portable thumb drive.

 

[Machdup1]

I use Carbonite as an automated backup tool.

 

[BDF8]

I would not consider any cloud storage to be 100% loss proof, no matter what claims are made. Cloud storage IMO is more about giving you access to your files from anywhere. If it were me, I'd keep copies of your precious photos in a cloud storage account as well as on a physical backup drive at your home. Or even two backup drives. And also on a portable thumb drive.

Of course, I would consider the cloud the back up. I haven't heard of carbonate before. I'll have to check it out.

 

[Mustang_02]

I use Dropbox and Google drive with encryption software.

 

[Blackness03]

I'd get hard copies for stuff like that also

 

[BDF8]

I'd get hard copies for stuff like that also

As i stated in the OP I have external hard drives, but would like some redundency

 

[Satyr]

Triple copy all that stuff onto 3 DL blu-ray disks. Put one in safety deposit box, personal safe, and give a copy to a family member to hold. All set.

 

[pho_phizzat]

I have used Microsoft SkyDrive for years. Hasn't failed me yet.

 

[BDF8]

Haven't heard of that one.

 

[jdoyle]

I use Flickr for photos/videos as they give you 1TB free. I use mediafire for docs (mostly owners/user manuals) and everything else. I have about 56GB free storage on there.

Of course, I have local copies of everything I have in the cloud.

 

[pho_phizzat]

Haven't heard of that one.

Besides storage

I mainly use it to send files that are too big to email.

You can setup a folder then send an invite to someones email for them to access that folder.

 

[wht93gted]

CrashPlan.

I backup to my external hard drive & to CrashPlan's cloud; 448bit encrypted, you can backup to other computers, lots of great features.
Trust me, I've been working in the enterprise information management industry for the last 10 years. Google Drive is basically just a mirror, where something like CrashPlan is software where you can schedule backups, full, incremental, deduplication, etc. It's super easy to setup also.

I have the unlimited plan for like $150\year.

 

[BDF8]

CrashPlan.

I backup to my external hard drive & to CrashPlan's cloud; 448bit encrypted, you can backup to other computers, lots of great features.
Trust me, I've been working in the enterprise information management industry for the last 10 years. Google Drive is basically just a mirror, where something like CrashPlan is software where you can schedule backups, full, incremental, deduplication, etc. It's super easy to setup also.

I have the unlimited plan for like $150\year.

I am not very tech savvy. What are the benifets to something like this compared to a "mirror" as you put it like google drive. Thanks for the info man!

 

[wht93gted]

I am not very tech savvy. What are the benifets to something like this compared to a "mirror" as you put it like google drive. Thanks for the info man!

Well, I haven't used Google Drive in a year or two, but basically what you did was create a folder on your computer and designate it as a drive folder. Meaning, everything you put into that folder, would be synched\mirrored\put into your Google Drive cloud account. I think you get about 15GB free, over that, you start paying.

But it relies on you copying the files you want saved into that folder on your local machine. If you delete something from there, it gets deleted from the cloud site too (moved into trash, and deleted after some time). They do offer encryption, but your files are encrypted as they're uploaded, using Google supplied key; meaning, at any time, they could decrypt your information since they posses the key.

With something like CrashPlan, you install the software on your computer. Then you configure which directories\folders to backup. So if you already have a large config, you can just point-click which things get backed up. You can use 448bit encryption, with your own custom key that never leaves the computer, meaning they could never decrypt your data; ever. HOWEVER, you lose that key, the data is gone, there's no way to get it back. It also has deduplication built in, meaning you don't back up the same files more than once. Sometimes you make have the same pic\video in more than 1 place on your computer, it will only get backed up once. You can schedule backups to happen automatically, on content change, etc. To run backups with Google drive, you need 3rd party software like duplicati or something (there's a few).

Example, my home PC, I have a separate HDD which stores all my pics. My CrashPlan is configured for the 'e:\' and thats it. Anytime I offload pics, the Canon utils will put them in 'E:\date' folder, and CrashPlan will just start backing it up. If I turn off my computer before it's done, it just stops. When I turn it back on, it picks up where it left off. I can access those pics from my phone (using app), or other PC. It also backs up to my external HDD at the same time. So I have cloud and local copies.

 

[ViciousJay]

Cloud, HA, I make two back ups onto 2 different HD's.

 

[jshen]

Sensitve Information

It sounds that the information you are packing up is not sensitive but personal and irreplaceable. My data, financial, banking, client info gets backed up on a WD personal Cloud...so NOTHING leaves my office. The computers are backed up and Cloud is sealed in gun safe. I also use hard disc backups, portable hard drives, etc. When I worked as a govt. atty., as a narcotics prosecutor,...I learned how easy it is to get information in the hands of third parties.

 

[SVTContique]

Home server + Backups = amazing.