Cloud Services roundup

[benwiggy]

So: Drive, SkyDrive, DropBok, iCloud, Box.net......

How do we feel about all these cloud services being offered?

There seems to be a worry that Google may "use" your files somehow, but that may be scaremongering.

But with 5GB free now the standard for Apple, Google and Microsoft, might DropBox increase their free limit?

[agentx]

It is all hotting up! I mainly use Dropbox as do loads of Friends, colleges, clients etc so not moving anytime soon. I have and do use other services too. You missed SugarSync which is very good too and provides a a high level of control over content, sync etc.

Googles policies are always put together by a high level legal team to cover their arse.
However IMO i cannot use it for business purposes due to the policies in force. But very useful having Google Doc editing on your GDrive! For people that are opting into the google eco system fully with gmail, gcal etc i would say roll on and get gdrive for others that are "suspicous" or "worried" then look at other offerings and see where it fits your workflow.

It is an exciting time for these type of services but it is a hard thing to choose between them all.

[NaOH]

Ars Technica posted an overview today of the big names currently offering cloud services.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/...-consumers.ars

[benwiggy]

There's also Wuala, by Lacie, which seems to have been overlooked.

My main problem with the cloud is that for not much more than a year's subscription, I can buy a 500GB external hard drive. I can encrypt it and put in a fire-proof safe at night. OK, there's no multiple redundancy, and you don't get access to your files over the web wherever you are on any computer.

To me it's a bit like the difference between buying your home and renting it. There's always the worry that the "landlord" could change the rules or throw you out. And there's the constant drip of money.

What with Adobe now offering "rental" of Creative Suite, the subscription model seems to be the new fashion.

[agentx]

These Cloud services and backups are different.....although they sort of double up.
However I would never trust any provider with my data without my own independant backup. Same for all my web servers ! (Automatic database backups and rsync to local machines or S3 etc.). No provider is perfect and i worry when they say they are.

I use Crashplan+/Pro which provides everything i need for good local and offsite backups. It would be hard to make me change that part of my backup system as i work in fully cross platform environments where we used to use 3 different tools to back everything up.

Dropbox & SugarSync provides the best service for me and i am not moving anytime soon.

[NovaScotian]

Quote: Originally Posted by agentx Dropbox & SugarSync provides the best service for me and i am not moving anytime soon.

I use local external disks for all my backups -- both clones and TimeMachine. I use Dropbox to make a whole bunch of my files available (and synced) on my 4 different devices: iMac, MBP, iPad and iPod Touch.

I think a lot of the new services are going to face the problem in agentx's quote: Dropbox preceded all the others, is easy to use and reliable, so I can't see any reason to even try one of the others.

[mnewman]

Quote: Originally Posted by NovaScotian I use local external disks for all my backups -- both clones and TimeMachine. I use Dropbox to make a whole bunch of my files available (and synced) on my 4 different devices: iMac, MBP, iPad and iPod Touch. I think a lot of the new services are going to face the problem in agentx's quote: Dropbox preceded all the others, is easy to use and reliable, so I can't see any reason to even try one of the others.

Same here except that I also use BackBlaze for offsite backup. It was a bit glitchy at first, but very solid now.