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I'm sure that we all have digital files which are important to us. They may be wedding photographs, scans of important paperwork, video footage, or, as in my case, music files which could never be replaced.
Back up is critical. In the last 18 months, I have had two hard drives crash completely without the slightest warning. One minute they're working perfectly, the next, they're useless. However, I suffered no file loss, because every file I have is backed up at least four times.
Even that is not enough. What if you came home one day to find that your home had been entirely gutted by fire, or that burglars had cleaned out everything, including the carpets (that's hairy lino, for those who live in Yorkshire)? It wouldn't matter how many back-ups you had, because you'd have exactly that number minus itself left.
It is vital to have off-site back up as well. If you have friends or family members, it makes sense to store a copy of each other's back up drives as insurance against the above disaster scenarios. What, though, are those of us who are all alone in the world supposed to do?
I've found a partial answer. It isn't enough to store over 1TB of files, which is what would be needed to save my entire music collection, but it is at least enough to safeguard the most important files. If you take advantage of the free packages offered by cloud providers, you can reach at least 180GB of free online storage. Here, I have only included the services which I personally use. There are others, so you could go higher than 200GB if you needed to.
Amazon Cloud – 5GB Free Storage
This is the obvious one to start with, as most people will probably already have it. If you have an Amazon account, and I strongly suggest that you do as my experience tells me that they are unparalleled for customer service, then you will already have 5GB of storage. Just log in and start using it.
Box.com – 10GB Free Storage
This one has a better interface than Amazon, and twice as much storage space. The one negative feature is that there is a file size limit of 250MB, which will completely thwart video enthusiasts. If you have smaller files, you can create zip files which are just under 250MB and upload those. That is what I have done.
Copy.com – 15GB Free Storage
This is the best service, all round. It has the best interface, there are no file size limits, and the uploads seem to be faster than most. You get 15GB with this one, and there are no downsides that I know of.
Mega.co.nz – 50GB Free Storage
This one is potentially even better than Copy, if they can iron out a few bugs. You get a massive 50GB, there are no restrictions or requirements, and no file size limits. Upload speeds are roughly the same as Copy, based on my tests. The only negative is such an obsession with security that they don't retain passwords. If the user loses their password, the files are lost. What is worse, some people have tried to log in with their correct password and not gained access. If that happens there is nothing which can be done to retrieve the files. Mega need to address this and do something about it, because it is ruining what is otherwise an excellent service. I've not had any problems personally with gaining access.
Solidfiles.com – 50GB Free Storage
This one is based in Sweden, and also gives you a massive 50GB. There is a file size limit of 500MB, which will infuriate video enthusiasts but should be manageable for anyone else. The one requirement is that you need to log in every 90 days to prevent the files from being deleted, as they don't want dormant user accounts wasting space. If you have files which you update regularly, like your photography collection, it would be a good idea to store those in Solidfiles so you automatically keep resetting the clock. That is what I do.
ADrive.com – 50GB Free Storage
This one has been around a lot longer than the others. ADrive do try very hard to get you to upgrade to a paid plan, so the free service is basic. Basic is good enough! You also need to agree to banner advertising and marketing emails. Extraordinarily enough, I've never actually received one yet. There is a maximum file size, but it is 2GB so it is only likely to affect video enthusiasts.
Firedrive.com – 20GB Free Storage
I've scarcely used this one yet, but I've included it to take the available storage up to 200GB. There is no mention of a file size limit in the Terms of Service, but with 20GB you'd be limited with absolutely massive files anyway.
*** UPDATE 7th October 2014 - it appears as though Firedrive is no longer operational. In its place, I now recommend -
Hubic.com - 25GB Free Storage
This one looks really good. It is affiliated with a French hosting company, and the upload speeds and interface are working well so far. That means it is now 205GB of free storage! ***
There you are. A free solution which will give you some degree of insurance against a life disaster wiping out your files completely. I've not provided links, as they're all easy enough to find.
These are just the services I use, so I know they work. There are others, although not all are what they appear to be. Some have offered generous free packages, and then when everyone has their files uploaded, they've pulled a bait and switch and said the files will be deleted unless the user joins a paid plan. I don't believe the ones I've listed here will pull that stunt, as most of them are long established. If anyone has any other recommendations, please feel free to post them below.
