Totally OT: Cloud storage?

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2014: Totally OT: Cloud storage?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Steve Jelf, Parkerfield KS on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 11:00 am:

Cloud storage that comes with your website "will automatically start securing your computer files in the cloud, and you get 1GB storage space absolutely FREE", says the e-mail from the cloud storage company. Is there any reason not to use it? Is it as good as having your own backup storage device?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob Solak on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 11:07 am:

Well. 1GB isn't a lot, anymore, if you have a lot of video files. So at some point you'll run out of space and they will want to start charging you for it (and be careful on the terms and conditions you agree to for the initial 1GB, just to make sure you aren't also agreeing to start paying without additional consent, if you unknowingly back up more than that).

The downsides of cloud storage:
1) you need to be hooked up to the internet to use it
2) if you don't have "unlimited" download/upload, it might max out your bandwidth allowances

For "backup" I think it's OK. I don't like to use it for files I access a lot, because I am often mobile with my laptop in areas without access to the net.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mark Strange on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 11:07 am:

As always, try to figure out their business model. How do they make their money, if not by charging you for storage space?

http://lifehacker.com/the-best-cloud-storage-services-that-protect-your-priva-72 9639300


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By G.R.Cheshire on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 12:30 pm:

My opinion If I don't own it I would not store anything that identifies me or is the least bit sensitive. There is no such thing as a hack proof storage system that is accessible to the public at large, just like the Easter Bunny! Besides a 32 gb flash drive is cheap and can be kept on your keyring!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Steven Thum on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 01:24 pm:

Have a hard drive die and loose all your files and you will be glad for the backup!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Charles W. Little South Paris, Maine on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 01:26 pm:

Maybe the IRS should use it!!!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Zahorik on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 01:54 pm:

I made a FreeNAS Network Attached Storage computer on my personal network. The software is free and I found it easy to install. I used a spare computer and installed two 2Tb drives. FreeNAS is used as file storage device. It looks just like a Windows Explorer file system. It will mirror the files in each drive in special ways so that should one drive fail the other has your data. FreeNAS also allows more than two drives if you are really worried about data loss. Probably more than the average Model T Guy can do, but it is available.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Royce in Georgetown TX on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 03:00 pm:

It is not as good as having your own separate disk drive. Eventually some reject from society will decide to figure a way to corrupt or steal or delete your saved data. When it happens, you won't have anything.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Philip Berg on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 03:00 pm:

I've built a FreeNAS NAS a couple of years ago and it has run flawlessly. Mine consisted of a $25 Dell computer I bought off craigslist and two 1.5Tb drives. Unfortunately my wife decided to unplug it a few weeks ago while it was on and corrupted the permissions on the disks.

Instead of rebuilding I decided to go with a Raspberry Pi B+ using Raspbmc and build a NAS and media server all in one. I also have another 1Tb drive as a third backup that runs off Microsoft SyncToy software. All the software I use is free also.

Putting all my personal photos and information on the cloud doesn't excite me. I'd rather keep it local.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Craig Anderson, central Wisconsin on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 03:16 pm:

You can buy a couple 16 GB flash drives at Kmart @ $10 each.......back up everything twice and no worries.......no waiting to upload hundreds of megs of data either.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mark Strange on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 03:35 pm:

Mmmm, raspberry pie.....

homer


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bud Holzschuh - Panama City, FL on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 04:08 pm:

As others have pointed out 1 GB is so small its silly to fool with it. Plus, if they lose your data, they will say "sorry ........".

For simple file backups USB thumbdrives are the way to go. I think I just bought a 32 GB drive off Amazon for $12.

The BEST way to back up is to do an image backup to an external HDD. This way you can recover individual files, or, if your internal HDD goes belly up you can have the whole system up and running (EXACTLY as before) in less than an hour. I don't work with MAC's but for Windows "Active Disk Image" is a good image backup program that won't break the bank.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kirk Peterson on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 05:27 pm:

What if there is a "cloud" burst?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tim Wrenn on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 07:20 pm:

Maybe I'm wrong, but my feeling is, if YOU can put it IN the cloud, then SOMEBODY can take it OUT of the cloud, without you ever knowing it. And maybe even get into other stuff you don't want them to? Who knows for sure.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By brass car guy on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 07:33 pm:

My wife runs 2 high volume Subaru Stores on the cloud, what ever the heck that is. Gobs and gobs of information goes to and from the cloud every time someone uses the computer. She changed over nearly 2 years ago and to date not the slightest issue. That said the govt has decreed the all cloud based providers must have a completely separate back up cloud facility in a different location for safety sake. Our provider actually has 3 separate locations in different parts of the country.

