Apr 10
Free Online Storage Roundup
posted by: Connor WilsonThere are many services today that allow you to upload your files and share them anywhere. Ranging from backing up your PC with a download-able application, or simple online user interface, all these sites can do you some good. All of these sites offer free storage of at least 1GB, but there are usually paid options for better features.
- Mozy - An online backup system for your PC that safely and automatically backs up your files online. For the free version, it goes up to 2GB, but you can pay $4.95/mo to get unlimited storage. Mozy isn’t the best way to store your files online to share with your friends, or to post around the internet, but if you want online backups, then you want Mozy.
- Box.net - A friendly looking storage system that is more geared towards sharing. It’s mainly a paid service, but you can try them out with 1GB space for free. Upon paying $7.95/mo you get 5GB of space. Box.net has some cool features, like setting up sub accounts for other people to view certain files, backups of certain files, or being very easy to share. Very nice interface as well.
- OmniDrive - Store your files online and access them from anywhere at desktop-storage-speeds. The free version offers 1GB storage and 5GB bandwidth, but the paid options come out to be much cheaper than the competition. First paid plan is $40/yr for 10GB storage and 20GB bandwidth.The things I liked most about OmniDrive were its cross platform compatibility, and API possibilities. Not only do they have an application for both OSX and Windows, but they have a web version for Linux users or other users who feel like it. The API program also allows extensions and further developments.
- eSnips - A file uploading and sharing community where you can share, drive traffic to your site and join like minded communities. You start off with a nice 5GB storage for free.The thing that bothers me about eSnips is the fact that they have less than 1000 users, and less than 4000 hosted files. What if they were to blow up and become huge? Could they survive the first part of that? This site only appeals to those interested in a community situation as well.
- Xdrive - This site had one of the better first impressions, on a design based judgment. You can conveniently upload, share, backup and access from anywhere your files with Xdrive. The free plan comes with 5GB of storage space. If you want to upgrade, it’s $9.95/mo for 50GB. Xdrive has one of the better looking interfaces, so it’s safe to say that AOL (parent company) knows how to hire a designer. As far as features, its very similar, but what sets it apart is its Pro Package, where you get 50GB for $99.50/yr or $9.95/mo.
There is not a lot of diversity in this field, but here are some conclusions.
- Online Backups: Definitely go with Mozy.
- Free File Storage/Share: Try Box.net first.
- Upgraded: Go with Xdrive for best value.
April 11th, 2007 at 8:53 am
I did a post o n storing 100 GB online a little shile ago. Check it out:
http://www.myuninstalledlife.com/store-100gb-online-in-q4-2006
April 12th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
It’s always a pleasure for me to say a few good words about DriveHQ’s online storage and backup services. If the author had ever tried http://www.drivehq.com/ this article will be very different as the all verdict will go to DriveHQ.com. Indeed, not only it has the best features in every category, it is affordable and it has the best usability.
Moreover, it now has added a lot of highest-end service for corporate/business users now. So visit http://www.drivehq.com click and view the flash demos, better than reading my comments here!
April 13th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Nice plug there, but DriveHQ definitely stands out. In fact, I would say it appears less useuful than some of the other products. Just because you have a good experience with one doesn’t mean it’s the best.
April 16th, 2007 at 9:20 am
For those of you who use these online storage sites to share files with friends, consider a better (and free) alternative: http://www.gigatribe.com
GigaTribe software lets your friends download huge files (and even entire folders) straight off of your harddrive thereby eliminating the need to upload to a server (or worse, burning and mailing DVDs!).
May 28th, 2007 at 9:03 am
I’ve always had issues with Mozy application. I’m on the road more than every so I really need to take another look at these online backup solutions.
June 1st, 2007 at 6:08 am
I use a client from http://www.diino.com, its really good. it has a 2048 bit encryption and an easy drag-and-drop feature. has anyone of you heard about it?
June 17th, 2007 at 4:32 am
Yes I’ve heard about it but I thought the price was unreasonable high - when you comes up to 100 GB anyway.
June 21st, 2007 at 6:36 am
I’ve been using an online desktop called Desktop On Demand for the last few months and the people who made that have just announced their own new online backup service at ewedrive.com
Not really useful for my purpose but looks really easy to use (though no sure how it compares in terms of cost with the others mentioned here)
June 27th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Mosy is not a online storage service. It’s an online backup service. You can’t just upload files to it. The application only does backups.
And AOL may know desingers but their interface hits lots of errors in IE6.
June 28th, 2007 at 8:57 am
I’m not sure what the difference is between an online backup service and an online storage service - perhaps someone might care to explain?
December 1st, 2008 at 12:26 am
Distiction:
Online Backup = versioned snapshots of your data as it sits on your drive
Online Storage = keeping stuff online, even if it’s not on your drive anymore
Online backup companies are able to offer “unlimited” storage, as they’re banking that you’re not going to have a petabyte of data attached to your home desktop computer. I’m sure there’s fine print somewhere to that effect. Personally, I have a 2TB NAS in RAID 5 and a 1.5TB drive in my desktop, which for personal use is a bit excessive. If I were to sign up with Mozy (which I won’t, ’cause I’m on Ubuntu and don’t feel like living life on the unsupported side of a backup solution - but if I WERE) I’d be able to keep an ongoing backup of my stuff, doing a full backup of everything once a month and only sending deltas (only the data that changes) once a week for the NAS, and Daily for the standalone drive. If some schmoe were to break into my pad & steal my stuff, or fire, lightning, flood, or general apocalypse were to occur, whatever I had at the time will still exist in the cloud.
Usually these online backup companies align themselves to companies that are able to resell as-needed storage, like google or amazon, so they don’t have to worry too much about scale, as long as the bills are paid.
Online storage is like a hosting plan without the website - you could probably do the same thing, but that’s not it’s purpose, and it’s cost will be commensurate with the option to keep more data in the cloud than you have a local copy of, which means you’re also more likely to access it than you would with backups.
Does that help?
December 9th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Can anyone comment on DropBox? It has a Linux client that seems to work great under Ubuntu 8.10, versioning, a photo gallery feature, backend is Amazon S3 I believe. The user is responsible for getting files to be backed up into a local \DropBox folder, but then DropBox takes it from there and mirrors the contents of that folder to each host (there can be multiple). I’ve used it for a couple of weeks now but any veterans of the service care to chime in?
December 12th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Hi, I use http://www.adrive.com they are offering 50GB free online backup! Try it today.
December 27th, 2008 at 1:04 am
There’s quite a few storage sites available now. I would see a complete list of free online storage sites and compare features and options before I chose a service. http://www.freeonlinestoragesites.com posts a good review of the top sites.