SH
Back up is critical. In the last 18 months, I have had two hard drives crash completely without the slightest warning. One minute they're working perfectly, the next, they're useless. However, I suffered no file loss, because every file I have is backed up at least four times.
Even that is not enough. What if you came home one day to find that your home had been entirely gutted by fire, or that burglars had cleaned out everything, including the carpets (that's hairy lino, for those who live in Yorkshire)? It wouldn't matter how many back-ups you had, because you'd have exactly that number minus itself left.
It is vital to have off-site back up as well. If you have friends or family members, it makes sense to store a copy of each other's back up drives as insurance against the above disaster scenarios. What, though, are those of us who are all alone in the world supposed to do?
I've found a partial answer. It isn't enough to store over 1TB of files, which is what would be needed to save my entire music collection, but it is at least enough to safeguard the most important files. If you take advantage of the free packages offered by cloud providers, you can reach at least 180GB of free online storage. Here, I have only included the services which I personally use. There are others, so you could go higher than 200GB if you needed to.
Amazon Cloud – 5GB Free Storage
This is the obvious one to start with, as most people will probably already have it. If you have an Amazon account, and I strongly suggest that you do as my experience tells me that they are unparalleled for customer service, then you will already have 5GB of storage. Just log in and start using it.
Box.com – 10GB Free Storage
This one has a better interface than Amazon, and twice as much storage space. The one negative feature is that there is a file size limit of 250MB, which will completely thwart video enthusiasts. If you have smaller files, you can create zip files which are just under 250MB and upload those. That is what I have done.
Copy.com – 15GB Free Storage
This is the best service, all round. It has the best interface, there are no file size limits, and the uploads seem to be faster than most. You get 15GB with this one, and there are no downsides that I know of.
Mega.co.nz – 50GB Free Storage
This one is potentially even better than Copy, if they can iron out a few bugs. You get a massive 50GB, there are no restrictions or requirements, and no file size limits. Upload speeds are roughly the same as Copy, based on my tests. The only negative is such an obsession with security that they don't retain passwords. If the user loses their password, the files are lost. What is worse, some people have tried to log in with their correct password and not gained access. If that happens there is nothing which can be done to retrieve the files. Mega need to address this and do something about it, because it is ruining what is otherwise an excellent service. I've not had any problems personally with gaining access.
Solidfiles.com – 50GB Free Storage
This one is based in Sweden, and also gives you a massive 50GB. There is a file size limit of 500MB, which will infuriate video enthusiasts but should be manageable for anyone else. The one requirement is that you need to log in every 90 days to prevent the files from being deleted, as they don't want dormant user accounts wasting space. If you have files which you update regularly, like your photography collection, it would be a good idea to store those in Solidfiles so you automatically keep resetting the clock. That is what I do.
ADrive.com – 50GB Free Storage
This one has been around a lot longer than the others. ADrive do try very hard to get you to upgrade to a paid plan, so the free service is basic. Basic is good enough! You also need to agree to banner advertising and marketing emails. Extraordinarily enough, I've never actually received one yet. There is a maximum file size, but it is 2GB so it is only likely to affect video enthusiasts.
Firedrive.com – 20GB Free Storage
I've scarcely used this one yet, but I've included it to take the available storage up to 200GB. There is no mention of a file size limit in the Terms of Service, but with 20GB you'd be limited with absolutely massive files anyway.
*** UPDATE 7th October 2014 - it appears as though Firedrive is no longer operational. In its place, I now recommend -
Hubic.com - 25GB Free Storage
This one looks really good. It is affiliated with a French hosting company, and the upload speeds and interface are working well so far. That means it is now 205GB of free storage! ***
There you are. A free solution which will give you some degree of insurance against a life disaster wiping out your files completely. I've not provided links, as they're all easy enough to find.
These are just the services I use, so I know they work. There are others, although not all are what they appear to be. Some have offered generous free packages, and then when everyone has their files uploaded, they've pulled a bait and switch and said the files will be deleted unless the user joins a paid plan. I don't believe the ones I've listed here will pull that stunt, as most of them are long established. If anyone has any other recommendations, please feel free to post them below.
SH
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