One of the things I wanted to do with this blog is to highlight cool technology. It is absolutely amazing to live in the 21st century and see what gizmos and whiz-bangs we have available to us, and since I play in this space all day every day, I thought it might be helpful to share some of what I see with you. If you have specific requests or questions, please feel free to drop me a comment about it!
We'll start with online storage. Ever get frustrated by the inability to access your files and documents because you're not sitting at your computer? Lose a bunch of your data because of a computer crash? Want to share your pictures with family but don't know how?
Fret no more, because there are solutions out there, and many of them are even free. I use a couple of free online storage websites, Drop.io and Dropbox.
Drop.io is very fast to set up and really doesn't even require a password. Simply go to the site, click the Create button, and write down the URL. You get 100MB of storage space free and can start uploading files immediately; when you send other people the URL, they can download the files onto their computer in a snap. If you want to set up specific permissions for visitors, customize the look of the drop, or utilize some of their other features, you'll need to create an account, which is easy and still free. You can get more storage space for a monthly fee.
Dropbox is rapidly becoming a major player for online storage and access. A free account here gives you 2GB of storage space, more than enough for pretty much any document collection. It may not be enough for your home videos and family pictures, but $10/month gets you 50GB and $20/month gets you 100GB, and those should cover all but the biggest of collections. The thing I like best about Dropbox is that it syncs automatically to and from your home PC. So, all you have to do is set up your account online, create a Dropbox folder on your PC, then drop files into that folder. Voila! Dropbox automatically uploads the files from that folder on your PC to the online account, and you can then access them from any other computer with Internet access. Sync'ing goes both ways, too, so if you upload something from a friend's computer, you can then download it on your own. You can even sync your Android phone, as well, which is really slick and gives you about as much portability as you can get with your files.
These are the two that I use, but there are others out there, as well. Mozy, Fabrik, and Carbonite all have similar basic functionality and features in terms of backing up your computer for about $50-60 a year. Mozy and Fabrik also give you the first 2GB for free. Another option is your PC's manufacturer. My Dell computer came with an online backup program that is very similar, with 2GB of free storage space just for setting up the account, and I would imagine others have a similar deal, too.
The only question left is whether or not you trust your files to the Internet (the increasingly popular term now is the 'cloud'). This is a legitimate concern, but one that I think is decreasing with each passing year. Technology is getting more and more reliable, and there is a lot more emphasis on having your stuff available all the time, so companies are racing to achieve the ideal scenario for their customers. While a local backup (say, an external hard drive sitting in your desk drawer) is excellent -- and I highly recommend doing that -- it doesn't provide remote access to your files, and it doesn't really help you if your house burns down. Thus, online storage and backup is certainly worthy of your consideration.
One potential downside is that there's no way to know if one of these companies goes belly up until it's too late. From what I've read, they simply shut down the website and that's it. Even if you get a small window of warning, you probably won't be able to pull down much of your data because everyone else is frantically doing the same thing, and there just isn't enough bandwidth to go around. But, I'd say there's a pretty small chance of that, especially with the bigger name companies that are as reliable as it's going to get. And, don't forget that their business is protecting your data so they are highly motivated to do it right. They want you to feel comfortable enough with the free 2GB that you're willing to pay them for a bigger chunk of space, so they're very interested in making you feel secure.
Bottom line: my suggestion is to have a local backup that runs frequently, as well as online storage for access on the go and catastrophic recovery.
If you know of any other good online storage places, or if you've had any particularly good or bad experiences with any of the ones I've mentioned, I'd love to hear about it.
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