Also was able to tour the cloud facility for our provider. These facilities are larger than a old ford factory. The building to house the equipment are blocks and blocks long and wide. You don't walk through, you ride in electric carts. They were located near inexpensive power sources plus the diesel auxiliary sources for back up are like huge locomotives all lined up.

So far so good even in damp rainy Washington weather.

just sayin'
brasscarguy

as a side note, you always get what you pay for, so a cheapie cloud system will give you less than what you pay for it. Want a better system pay more.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Judy Edwards on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 07:55 pm:

I noticed at Costco the other day, they were selling 'My Cloud' for $199.99. It is made by Western Digital and has 3Tb of storage. With this, you can create your own cloud.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Semprez-Templeton, CA on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 10:35 pm:

I know of two cases where using the cloud would have paid off.

First when we had our big quake a few years ago, my CPU hit the floor hard and the display landed on top of it! After several attempts to restore the data, my Guru friend opened the HDD and the platter looked like it had been rubbed on my driveway. The cloud wasn't available back then in dial up land ... so I accepted my loss and got back to life.

Then, just last year my friend Don had a major fire in his house... his UPS power back up caught fire in the middle of the night and burned up his computer and his home built data server...Poof all gone! His reason for not using the cloud was "security".

He wasn't too pleased when I may have mentioned something about the "Dog with the bone", but that's another story!

There can be a compelling argument for off site storage.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bud Holzschuh - Panama City, FL on Friday, August 29, 2014 - 09:35 am:

John's right, if you store your backup where your computer lives - your not really backed up.

But ... you don't have use "the cloud" to do it. The second copy of my backups are stored at a friends house. You could store it at work, at a relatives or at a neighbors.

If you only have one backup -your not backed up

If your backup is stored on site - your not backed up.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Friday, August 29, 2014 - 10:19 am:

How much is it with sales tax, Judy? :-)

I bought one of those to back up my computer, and it has been total frustration. I bought the wrong product, I guess. YMMV


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carl Klem on Friday, August 29, 2014 - 10:21 am:

Check the time restrictions on your cloud. The Apple cloud goes poof after 30 days. So I am told. It is meant as a temporary storage place.
Those cute little memory sticks are the easiest way to get your computer infected with viruses, etc.. They come from wonderful people in China who only have your best interests in mind ;) They also have a direct route into your computer without any firewall protection.
I am by no means a computer nerd, but this is what I have learned from informed sources.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Les Burg on Friday, August 29, 2014 - 11:50 am:

Steve.
With icloud you should get 5GB

https://www.apple.com/icloud/features/

This is from the web site,

"Storage

When you sign up for iCloud, you automatically get 5GB of free storage. Your iCloud storage is used for iCloud Backup, app data and documents stored in iCloud, and iCloud Mail (iCloud.com
email accounts). If you need more storage, you can easily purchase an upgrade right from your device".

Les


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Steve Jelf, Parkerfield KS on Friday, August 29, 2014 - 11:59 am:

Yes, that's from Apple. The email I received was from another outfit. My curiosity was about the pros and cons of cloud storage in general.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Charlie B actually in Toms River N.J. on Friday, August 29, 2014 - 12:21 pm:

This is getting big in the gameing world too. Eliminating discs and storing saves in the cloud. Problem: You can't buy the games at a lower price used (like from Gamestop) and you pay a monthly fee wether you're playing or not. Guess I'll be finding a new time killer that doesn't involve moving from the couch. Bummer.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Chris Landry, Hudson, NH on Friday, August 29, 2014 - 01:52 pm:

The problem with cloud storage is that you have to be always connected. I just don't trust that I can count on that when I really need it so my main storage is local. However, I do want up-to-date off-site backup all the time. If you've ever had a fatal hard drive crash, you'll be really glad to have that. The problem with using USB sticks stored at your friend's house is that you have to remember to do it. Almost guaranteed that your system will crash when you haven't gotten around to running a backup for a few weeks. In my mind, cloud is perfect for that. I pay mozy.com $8/month for 50 GB backup across more than one machine. Backup just happens in the background so it is always up to date. I've never had to recover from them, but I have heard it works great. Peace of mind for me. Yeah, there probably is some security risk, but seems that more personal data is stolen from retail transactions than from cloud backup. Not something I worry about a lot.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Fred Dimock, Newfields NH, USA on Saturday, August 30, 2014 - 12:47 pm:

I am thinking about using the cloud to share about 30 GB of 8 mm family films with family members that have been converted to digital files.
My other option is to send everyone 32 GB thumb drives with the files but that gets expensive when there are 15 or so people. If I do it right they can access the files when I give them the link and password.

