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Online File Storage - Backing up Files OnlineWith ever expanding hard drive capacities and ever falling hard disk prices, it is becoming easier and easier to store vast amounts of digital information. When working at your home or office, storing and retrieving data from your laptop or desktop or server hard drive is a no- brainer. Most desktop systems comes with at least 80GB or more of storage space. But what happens when you are traveling or cannot access YOUR computer? Or what if you want to give other people access to your data or files, without giving them access to your computer? One solution is to use an online file storage provider.
Storing Photos and Files OnlineStreamload.com is one site that allows you to store up to 10GB of files on their servers - videos, data, photos, whatever. You can store your MP3 collection here and access it from a friend's house or office. You can store vacation photos and let friends and family browse them. The free file storage option allows up to 10GB total, 10MB max. file size, and 100MB/month of downloads. Upgraded plans range from $5 to $40 per month, allowing more file storage space, download bandwidth, and larger files. Xdrive.com has also been around for quite a while, offering a similar service. You can store files online with them, access them from anywhere, or use them for backing up your important files in case anything happens to your local computer. Security is a selling feature at XDrive: "It's hard to imagine a safer place for a file than Xdrive. Let's say you want to store files from your latest new business pitch -- definitely not for anyone else's eyes. First, we use 128-bit encryption to protect files during transfer. Then store it in architecture that's isolated, multi-tiered and gated. Finally, your data is housed in your own password-protected vault at our World Class, disaster-proof data centers, protected by biometric locks and full-time security professionals."FilesAnywhere.com is another one you can look into - they've been around since 1999 and offer online storage and backup plans ranging from $4 to hundreds of dollars for corporate users. So depending on whether you are storing silly photos of your friends or your business accounting records, your needs will determine what kind of online storage solution is best for you. Not everyone is worried about file encryption and security, but some people are, so choose accordingly. If your goal is just to access files from your PC while away from your PC, you can also look into GotoMyPc. Their software allows you to view and interact with YOUR desktop from any computer, accessing programs, data, files, whatever - just as if you were sitting at your desk. Requires you to keep your computer running and connected to the Internet. Best Internet File Backups - Online BackupiBackup.com is "a secure, online storage/ backup, remote access and sharing solution for consumers and businesses with a unique combination of backup and storage functions. IBackup is the most recommended and used online storage and backup provider. Global corporations, Business houses and people trust IBackup for their storage and backup needs". They offer Enhanced Backup Plans, starting at $15 bucks a month for 4GB of storage; they offer Economy Plans starting at $10/month for 5GB of space; and they offer Workgroup Plans (designed for Online Storage, Collaboration, Sharing and Backup for a Small Business Network) starting at $10/month for 500MB of storage. Their service inlcudes backup software for automatic scheduling of backups (incremental/full backups, advanced block level patching, encryption, synchronization, advanced logging and reporting) - pretty impressive stuff. This is probably more than you need if you are just looking to share photos with friends, but if you are serious about protecting your data, this might be the best option. BackupSolutions.com is another provider, with 4GB plans starting at $15 a month. "A data backup service by BackUp Solutions provides the best online backup software package ensuring the full system backup of your mission critical data. In order to provide the best backup software package available, we have partnered with Connected Corp an Iron Mountain subsidiary and the industry leader in the online backup software. When you sign up with BackUp Solutions, you receive the same award winning software used by over 400 of the Global 1000 companies and used to protect over 2,000,000 computers" You can choose from full system backups or data only backups, while all files are encrypted during the upload and download process for security purposes.While computers and hard drives are pretty reliable, it only takes one hard drive crash, theft, of fire to make you wish you had backed up your files. As we use the Internet more and our computers are part of our daily lives, its hard to imagine what you would do if you woke up and found all your data lost. Whether you use an online file storage and backup solution, backup files to recordable DVDs, or have an external hard drive for copying critical files, get in the habit of securing your important files and data - you'll be glad you did!
Do you have a quality site or product that belongs in this guide? We are always happy to evaluate or review new products and websites. Feel free to contact us at the email address below and let us know about you. If you have a demo product you'd like us to look at, please contact us before sending anything. Thank you.
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