poll

Reader Poll: Which Cloud Storage Services Do You Use?

Updated

Part of a solid backup strategy requires an offline cloud storage service. We want to know which one you use. Take a minute to take this weekend’s reader poll.

Having a solid backup strategy for your data is extremely important. A lot of people don’t do it until they have a disaster and lose their important documents, music and family photos. Part of a solid data backup strategy is using an offsite cloud service.

There’s certainly no shortage of online cloud storage services out there. Some are better than others. Some are more expensive than others. Some use encryption protocols, and some are unclear about it.

Some cloud services provide more free storage space, allow sharing and so on…

cloudstorage

 

What we want to know is – Which Cloud Storage Service Do You Use?

We have a few of the more popular services on our poll list, but we certainly can’t list them all. If yours isn’t on the list, select Other and tell us which one it is in the comments. Let us know which one you use and why.

While we’re talking about Cloud Storage, check out some of our articles on popular cloud storage services and backup strategies.

35 Comments

35 Comments

  1. Brian Burgess

    April 20, 2012 at 8:44 am

    I have used Carbonite for the past couple of years. Unlimited storage of your local drive and it has a lot of configuration settings. It’s only $55 / year? Something like that.

    I also use Dropbox for sharing and SugarSync — in fact we use SugarSync a lot here at GP. It’s not as intuitive as Dropbox, but does a spectacular job.

    I play with SkyDrive, but don’t use it as a main backup solution.

    SpiderOak sounds really promising and I will have a full review on it next week!

  2. NaeNae

    April 20, 2012 at 8:49 am

    Been using DropBox for about a year. Like that it’s pretty straight-forward and easy to use. Also like that I could get extra free storage for referring people.

    • NaeNae

      April 20, 2012 at 10:24 am

      Oh yeah…I do use iCloud for my iPhone, iPad and iPod touch :)

  3. Steve Krause

    April 20, 2012 at 10:08 am

    I’m using:

    Crashplan – Full home PC and all my music and photos and documents

    Dropbox – Basic file sharing and sync between all my boxes

    Sugarsync – Just started using Sugarsync more and more being that I have a few hundred gigs of free space with them and it HONESTLY is more powerful and useful than Dropbox.

    Google Docs – I wouldn’t really say this is Cloud Storage but… it is and I use it of course for all kinds of stuff.

    • NaeNae

      April 20, 2012 at 10:24 am

      I like your addition of Google Docs. I use that for all kinds of stuff too.

      • Steve Krause

        April 21, 2012 at 3:06 pm

        Yeah — Google Docs is forgotten many times as being a CLOUD Storage provider but it is. I personally have several gigs of data stored up in there. :)

  4. Austin

    April 20, 2012 at 10:08 am

    Dropbox and Sugarsync. When I need to hosting something especially large I have a dedicated hosting plan with unlimited storage I’ll throw it up on.

    • Adam

      April 20, 2012 at 1:58 pm

      Yeah – I have a $9.99 hosting account at Dreamhost that I use to backup all my photos and music. So far I have about 80 gigs backed up there. Thank you UNLIMITED plan :)

  5. Brian Burgess

    April 20, 2012 at 11:12 am

    LOL yeah I forgot about Google Docs. What’s nice is you can download all your documents easily with Google Takeout. Here’s our article on that if you missed it…

    https://www.groovypost.com/howto/google-download-all-personal-data-from-services/

  6. Josh Windisch

    April 20, 2012 at 3:02 pm

    iCloud, Google docs, Dropbox and SugarSync…What I’m really not sure of is Dropbox vs SugarSync. I just realized the other day that SugarSync was not only hogging bandwidth and causing slowdowns for the other people on the network, but it also was hogging my memory. So I didn’t really want to leave that running. Not sure if Dropbox is any better though really.

    Then for backup, Crashplan seems to be a good way to go and I’m thinking of doing that. But I
    think iCloud SHOULD offer some kind of Mac backup — https://www.groovypost.com/commentary/icloud-backup-osx/

    • Steve Krause

      April 21, 2012 at 3:08 pm

      Apple would be smart for sure to get into the entire iCloud market. Subscription baby!

      Yeah — I’m a sucker for Crashplan. Brian swears by Carbonite…. but my guess is they are both very similar. Whatever works!

