Free online storage space

Skyfire · 18 Dec 2006 at 14:49

Hi,

I need to backup and store 30-50GB online as I am worried my media will be subject to fire or theft or degrade over time. I have seen free services such as BT's digital vault which offers 2GB, and various others up to 20GB. What is the best, the largest and the safest as my data is important? :cool:

Any experiences?

rpstewart · 18 Dec 2006 at 15:21

Personally I wouldn't trust a free online service with vital data. If you're not paying for the service then it's highly unlikely that there will be any SLA or any form of data integrity guarantee. What happens if the service goes bust?

I'd be looking at a decent multi level backup strategy using physical media. I have a copy of everything important on the PC on a RAID5 array, a backup on Taiyo Yuden DVDs at home and a second DVD copy at my parents. All the DVDs have an MD5 or CRC file on them so occasionally I'll swap the local and remote disk sets over and recheck them for readability.

Solaris · 18 Dec 2006 at 15:25

Jus get a cheap external hard-drive and store it safely....or at a different site....

DanMc07 · 18 Dec 2006 at 16:29

Yeah tbh Ide just go with the external hard drive option

zetec452 · 18 Dec 2006 at 16:40

Your going to have many hassles if you do find a provider willing to store 30-50 gig free or at little cost.

Either be prepared to pay minimum £20 per month or buy an external drive.

philjayj · 18 Dec 2006 at 18:59

There's always Mediamax

They offer 25GB for free but with some restrictions, such as only being able to download 1GB of data a month.

Worth a look though.

Solaris · 19 Dec 2006 at 09:59

How long *** it take to do a 20gb upload? Ages..........

Morfik · 19 Dec 2006 at 14:16

I can see the attraction to online services, an external hard disk at home provides no protection from data loss through theft or fire as the chances are both your PC and the external hard disk would be lost from either.

Burnsy2023 · 19 Dec 2006 at 15:04

rpstewart said:
snip

Agreed, if your data is important enough, don't shift the responsibility to a company you don't have an SLA with.

You also have the problem with bandwidth that you don't with a local external media.

Burnsy

Curiosityx · 19 Dec 2006 at 15:31

Depending on how important your data is i would recommend a disaster recovery solution.

Either the data is archived to tape and stored at an off-site DR center or copied to there servers which would be secured against theft, fire and other environmental concerns.

Personally we use NDR in Birmingham

http://www.ndr.co.uk/

Might be a little over the top for your needs though.

Curiosityx · 21 Dec 2006 at 18:23

I have some other sites for you if interested.

www.mozy.com
www.carbonite.com
www.databarracks.com
www.bullguard.com
www.sosonlinebackup.com
www.ibackup.com

Enjoy.