Now to find a place where I can place the files for nothing or a small fee.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dick Lodge - St Louis MO on Saturday, August 30, 2014 - 04:28 pm:

Fred, how do you do that? I have some family members that I would like to convert to digital files.... :-)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carl Klem on Saturday, August 30, 2014 - 07:27 pm:

Dick,
Costco Photo
They (send it out) do it all, quite cheap, with amazing quality.
I had some VHS to DVD, the DVD's were way better quality than the original VHS.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Fred Dimock, Newfields NH, USA on Saturday, August 30, 2014 - 09:35 pm:

Dick - Go to ebay and search for 8mm to dvd then find print-91 which is Video BY Colasanti in Caulfield MO. you can call them directly 417 284 131nine or use Ebay It cost me just under $3.00 per roll. They put the film in a single file on a dvd but if you supply them with a memory stick they will put the rolls in separate files. It took a few weeks but I got the film back and the memory stick with the files.
They are great people to work with and did a great job. I did something like 33 rolls of film.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dick Lodge - St Louis MO on Saturday, August 30, 2014 - 10:21 pm:

I am sorry that my quirky humor got lost. I was responding to "...family members that have been converted to digital files."

I know where to get films converted (and have done so), I was wanting to convert a few family members into digital files... :-)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Dewey, N. California on Saturday, August 30, 2014 - 11:19 pm:

Dick,
I caught it, thought it was funny--or you were serious!! :-) I think that's what the transporter does on Star Trek!Oh, but it does re-assemble them too, so guess that's no help. . .


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Doug Money - Braidwood, IL on Monday, September 01, 2014 - 01:30 am:

One thing to point out. A mirrored drive is not a backup. It can keep a system running when a drive fails and does serve a purpose. But a backup is a snapshot of files at a given moment. For example, you have your drive mirrored with a drive in the cloud or in another computer, etc. If you delete a file or a file becomes corrupted, so does the mirrored file. So use the mirrored drive, but use a backup of some sort also. When I set up backup systems it is up to the user how many days of backup are needed and it is always a minimum of 5.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Royce in Georgetown TX on Monday, September 01, 2014 - 05:54 pm:

iCloud accounts are not secure storage. Worse, items that you deleted from your device are still out there forever. Any pictures or videos I take with my iPhone are therefore accessible by any number of people. I send them to myself and store them on a separate 320 Gig hard drive for future use.

Here's a recent example of how wrong it can go:

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/fbi-apple-probing-alleged-nude-photo-hack-j ennifer-lawrence-others-n193386


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ed in California on Monday, September 01, 2014 - 06:37 pm:

As Royce stated, nothing is secure and your secret nude photos taken next to your T may be compromised. Be warned.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Fred Dimock, Newfields NH, USA on Monday, September 01, 2014 - 08:32 pm:

LoL got it-- I know of a few folks that deserve the first step of transportation without reassembly.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tim Wrenn on Wednesday, September 03, 2014 - 08:02 am:

Re my post further up...anyone been noticing last day or so all the hackers getting into celebs "private" pictures from the Cloud and posting them?
I'll keep my stuff on a flash drive, or two.........


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Fred Dimock, Newfields NH, USA on Wednesday, September 03, 2014 - 09:43 am:

Tim I don't have a problem with hackers in the cloud because I do not have nude pictures, but if I did they would die laughing when they found them.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Richard Wolf on Wednesday, September 03, 2014 - 10:38 am:

If I have no idea what you guys are talking about, should I worry?? LOL


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By William L Vanderburg on Wednesday, September 03, 2014 - 02:10 pm:

You could do what Xibit did to a customer on "Pimp My Ride".

He installed a music system in a customer's car with a file system containing 4 TB's of storage (that's Terabytes). They told the customer they could listen each file and never hear the same song twice for the next four years.

I have a one TB back up file on my PC and haven't filled it yet.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By William L Vanderburg on Wednesday, September 03, 2014 - 02:12 pm:

But like Royce says, Cloud storage can be accessed by anybody and is not safe.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tim Wrenn on Wednesday, September 03, 2014 - 03:27 pm:

Yes Richard, not to worry! Fred, I love your reply. Knew I would get something like that...and I agree, if you really don't want something out there that could be hacked, don't put it out there. Especially the "juicy" stuff!! They deserve it. Some people just don't think!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Wednesday, September 03, 2014 - 03:59 pm:

Look at all the attention they're getting. As Madonna says, "Bad press is better than no press."


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Richard Wolf on Wednesday, September 03, 2014 - 04:09 pm:

Did anyone, on here, log onto any of the nude stuff??


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mack Cole ---- Earth on Wednesday, September 03, 2014 - 04:36 pm:

Well, dont clouds usually blow over? They dont hang around long.


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