Massive Cloud Storage Suggestions?

[JerometheGiraff]

Any suggestions on a Cloud Storage, I'm looking for a cloud storage solution that I can upload 100+ gigs. The only issue I have is, like with most my upload speed would cause 100+ gigs to take an awful long time to upload, how is this compensated ?

 

[profdlp]

100+ gigs is going to cost you. As for the upload, my only answer for that is "patience".

This company got a great review from Maximum PC and this page lists their chief competitors, too:
https://www.sugarsync.com/sync_comparison.html

Pricing:

https://www.sugarsync.com/products/sync_pricing.html

 

[nolakenoforest]

Carbonite backup or Mozy are two good solutions

I am using Carbonite (Online Backup Software | Carbonite right now. Cost is $56/year and offers unlimited backup for one machine. If you have more than one machine, you'll have to check their enterprise offers. Initially, they do the backup in the background so as to not interrupt your work. It could take a week or longer to get it all. Afterthat, they just do incremental saves to get all your changed files. You can restore a file at anytime. You click "Restore" and you can then browse your backed up files as if you were in the Windows Explorer (My Computer). You can restore files to the same machine or any other one, say if you are away from home.

I'm not as familiar with Mozy, (Online Backup, Data Backup & Remote Backup Solutions | Mozy) but I've heard good things about it. Pricing is similar but with 100 gigs I think you will find Carbonite is better.

You could always split up your files, some to Dropbox, some to Microsoft (they will take 25 gig free), Amazon has another 5 gig for ya. Google just announced their cloud storage. Sounds like a hassle to me, but these are all free.

 

[kado897]

It would be quicker and cheaper in the long run to buy an external USB HDD instead.

 

[JerometheGiraff]

It would be quicker and cheaper in the long run to buy an external USB HDD instead.

If that fails or something goes amok it's good to know that your data is safe else where. You are right these options are not the more affordable, I'll may have to settle with less then 100 gigs and put the most important on the cloud.

 

[kado897]

Point taken. It is unlikely for two disks to fail at the same time but fire or flood could do it.

 

[LiquidSnak]

That is why I keep my important files in a HD in my safe. I still don't trust keeping my files on someone else's drive, but my friend uses Mozy home and is happy with it.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Did you mean to say 100 TB's as 100 gig is a cakewalk with any storage solution. But for sure external or internal spinner is one and cloud based though slow to upload is in theory very safe if not totally secure!

 

[JerometheGiraff]

Liquid - How do you keep your drive in a safe, you unplug it and store it away and it's strictly for back ups ?

 

[LiquidSnak]

Yes, I back up my major files once a month, Pictures, music, and all that are backed up, as well as taxes, work information, and more on a 1 TB drive that is in an external enclosure, and I keep that locked in my fire resistant safe.

 

[Ztruker]

I use Carbonite on two of my computers.

Win 7 (Dell 3.4Ghz) is my primary Desktop and I have about 15GB backed up. Initial backup took 3 days.
XP Pro (Dell 933Mhz) is my Web Server and I have about 30GB backed up. Initial backup to about 6 days.

Now they both update regularly and it only takes a few minutes each time. Restore as mentioned is simplke and straight forward to use.

I have 20MB download and 2MB upload with my Brighthouse Cable connection.

 

[Oaken]

If you want to keep costs down for Cloud storage you might consider Wuala. The difference between Wuala and other cloud storage is you can trade space on your own PC and get free access to Wuala's cloud storage (otherwise you can just buy the space you need).

The Wuala Trading FAQ explains how it works in detail.

I've supplemented my paid for cloud storage with 25G from Wuala, which works fine for me as I have plenty of unused space.

Whilst searching for the full feature list for this post, I came across an article with promo codes to add +13G of free storage to Wuala (I've added them and they worked fine at this time). The article mentions 'Pro' features which is outdated as Wuala now includes these for all accounts.

Article

Features include;

Security & Privacy

Backup & Versioning

Sync

Store & Access

Share

Collaborate

Trade (up to 100G I think) or Buy

The time it takes to upload the initial backups will depend on your connection speed. If it's good set the bandwidth limits to high and leave to run overnight. Once the initial backup is completed drop these settings down to about 15-20% of the max, and the rest will take care of itself.

 

[JerometheGiraff]

Oaken - Interesting concept. I don't know if I'll go that route but I'll think about it

 

[mickey megabyte]

i'm sure i've read somewhere recently about an online backup company who send you a harddrive through the mail or fedex (or whatever). you fill it up, send it back to them, and they make the files available to you online.

been looking through my browser history and googling, but can't find the name of the company. sorry.

 

[LiquidSnak]

you can trade space on your own PC and get free access to Wuala's cloud storage (otherwise you can just buy the space you need).

The Wuala Trading FAQ explains how it works in detail.

It's really not my bag to have part of my information lost because joe schmoe's hard drive went bad.

 

[Oaken]

you can trade space on your own PC and get free access to Wuala's cloud storage (otherwise you can just buy the space you need).

The Wuala Trading FAQ explains how it works in detail.

It's really not my bag to have part of my information lost because joe schmoe's hard drive went bad.

Wuala is not for everybody necessarily. Wuala users can opt to contribute idle resources that Wuala then uses to reduce costs for bandwidth, electrical power, etc.

"A complete backup of your encrypted files is always kept on our servers, so that it can always be accessed and restored. The Wuala cloud serves as an optimization that allows us to operate a large-scale infrastructure at low cost and to provide you with better performance."

As far as I know, there is no perfect cloud storage solution as yet. Yet having used a number of solutions over time, Wuala is the only one so far for which I have not seen any major security alerts- unlike recent articles for Dropbox (I also have Dropbox premium account). As far as my redundant data backup portion is concerned I've been very happy with Wuala thus far...

 

[gazz9496]

100gb is alot to leave on a cloud, especially since cloud solutions haven't really been put through there paces yet.

granted i'm a skeptic regarding anything online but i'd be really damn picky leaving anything on a cloud storage solution.

here's a list of what i can only presume are good services
Directory of Services « Cloud Storage: Keep it in the Cloud

you could try looking through those and see if any of them fit your needs.

 

[JerometheGiraff]

gazz - thanks for the link

 

[Frank1]

I agree with those who say it's best to get a good external HD and put everything there. I still don't like the idea of Cloud Computing. I like to have my stuff on my device in my home.

 

[mickey megabyte]

i suppose it's better to have a backup at home and online too - in case your house gets flooded, burned down, burgled etc etc...

it all depends how important the data is to you, and how much of it you have.