OT: best option for 'cloud' storage?

[Climb01742]

i'm a mac person (actually a two mac person) and i'm thinking about getting/using an online service to store, back-up, and share files. dropbox seems to be the most well-known service out there. then there's box.net.

my main goals are:

1. back-up files
2. have a simple way to share files between my two macs, and later, share larger files between colleagues

i'd really appreciate any experiences, recommendations, guidance. thanks a lot.

[yngpunk]

For primarily back-up options, there's:

Mozy
Carbonite

I use Mozy and am pretty happy with it. While theoretically, the above services could be used for file sharing, the main purpose is backup.

[rugbysecondrow]

I have thought about this and my issue with long term storage was the viability of the company. I would hate to rely on them just to have them fall out of the market. I will follow this thread closely as I have been relying on a hard rive and a saftey deposit box for my photo/financial back up.

[yngpunk]

I have thought about this and my issue with long term storage was the viability of the company. I would hate to rely on them just to have them fall out of the market. I will follow this thread closely as I have been relying on a hard rive and a saftey deposit box for my photo/financial back up.

I had the same concern, and moved to Mozy from the two hard drive back up system (on connected to the system, one off site and swapping them). Both Mozy and Carbonite have been around for awhile and have received good reviews. I believe Carbonite is bigger (probably due to their advertising). Not sure of the current pricing model, but when I signed up, I paid an annual fee for unlimited back-up storage. Believe Mozy has moved to a pay for space model, but haven't looked in awhile.

Up to you, but probably also best to separate your file sharing and back-up services. Best to have your back-up more secure than than your file sharing, lest you accidentally give access to your personal/financial info through your file sharing system.

[crownjewelwl]

I had the same concern, and moved to Mozy from the two hard drive back up system (on connected to the system, one off site and swapping them). Both Mozy and Carbonite have been around for awhile and have received good reviews. I believe Carbonite is bigger (probably due to their advertising). Not sure of the current pricing model, but when I signed up, I paid an annual fee for unlimited back-up storage. Believe Mozy has moved to a pay for space model, but haven't looked in awhile.

Up to you, but probably also best to separate your file sharing and back-up services. B.est to have your back-up more secure than than your file sharing, lest you accidentally give access to your personal/financial info through your file sharing system.

Mozy uses emc which is one of the largest enterprise storage companies. That's what I would use.

[crupshaw]

I use drop box to share files/back up the important stuff. You get 2gb free when you sign up, and through referrals and stuff can get that up to 6 or something. I'm in grad school and have a MacBook and a pc at home, so it's great to just set file paths to save to the drop box and have them on whatever computer I'm on. For full-on backing up, there are probably better options, but its good for sharing files between computers and/or with other people (you can share folders).

[wallymann]

2GB storage for free with cross-platform compatibility (win, mac, linux, and mobile devices), as mentioned already perfect for file-sharing and multi-point access. also a handy Public folder option for easy web-sharing for images and misc files.

[texbike]

Check out Crashplan. They have a multi-target offering that allows you to back up to the cloud and another target (such as another PC) in one pop. It supports multiple OSs including Apple.

Texbike

[thegunner]

I have thought about this and my issue with long term storage was the viability of the company. I would hate to rely on them just to have them fall out of the market. I will follow this thread closely as I have been relying on a hard rive and a saftey deposit box for my photo/financial back up.

http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/24/google-drive-is-coming/

problem solved!

[phcollard]

What about Amazon S3? Anybody tried it? Looks expensive though...

[noel]

Dropbox

[Derailer]

Dropbox

Dropbox is fantastic for sharing files between two Macs. Indeed, I think it's the best available platform on the market. For back-up, however, I'd use something with a cheaper dataplan. Both Microsoft and Amazon have cloud storage services that may be cheaper than Dropbox for large file storage.

But yeah, Dropbox + Sparrow e-mail client on a Mac = good, good times.

[rhump]

I use DropBox as well. Works with two phones, two laptops, and an IPad. Plus, files are also available via the web.

[merlinmurph]

Mozy uses emc which is one of the largest enterprise storage companies. That's what I would use.

Actually, EMC owns Mozy.

Two totally different services - remote backup and file sharing - which would best be served by two different solutions.

Dropbox seems to be a favorite file sharing service. I have several geek friends who swear they couldn't live without it. I use it a bit and really like it. It's very simple and files can be shared easily between your collection of PC's, Macs, mobile devices, etc. as well as with other people.

Backup is different. Carbonite offers a flat price for unlimited amount of storage - that's pretty good. Plus, for you Climb, it's a local company. Technically, I guess Mozy is semi-local since EMC is local, too, although the Mozy guys are elsewhere. Mozy has tiered pricing depending on how much storage you want to backup.

My 2 cents,
Murph

[ORMojo]

DropBox probably has the best usability right now. That, combined with the 2GB free to start (mine has increased to 6GB free via incentives), the broad range of platforms I can use it on (not just through a browser, but as an actual application), and features such as undelete make it the service I use the most for file sharing among devices and people.

Microsoft SkyDrive offers 25GB of free storage as long as you have a (free) Microsoft Live account/email. The huge space is a big plus, but the service/usability is limited. You can’t map a local computer drive letter to your SkyDrive folder(s), there is no automatic synchronization of files across all of the devices you use (DropBox accomplishes both of these). I use SkyDrive when I am at a remote location and need to store large amounts of photos, etc. until I get home and can download them. The 25GB is very useful for that.

The one to watch is Google Docs, apparently soon to be re-labeled as the long-rumored Google Drive. Only 1GB of free storage, but only $0.25/GB/year for additional storage, so only $6/year to equal SkyDrive’s 25GB. The limited free storage, and lack of usability/features compared to DropBox make Google Docs a second-tier choice right now, but the hinted features of the upcoming Google Drive could change that evaluation. Also, if you want to use Google Docs now, I suggest you look into SyncDocs (http://www.syncdocs.com/).

As has already been said, none of these is a true archive/backup tool. That is a completely different set of features/security/storage space requirements, at least for me. I use Iron Mountain.

[slowandsteady]

...I use Mozy and am pretty happy with it. While theoretically, the above services could be used for file sharing, the main purpose is backup.

I am going on MOZY for 4 years now. So far flawless back up to the cloud. Could be used for file sharing but i use it 99.9% for backup peace of mind.

Dropbox for file sharing.

[hankchong]

Any opinions on Pogoplug?

https://pogoplug.com/

It's a device that enables access to a collection of home USB drives via the home network, and externally--sort of a personal cloud. Judging from their website, they're also adding a more conventional cloud storage component too.

[93legendti]

Thanks for starting this thread-I just downloaded dropbox.

[DRZRM]

I have Iron Mountain at work, which seems to do ao good job of general backup, and a Time Machine at home for faster access to files if I have a problem (Iron Mountain is horribly slow to recover from, but if the whole house including computer and Time Machine should go, I'm glad to had the second layer of protection) then I use Drop Box to file share, I usually lecture from an iPad these days. Looks like there is a new Mac cloud system on offer, but I don't know much about it yet.