Cloud Solutions

[Tech198]

Hi all..

Looking at various cloud solutions and i came across this site:

http://www.thetop10bestonlinebackup.com/cloud-storage

Does anyone here any good/use any of these ?

In short of being able to stream music, other than Apple's own iCould, I was thing of Dropbox or maybe those services with unlimited storage.

My main goal, is backup (or sharing) of music, photos, and/or documents, with anyone, not just restricted to Itunes, although Itunes would be good for me only, as a mac user.

And how many cloud services would be best.... I mean for secure measures. ALthough I hear Amazons S3 is the best, since DropBox and others use this. I've heard people typically use 2 or 3.......

Features I'm after would be "synchronise backup", "upload only changed files" (not sure if cloud services do this, but would be good (iPhone/ipad compatible (either through an app, or direct via web browser), Windows/Mac.

As always storage probably matters most, but so do any of the advanced features.

So, which ones do you use? (if any)

 

[maflynn]

One of my concerns with using an online backup service is the viability of the company. That is what happens to your backups if the company folds, or is sold

You're basically allowing another organization to protect your data,i.e., are they running backups and protecting your data against hackers. I'd personally handle that responsibility.

I do use dropbox and its competitors which is helpful and some of iClouds services but for backups - I don't

 

[Silvereel]

I feel like SkyDrive is probably a better solution than Dropbox. For iOS, it has a much better UI than SkyDrive (there's not a huge difference on the desktop), and it can indeed stream music, if you need that. You also get more storage than DropBox and if you decide to buy more it's significantly cheaper.

I know that it's a Microsoft products but it's been really reliable for me, the UI is fantastic, and it works great with Apple products, or any ecosystem, really. They've done well trying to advertise it as a solution for the Mac, too, but sadly a lot of people seem to be ignoring it just because it's a Microsoft product.

 

[Renzatic]

The Verge recently wrote a nice article recently explaining the strengths, weaknesses, and comparative differences between all the big cloud services. You can find it here.

Personally, I use Skydrive and Dropbox, with a tiny, tiny bit of iCloud for the my more iOS specific stuff.

I use Skydrive for redundant backup. Redundant being the key word here. Much like Maflynn, I don't trust any of the Cloud services to keep my files exclusively. No one is guaranteed 24/7 internet access. If you happen to lose service, or their servers flake out for a bit, you'll have absolutely no way to access your own files. Better hope you're not doing anything important when it does eventually happen.

But as a way to access files from multiple PCs, or as safety precaution in case of catastrophic harddrive failure, they're great. Since Skydrive offers me 25GB, it's become my official storage service.

Next up is Dropbox, which I use for multi user projects, hosting stupid pictures to post here, and as a working link between my PC and iDevices. This last bit might be the most important to you, since Dropbox has the best iOS support amongst 1st and 3rd party apps. Skydrive? Practically nonexistent.

Then there's iCloud, which I use to backup my iPad, and because Pages forces me to. It's...alright. The simplicity, which seems to be the biggest selling point for some people, is one of the bigger turn offs for me. Though this might be because I don't have a Mac to integrate with yet.

And there you go. My opinion. Hope it was educational.