  7. Brian Burgess

    April 20, 2012 at 3:07 pm

    @Josh … Yeah, when I run initial large backups, I let them run over night. Tell the other people on your network that their cat videos on YouTube will still be there after your back up. :-)

  8. MikeR

    April 20, 2012 at 4:17 pm

    Great discussion, loving following it.

    My main home backup and file service is via Window Home Server 2011, but that still leaves me vulnerable to theft of equipment, fire, etc.

    So, I’ve been dabbling with Dropbox, SugarSynce, Google Docs and Skydrive. Here is my take on each.

    Dropbox seems to be the community standard for sharing, so I’m on board. Easiest and most intuitive to use, by far.

    SugarSync, nice flexible interface, seemless operation, nicely priced additional storage. Josh, I’ll have to check into your concerns about bandwidth and memory use – I’ve not noticed those issues.

    Google Docs, the leader in terms of low priced additional storage, but I sure wish they had a more standard interface to their file system. I don’t like the clutter it adds to my Docs view.

    Skydrive, well engineered solution but a kludge as currently configured. Also, its lack of additional storage makes it a non starter for me. All that expected to change with the Windows 8 rollout, so we shall see.

    Right now SugarSync has my heart but Google Docs has my pocketbook vote.

    • Steve Krause

      April 21, 2012 at 3:09 pm

      Mike?? Really? You’re another Sugarsync man? Cool — I’ll have to share a few folders with ya then vs. Dropbox.

      What are you doing then to protect your overall PC then in the event your house is torched or broken into?

  9. Brian Burgess

    April 20, 2012 at 6:37 pm

    Mike: The backup strategy I recommend to anyone who asks is a three strep process. I backup my computers to WHS 2011, Then I backup my main system files to an external hard drive…then an offsite cloud based service.

    The offsite service I use is Carbonite. Have been using it for 2 years now…works great. Then you can access your files from the Carbonite account from any device that has an Internet connection. So, not only is it for backup, but also comes in handy for accessing files when I need them. Well, of course I can remote into WHS 2011 too…but you get the idea.

    AND as a even further step, I backup the most important files on my Home Server to an external 3TB drive that I swap out with another 3 TB drive and I sneakernet them between my parents house and mine and swap them out every couple months. So, no matter what, I will ALWAYS have my data. Man I am a backup freak.

    But I tell you what, backing up your data is the most important thing you can do. That is if you choose to store your important documents, photos, music..etc digitally.

    So many people take it for granted — but when it happens and your trusty hard drive suddenly fails after 10 years and you have no backups…your out of luck…

    • Steve Krause

      April 21, 2012 at 3:11 pm

      Carbonite…. blah blah blah…

      Crashplan baby! ;)

  10. Hammad

    April 21, 2012 at 2:15 am

    Dropbox ftw :)

  11. kamal ashraf

    April 21, 2012 at 4:58 am

    Dropbox all the time. :)

  12. reholmes

    April 21, 2012 at 10:36 am

    Loved Ydrive–way ahead of its time

    • Steve Krause

      April 21, 2012 at 3:10 pm

      yDrive? Ok…. time to Google it…

  13. Bob Mozer

    April 21, 2012 at 2:30 pm

    I have used Pogoplug and I’m curious as to why no one has mentioned it. It allows cloud storage as well as remote access and sharing from my home storage devices.

    • Steve Krause

      April 22, 2012 at 12:30 pm

      Hi Bob — thanks for the feedback. Honestly, never heard of them before and I consider myself “plugged-in”.

      I’ll have to take a look at it. Looks like you get 5GB of free storage and it has personal cloud options also by hosting it on your own machine.

      Thanks for the FYI — will play with it.

  14. john l

    April 22, 2012 at 2:12 am

    I use Carbonite for home and work but am replacing it at home with Megacloud which gives 512GB for free. I have Box.net, Dropbox, Sugarsync, Skydrive and Mozy accounts but do not use any of them. People rave about about Dropbox and it obviously works for them but I cannot find a single use for it as with Carbonite I can access all of my folders anywhere online including on my mobile. I use Outlook, Google Calendar Sync and a Google account to access my emails and calendar from everywhere and Google backs up my contacts and messages which are again accessible from anywhere online. Megacloud is proving interesting as it gives far more space than any other free option and the online browsing facility is better than others I have tried as I can actually see individual thumbnails of my pictures to download rather than a title. Like Carbonite it is a set and forget option but it is not as fussy about what files you upload.

