Creative Team Member, Trudy, is sharing Online Storage Solutions Part 2 for digital scrapbooking and artistry supplies.
Online Storage Solutions Part 2
Living without a good cloud storage and syncing service is like living without a smartphone. You could do it, but why would you want to?
But finding the right option for your needs is sometimes easier said than done.
Last month, we compared two services. This month we will take a look at two more.
1. S.O.S. Online Backup
Pros:
- Unrivaled initial backup speed and a rich set of features and tools make it a top choice for off-site data protection.
- Can back up external and network drives.
- Share files via link. It can also save all versions of your files forever.
- SOS online also includes a higher level of security and privacy than most competitors offer.
Cons:
- Those powerful features will cost you, however, as SOS is one of the more expensive online backup options around.
- Tiered storage allowances – From $49.99/yr. for 50 GB all the way up to a whopping 10TB for $299.99 per month or $2,999.99 per year.
- No free or unlimited accounts.
- No File Explorer integration.
Learn more about S.O.S. Online Backup here.
See also Does Your Business Have a Back-Up Plan.
Note that while this post is geared toward businesses, the article shares useful information on Back-up options and Cloud-based approaches.
Now let’s take a look at a free option.
2. Box (Personal)
Pros:
- Easy to use with fast and responsive apps.
- Generous FREE storage allotment. It is well suited for businesses but is also useful to home users. With 10GB, a free Box personal account comes with five times as much space as other free services. You can also get a paid Pro Plan at the cost of $10/mo.
Cons:
- It lacks some of the collaboration features offered by the best of the competition.
You can find out more about this FREE service here.
I’ll be back again next month, with two more online storage solutions for your consideration next month.
Please let me know what you’re using to back up your files in the comments below.
Last months post on Storage Solutions was great, and I researched each of the options suggested. I have been anxiously waiting to see what else you found, and I am excited to see your Part 2 post today. I am pretty interested in Box. I think it would suit my simple needs nicely, but I notice that they require a minimum of 3 users to sign up. I am a single user, just looking for online storage and synchronization with my daily work. I might desire to share my files from time to time, but not often. And although I would love to have someone to collaborate with, I am truly the only digital scrapper in my life, so there is no one to collaborate with.. Still, I am thinking of signing up for the 14-day trial subscription for Box to see if it works out! Thank you for all of your research. It is sure helping to get me out of my skeptical, thinking-about-it stage and into a more confident and pro-active mode.
I am paranoid!! Many years ago I lost a computer drive, fortunately I did have an ED backup, but just as I finished transferring all my stuff the external failed. I was very lucky. Since then, 10 years ago, I have had online backup. I started with Mozy and loved it,. It was areasonable cost, fast and unlimited date. It was bought out and immediately raised the price beyond my capabilities to pay. I looked at several plans and settled on CrashPlan. It is reasonable and will backup all internal drives at no extra cost. They do have a free trial. They have unlimited data and will keep it forever, even deleted data. I do not have fast internet so it took a year of 24 hours, not counting away from home time, to back up everything. I have 3T of data backup. You can also backup to your external drives, this is free, even without the paid service. You do have to use their program to restore the data. When restoring the files don’t show a thumbnail, only the name, so it is harder to find something that needs to be restored. Their personal service has been prompt when I’ve had a question. They have extensive online help that is actually helpful! It costs me $60/yr. A word of caution if you try this one, be sure to download and install the proper file for your Windows program. By default it installs the 32bit program. There is a 64bit available, but your have to look for it.
I also have Carbonite, I did say I was paranoid!. it is also about $60/yr. It is also unlimited storage and I have almost just over 2T backed up with them. They do not keep any extra versions. They do keep deleted files for 30 days, just in case you change your mind. It also took a little over a year of 24 hours to backup everything. They were a tad slower then CrashPlan.They keep a virtual drive on your computer so you can see what you have backed up and restore from there. They do use thumbnails, which I like. You also have access via online from a different computer, and maybe other devices, don’t have any myself. Carbonite also has a free trial.
Since my files are all backed up I don’t notice a great deal of difference in the computer’s performance from them. running in the background. You can pause both of them if necessary. If I had to choose I would be hard pressed to decide. I have used CrashPlan to find and restore deleted, intentional or just disappeared, files that I could not restore with Carbonite. On the other hand I have used Carbonite to download while on vacation when I didn’t have a certain file with me. And to restore a deleted file, and changed my mind, after I had emptied the recycle folder. I am happy with both so guess I’ll keep both. This comment has gotten to be awfully long, but it is a very important subject. Hope someone finds this helpful.
Lynne thanks you so much for your comments here! I am thrilled that my post has helped you out! Lynne sorry to heart that your fav backup place Mozy was bought out and of course they raised the price so frustrating!! Glad that you have found an alternative.
Louise, I am so happy that my post of online storage solutions has helped you out! I sure hope that you like your 14 day trial of Box, but how sad that they require 3 users are you sure that is not for the business account? I will have to check this out for sure! One more post on online storage coming up in my Blog Post here.