Attached Link: http://www.freecloudstorageproviders.net/

Anyone else dealing with making this choice for backups and sharing between their devices?

Not a prayer.  Even if I had the devices in question, I wouldn't trust my stuff to the cloud any more than I'd trust the banks with my money. Erm, oh wait...

Anyhow, the major flaw is, if the net - or your bit of it - falls over for any reason, bang goes your access to your stuff.  At least with backups on hand, you don't have to rely on someone else.  Given that companies, governments and so called responsible parties have shown time and again they're completely incompetent at

1 - Data security

2 - Data retention 

It'll be a cold day in hell before I put my faith in a cloud storage company. 

Dang. I disconnected my cell for lack of use..Use my land line only. If I'm not home leave a message..Like the old days..

Quote - Not a prayer.  Even if I had the devices in question, I wouldn't trust my stuff to the cloud any more than I'd trust the banks with my money. Erm, oh wait...

... It'll be a cold day in hell before I put my faith in a cloud storage company. 

This.

Laurie

I agree with Sam on this too. Remember if you want a job done right, do it yourself.

Oh I have no intention of relying on the cloud for my backups, but it does appear handy for sharing my media with myself. The bottleneck is in the upload speeds though. I have a LOT of music! Not to even mention, my Tablet and Smart phone won't even HOLD all of my eBooks, Music & pictures, so having access to them via the cloud looks better than trying to swap memory sticks and flash drives constantly.....

ADrive is 50GB free, but no syncing and you have to use the stupid web browser - it doesn't mount as a file system.

Losing your data on one of these is a possibility if they were to disappear. Losing your data on two of them simultaneously? You're more likely to spontaneously transport into your septic tank. If you're worried about waking up in your septic tank, then I suppose cloud provider evaporation is a concern - otherwise not.

As for the security problem, I am being paid to solve that and I hope you all continue to be utterly and completely paranoid. It's awesome how you create an income for me.

Not having any of said devices more advanced than a cordless phone that won't reach the corner of my lot, cloud can exist or not and I'll never know the diffrence.  Storage of data, photo, etcetera are easily accomplished with CD's and DVD's, far more secure and probably less prone to being lost or stolen.

I go a little further than vitachick though, if I'm not home, call back, don't leave voice mail.  I don't have any.  If the phone's busy, it probably means I took it off the hook and I'll put it back tomorrow.  Maybe.

BB, are you part of a conspiracy to convince me I cannot survive another day without thousands of dollars of devices I don't need, at much increased communication fees with the goal of providing you and your fellows with a living?

D.

Get a cheap PC and run your own "cloud." I'm sure that Joni Mitchell would approve :-)

So basically, the answer from all of you is, no, we don't have those devices. Meh...I'm not really worried about the whole backup issue, though I did ask. I'm going to be killing my bandwidth cap uploading my music, audio & eBooks and photos to share with my portable devices though.....oh well, move along, this isn't the thread you were looking for.....peaceout Obi Wan Cloudobie....

 According to the Mayan calendar, the “Cloud” will no longer exist after Dec 21, 2012.  

And don't forget if you backup the wife, to feed the backup occasaionally :)

Extreme longshot, but somebody might let you ship them a portable HD with your stuff on it and load it up for you  - for a price. Then you'd only have to update it with new stuff. I still say set up a webserver at home and maybe access it via a VPN. Your ISP might charge you extra, but the Count Cloudy isn't going to be free either.

Even if I had said devices, I can't imagine feeling the need to be able to access all that stuff from anywhere, anytime but I don't get most of the digital lifestyle. Wake me when there's a way to hook my VCR to the cloud :-)

Quote - As for the security problem, I am being paid to solve that and I hope you all continue to be utterly and completely paranoid. It's awesome how you create an income for me.

The eye of big bother is everywhere.  (I'm in the middle of reading 1984.)

That said, there's no perfect security.  Every time a security professional closes an exploit, some hacker finds or creates a new hole.  Plus the biggest risks are the people in the system.  That means the person storing the data is the biggest risk, as the best security system in the world can't protect him if his side is compromised, and people in the company who can gain access to the info.

The best thing you can do is pick the risks that are the best fit for you and what you can live with.  I have verizon and I don't trust my internet access 100% of the time, so the cloud would be worse for me than having a protable backup drive or two.  n the other hand, steam is pretty cool and I think you can redownload your games if something happens to your PC that way.

"People in the system..."  

That was entirely my point, Winter.  With all the security in the world, a huge amount of so called secure data is compromised by some numpty leaving their workstation unlocked, leaving a laptop/drive/memory stick/disc on the train or having their car - with the aforesaid devices in - stolen or broken into.