    • Steve Krause

      April 22, 2012 at 12:23 pm

      Heya John — Looking at the Megacloud website, I only see 5GB of free space. Did you get more through referrals? The pricing pages shows $19.99 for 120GB.

      I’ll have to take a look at Carbonite. One issue that concerns me about being able to access the files from all devices is how the data is stored there. Do you access the data using just a User and PW? Doesn’t sounds like very good encryption.

      • john l

        April 23, 2012 at 9:05 am

        Hi Steve, try this link http://www.megacloud.it/en as that is where I signed up. I have almost 120GB backed up on there at the moment with no issues. I still save a hard copy of things like photo’s and documents at home plus my .pst file from Outlook. I much prefer having a second hard drive in my desktop and copying over what I want whenever I want for my hard copy rather than using another backup programme. With both online and hard copies I know I will never lose everything.
        I do access Carbonite with a username and password but then that appears to be the standard way with all of the backup programmes. On their website they state “Carbonite uses a combination of encryption techniques, similar to those used by banks, to safeguard your data. Files are encrypted twice before they leave your computer and remain encrypted on our servers, making it virtually impossible for anyone to access your files without your secret password. Users are also given the option to manage their own encryption key.”

  15. Ron White

    April 22, 2012 at 8:36 am

    I started out with Dropbox, which I see as the entry drug to cloud storage. But now I’m using Minus, which should be in the survey. It promives 11 gigs of free storage compared to Dropbox’s 2GB, and it has a simple interface that works on whatevery you desk5op you use, as well as smartphones. But I just noticed what John said about Megacloud, and I’m off to check it out.

  16. Ron White

    April 22, 2012 at 9:12 am

    Just signed up for Crashplan and trying to get hold of a brother-in-law to find out if he also wants to use Crashplan for free backup up.
    I also looked at Sugar Sync, but the deal’s more affordable at Minus.

    • Steve Krause

      April 22, 2012 at 12:16 pm

      That’s a great feature of Crashplan – Backup your files on a friends PC.

      The only issue I’ve found with that feature is you need to open holes up on your Firewall to allow Crashplan in to do the backup. Not a big deal however trying to get that setup on the friends PC (for me anyway) was not easy…. :)

      What I did was buy a 1TB external drive then made a visit to my mothers house and set it all up. Now I’m backing up to her system 60 miles away. Handy solution!

  17. rik sunday

    April 22, 2012 at 5:15 pm

    Have used LiveDrive for a couple of years. Have an older “Pro” account which includes unlimited data backups from seven computers and a briefcase function for syncing among multiple computers. Interface is easy to navigate. Looking at CrashPlan, I see their prices are a bit cheaper than LiveDrive’s… All in all, have been satisfied with LD. Has been helpful more than a few times when I needed to access files when away from the office or home.

  18. Bill Weber

    April 25, 2012 at 9:05 am

    I have both Dropbox and skydrive. Skydrive is 25GB, but I am already 66 years old and Skydrive is so slow I fear I may not live long enough to fill it up. Dropbox on the other hand is simple to use and an order of magnitude faster. Skydrive will not allow you to upload an entire folder at a time, only individual files. Dropbox will allow whole folders. Too bad dropbox is limited to 2GB unless I can get a thousand friends to sign up.

  19. Peter

    April 30, 2012 at 9:31 pm

    I voted “other” because I use ADrive.

    Easy to use and generous capacity.

  20. Owen Marks

    June 2, 2012 at 7:30 am

    I’m surprised at how little attention SpiderOak gets. Ya’ gotta’ love that Zero-Knowledge security.

    • Steve Krause

      June 3, 2012 at 1:56 am

      Hi Owen,

      I’ve been hearing a lot about SpiderOak and I’ll be the first to admit I know little about the service mainly because the ones I already use work so well. I will dive into SpiderOak a bit and write a few reviews about it. Would love to hear your feedback on them when I do.

      Thnx

    • Brian Burgess

      June 5, 2012 at 4:18 pm

      @Owen Marks: I agree, I’ve been testing SpiderOak and it’s a great service and very secure.

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