Making sure your data is safe should be a priority for everyone watching. This latest breed of services handles all your data and sticks it securely, encrypted, online - with the minimum of hassle. In this episode, I’m looking at:
Al of these services have different good and bad points - watch the show for my take.
Cheers!
-Wil
I just wrote an article about these programs, along with Carbonite as well as Xdrive.
I’m currently using Xdrive to back up my crucial data, since it offers the first 5gigs of storage for free.
read the whole article here:
http://raad.wordpress.com/2008/02/13/xdrive-free-and-easy-automated-online-backup/
For all online backup and storage related info, I recommend this website:
X Drive is also great as you are not restricted to the size of the file upload. It’s a great way for me to send video files of my daughter to my sister 
Great info. I’ve been toying with the idea of getting into one of these services myself. Thanks for the rundown.
Incidentally, I love your wallpaper, Wil. Where did you get it?
Hey Wil, I’m with Timbo - who is that cute anime girl on the computer desktop in this episode? Where can I get it?
Sadly I know that Anime character - she is from Neon Genesis Evangelion “Rei Ayanami” - do a google search for Evangelion images and you will find the original.
I discovered a Memopal (www.memopal.com) “cutting edge solution for online
backup”
They merged online backup, online storage and file sharing services into one product.
You for get dropbox!!!! It is in private beta but if you want an invite, I can spare
http://www.gabejacobsblog.com/dropbox-online-storage-at-its-best-invite-giveaway
hmm, since this seems to have come alive again, I guess I’ll comment. What worries me about these services is not so much privacy, but reliability. I had a major data loss issue a few years ago and after a fraught night managed to recover most of it from my HDs and have subsequently become a bit more careful.
Do any of these services guarantee how and where your data is stored? Is it mirrored at multiple sites etc etc
15 cents a gig and the other prices quoted are insanely cheap - I realise we’re dealing with things on a rather large scale here, but I do wonder about the resilience of the storage being used by these guys for that sort of price. There’s also the issue of accessing it - do they limit you on the amount you can transfer etc etc? Even more worrying is the download cap and traffic shaping that a lot of IPS are implementing. Unless you’re on unlimited broadband then you’re going to get stuffed when you’re restoring anything and if your ISP shapes this traffic then I’m thinking it’ll take hours and hours to do anything.
Honestly, it’s a nice idea, but I worry about the practical issues involved. Investing in a second hard drive and having it RAIDed or in an external case is certainly pricier, but it seems like the better solution to me.
Online backups are fine - but with UK upload speeds being slower than a snail on benzos I’ll stick to my USB drives