Paranoid?  Nope.  Practical?  Yep.  Everything I absolutely need on a daily basis (and that doesn't include a phone) can fit into my pockets, without needing to access any cloud.  Exceptions include my guitars but I don't take them with me everywhere I go.

Other than clothes, my glasses, cash, keys and cigarettes are my absolute necessities. Anything else I can go without.

Ah backup music files???  Elvis Presley I assume is included??

I have a great many photographs that I am unwilling to lose.  Even backing up offsite isn't sufficient for me because I know more than one photographer who diligently backed everything up at home, at the office, safety deposit box, and still lost everything in an earthquake. 

The cloud, when it involves redundant servers, seems a fine solution for me.  I'm just not particularly worried about the security implications of my PNGs and PSDs being accessed.

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Quote - As for the security problem, I am being paid to solve that and I hope you all continue to be utterly and completely paranoid. It's awesome how you create an income for me.

Friends should help friends :p

I think that the cloud is a crock myself.  The problem that none of the cloud providers can address is the crappy ISP service in the US.  Where I live, the best I can get is 1.3Mb/sec @ 49.95 a month.  When it stays up.  If it rains, I lose connectivity.  High winds, same issue.  The local Time Warner has no intention of re running the cable wires underground where they belong..

Quote - > Quote - As for the security problem, I am being paid to solve that and I hope you all continue to be utterly and completely paranoid. It's awesome how you create an income for me.

 

Friends should help friends :p

I think that the cloud is a crock myself.  The problem that none of the cloud providers can address is the crappy ISP service in the US.  Where I live, the best I can get is 1.3Mb/sec @ 49.95 a month.  When it stays up.  If it rains, I lose connectivity.  High winds, same issue.  The local Time Warner has no intention of re running the cable wires underground where they belong..

Luckily here in Spring Texas, ALL the lines are run underground. The only time I loose connection is when the local transformers blow up. (Which happens more than it should!)

And thanks for the links Wolf!

Quote - Luckily here in Spring Texas, ALL the lines are run underground. The only time I loose connection is when the local transformers blow up. (Which happens more than it should!)

Here in El Paso, the cable lines are all strung above ground.  When you have sustained winds of over 40 mph (which we have a lot of), internet & cable become iffy.

Quote - ADrive is 50GB free, but no syncing and you have to use the stupid web browser - it doesn't mount as a file system.

Losing your data on one of these is a possibility if they were to disappear. Losing your data on two of them simultaneously? You're more likely to spontaneously transport into your septic tank. If you're worried about waking up in your septic tank, then I suppose cloud provider evaporation is a concern - otherwise not.

As for the security problem, I am being paid to solve that and I hope you all continue to be utterly and completely paranoid. It's awesome how you create an income for me.

Anything I put up on a "cloud" is going to be like whatever I put on Facebook: I don't trust Facebook, I don't even trust Google+. It's the Internet.

You all know more about me than I really wanted to share.

BFD.

Quote -  

 According to the Mayan calendar, the “Cloud” will no longer exist after Dec 21, 2012.  

 

 

 

 

Except that said calendar doesn't allow for leap year; it's already 2013 by that Mayan calendar....

Oops. 

yes.. those users that used Megaupload (not the pirates but the legitimate users that used it for their photos, backups and the life) are so happy with the cloud. and Megaupload was just the first. expect all the "cloud" storage services to come under fire one by one....

thats the weakness other than ISP Bandwidth restrictions.....

That's the US gov for you, of course hollywood has a lot of big donors so I'm not surprised megaupload was taken down.  Frankly I'd worry about the federal government more than anything else on the cloud. 

Quote - I have a great many photographs that I am unwilling to lose.  Even backing up offsite isn't sufficient for me because I know more than one photographer who diligently backed everything up at home, at the office, safety deposit box, and still lost everything in an earthquake. 

The cloud, when it involves redundant servers, seems a fine solution for me.  I'm just not particularly worried about the security implications of my PNGs and PSDs being accessed.

Granted.  I'm not worried about the security implications of my files, either.  Except...

The aforesaid numpties forget about security and consequently some merry prankster decides it'd be a hoot to delete a whole bunch of stuff, just because they can.  I think I'd be less than overjoyed then. 

For real backup, I'd want something like ironmountain.com - a true disaster recovery solution - not cheap but...

I think most people wouldn't want their personal data, family photos etc. raided and strewn around the web, even if they don't have 'security' implications. I'd probably encrypt anything I stored offsite just as a matter of course.

Just make sure you don't / can't lose or forget your encryption keys... where do you back those up is the question to ask yourself? ;-)

Covering yourself from multiple angles is best... try to mitigate against "Sod's Law" the best you can, when it comes to trying to cover yourself against data loss.