A Personal Blog
Online Backups
I’m doing a piece for InformIT on online backup solutions. I already have a fair number of ‘standard’ online backup solutions, including:
Xdrive: http://www.xdrive.com/
Omnidrive: http://www.omnidrive.com/
Allmydata: http://www.allmydata.com/
Box.net: http://www.box.net/
Streamload: http://www.streamload.com/
Connected: http://www.connected.com/
Carbonite: http://www.carbonite.com/
Each of these is good for different reasons. However, I also wanted to take a look at highly specialized online backup solutions. For example, I use Gmail to backup all my email (the server forwards all mail there whenever it receives it). This is great when I’m on the go and need to find mail. I, literally, use it 3-5 times a day.
Likewise, I use Flickr to backup photos. Sure, I use it to show it to friends and such, but mainly it’s so that I never lose them.
What other highly specialized solutions out there are there that folk use? Plaxo / LinkedIn for contacts? What else?
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| Print article | This entry was posted by Jeremy Wright on March 13, 2006 at 1:27 pm, and is filed under General, IT Thoughts. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |
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about 5 years ago
Not exactly a backup application, but foldershare (www.foldershare.com) has become one of the most important applications in my computing universe. The ability to seamlessly move files from my work computer, to my Tablet Pc, to my home computer has really enhanced my computing experience. Plus, I can google all of them from one location to find files.
It’s my understanding that IOmega makes a standalone hard drive that comes with foldershare. I’d love to add that on my system as well….
about 5 years ago
lots of people use delicious for bookmarks….
about 5 years ago
Might I recommend Mozy (http://mozy.com/)? I’ve been using it for quite a while to regularly backup the my documents folder and my purchased itunes music with very good results.. I’m pretty sure it’s still in beta, but it seems pretty stable to me.
about 5 years ago
Jeremy,
You might want to add Strongspace to your list.
about 5 years ago
This won’t help anybody today, but for distant future reference, I’ve written a short proposal for something I call a Distributed Virtual Personal Computer (DVPC) which has as one of its goals the complete elimination of the concepts of backup (and restore), including support for “smart” or continuus versioning.
If anybody knows anybody who would be interested in pursuing my proposal, let them know about it. The proposal is in the public domain. My only interest in it is that some day I’ll be able to buy a PC with the DVPC capabilities pre-installed, right out of the box.
See: http://basetechnology.com/dvpc.htm
or Google “Distributed Virtual Personal Computer”
– Jack Krupansky
about 5 years ago
Dude, I *live* online. I have absolutely zero local data other than the odd spreadsheet that I carry around on a USB stick (well, actually it’s a 2.2GB mini-disk, but you get the idea).
The “killer app” for me is Runbox (www.runbox.com). Primarily it’s the IMAP email that I love. I can bring the power of a local client to bear to do things that can’t be done in webmail (like signing messages and encryption), but also have a full backup of my email on the IMAP server. For $50/year I get 10GB of mail space and (I didn’t think I’d use this, but I do) 1GB of file space. The file space sounds cheesy, but there’s a little drop down box of all your files in the webmail compose window that allows me to quickly attach files to my emails. I’ve put all my files that I regularly send to people (bio’s, headshots, etc) in my file area and it’s made life a lot easier. I also get a ‘save to file area’ button on any incoming email that has a file attached to it.
Lastly, I can get at my Runbox email from any interface you can think of. IMAP, POP, WAP, PDA, whatever…
Seriously. Ass-kicking.
about 5 years ago
For any tech-know-nots like me out there, if you have a Yahoo account (for mail, groups, etc) the “My Yahoo” has a “Briefcase” which offers free online storage for documents, music and photos.
They recently changed the rules on deleting inactive accounts though, it is now four months. If you have a Yahoo mail account that you don’t use, they will delete any stored information (letters and address books).
I recently read that several of the online photo storage sites are changing the rules regarding how long they will keep your pictures too. Kodak, Snapfish and several others are now requiring a purchase (prints, a coffee cup, etc) be made every few months or they will delete your stored images.
Best wishes to you for a lovely St. Patrick’s day!
about 5 years ago
Remote Backup Systems has an excellent package of online backup software. Their system, unlike the services listed here, is actually a commercial-grade remote backup service provider’s software suite. It includes a server license and any number of clients you desire, and is the actual software used by many of the prominent internet backup services out there today. Check em out at http://remote-backup.com
Cheap? No. The real deal for offering remote backup services to others, or for securing your data on a server you also manage? Yes.