Design Forums - Graphic Design & Web Design Forums

Hi, I would like to backup all my files, so far I have around 50GB and I wonder, where to put it? External HDD is good option, but I would prefer online storage. Please suggest few tried and tested online backup solution. I would expect to access files on my iPhone also.

Hi Mathew, Welcome to the forum (why not do an introduction for yourself )

as for your question you could try getting a MobileMe account from Apple.. That would probably be your best bet if you want to access them from your iPhone

Dropbox?

Fantastic little tool, it creates a folder in your my documents (or elsewhere should you choose) and you just add the files into it and it automatically updates them. Accessible on other computers easily too.

Get the free version, with 2gb space and check it out.

PM me your email and I'll send you an invite if you want

50GB! , with that much data and potential personal information you would be mad to store it on a public medium such as the web, much better and much safer to store it to an external hdd! and not only that, but much much much quicker to access and seach.

welcome to DF mathew!

I would recommend an external HDD as well, or perhaps a 50gb memory stick? That way you can easily bring all your data with you if needed.

Welcome aboard Matthew!

Ok I'm going to take a little bit different approach to this problem

Assuming you don't want fire resistance etc (although this can be bought at a price) what about a nas such as a synology/thecus/qnap/netgear (aka readynas). Its a little more expensive than a normal external hdd but the ones listed all have a built in ftp/web server (needs to be connected to web obviously) which either by ip or a reverse dns service (for non fixed ip's) you can access from the net (needs router setting accordingly) if you need to.

This way you get the best of both worlds

I've got one just for convenience and its handy if I need to get access to the odd file while out.

Theres also ms skydrive (only 25GB) which in conjunction with live mesh (think log me in remote desktop + file sync) might be worth looking into.

Hi,

Our company uses databarracks online backup.

Their support is good and you get reports by email to say back up is successful.

It is rather expensive though.

We also have a second hdd in our server and an external drive just to be extra safe.

External HDD is not a safe option if your travelling, what if it gets stolen or it breaks down. Having your data online is always better and safer option. You can access it from anywhere. Some companies provide mobile access also. Another interesting feature to look for.

Hi Kevin,

I think in your post there you pointed out one of the biggest problem's with web backup "You can access it from anywhere". If you can access it then so can everyone else. No matter how a backup is made there's always going to be that worry of someone getting hold of the data. Keeping it online is a risk because of hackers. Having an external HDD is at risk of it been stolen. I still would say with the amount we are dealing with here that External hard drives are better. Company hard drives can now be bought at decent prices and can also be encrypted. I would choose External HDD for definate and would also use online storage such as Drop Box and Mesh as pointed out.

There can be hundreads of opinions on this, its like arguing about the best computer games console, someone will always have thier own views.