In the Clouds: 11 Sites Offering Free Data Storage

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In the Clouds: 11 Sites Offering Free Data Storage

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Like most writers, I try to be really careful about backing up data in an effort to prevent both short-term and long-term loss.

Short-term loss is when I lose everything I’ve worked on during the last hour or even the entire day. I try to prevent short-term loss by turning on the “make backup copy” option in Word and saving frequently while I work. But, nonetheless, once in a while I lose something. It’s awful, and a waste of time, but at the most I’ve lost a day. And it’s odd how much of what you wrote remains in your mind and tumbles out joyously, unlike the slow crawl of words on the first go-round.

Long-term loss? That’s when you lose lots and lots of files because your hard disk fails or your house burns down or someone steals your computer. None of those things have happened to me—yet—but I realize they’re possibilities. So I have multiple external hard drives. I make DVDs of data and give them to a neighbor. I keep a data DVD in the tire well of my auto. And just last week I decided to look into storing data online.

Online storage offers me another way to provide backup, certainly—but that’s not the only reason I’m trying it out. One benefit that really appeals to me is mobility: if I put documents in the cloud, then I can access them wherever I am. That means when I travel I can keep a bare minimum of files on my netbook or laptop, hitting the cloud for anything I need. Online storage is also a good way to collaborate and share files. There are really many reasons to put files online.

I’ve looked around, and here are some of the terrific free options available, in alpha order. I’ve signed up for Windows Live Skydrive, which suits my needs. But there are plenty of other gems in this list that might work better for you. Let me know how it works out!

Box.net: Geared to businesses—but the free Lite version is fine for home, self-employed, or small biz use— Box.net permits the sharing, management, and access of business content online. Something like 50,000 companies around the world use Box.net to do just that. The company claims 99% up-time, and offers SSL encryption, redundant storage, configurable permissions, and more. The free Lite lets you invite in 5 collaborators and gives you 1GB of storage, public file sharing, mobile access, and more. Three paid levels cover companies with more comprehensive needs.

Dropbox: If your needs for online storage are low, you can store up to 2GB on Dropbox for free. In the bargain, you’ll get to use a few other cross-platform sync/sharing services, easy file access from computers and mobile devices, and more. For $9.99 per month you can upgrade to 50GB of storage; and $19.99 gives you 100GB.

File Factory: A whopping 100GB of free storage is yours at File Factory; you can upload up to 25 files at a time, with no file larger than 300MB. It’s a bit slow, though. If you want this service to run faster, you’ll need to upgrade from the free Basic to the fee-based Premium ($79/year). If you share files—photos, say—you can make money with File Factory: $10 for every 10,000 downloads.

IDrive: A full-featured 2GB backup is free (features include automatic backup and more). Upgrade to IDrive Pro ($4.95/month, other price packs) and you’ll get 150GB of storage.

MediaFire: It hardly seems possible, but MediaFire offers unlimited storage on its free account, along with unlimited uploads, downloads, and bandwidth…and with no signup required! Drawbacks: file limit of 100MB, banner ads, no SSL Encryption, and a few other things. If you upgrade to MediaPro ($6.97 per month), you can upload files as big as 10GB, don’t have to endure ads, and you’ll get a whole bunch of other features.

Mozy: Mozy offers 2GB of free storage for free. You can get unlimited storage via a tiered licensing system (a onetime $3.95 for a desktop license, plus a monthly $0.50 per Gig; a different set of fees applies to servers). Using Mozy requires you to download a Mozy utility which makes file transfer, automatic backup, etc., really easy.

MyOtherDrive: Another free 2GB service, offering unmetered bandwidth, encryption, and more (including advertisements). You can choose between archival or synchronized backups, and can backup all your computers to this account. Move up to Pro ($4.99/month) and you’ll get 100GB of space, and Enterprise ($240/year) gives you a giant 1TB!

Orbit Files: You’ll get 6GB of space with Orbit, but along with this choice comes a few limitations: a maximum upload file size of 10MB, limited monthly bandwidth, no public files, and, worst of all, if you don’t log in for 45 days, your stored data is deleted. Two other options are available: Zeus Pro has 200GB monthly bandwidth ($5/month, $45/year) and Olympus Pro offers 300GB monthly bandwidth ($15/month, $149/year).

syncplicity: “Everyday sync, backup, and sharing as simple as it can be,” is how this syncplicity describes itself (sync + simplicity = syncplicity, get it?). The free version gives you 2GB of storage and lets you sync two computers. Upgrading to a subscription ($9.99/month) boosts you to 50GB and sync-ing as many computers as you like. For either free or subscription, you can get an additional 1GB by referring friends (up to 3GB).

Textive: Here’s something a bit unusual. You can upload up to 1GB of documents (Word docs, PDFs) for storage on Textive. If you choose to make some of them public, and if people read them, you can earn money in the process—20% of the revenue from ads on your viewed pages. Ah, but here’s the rub: you don’t get paid until you’ve earned a minimum $20.

Windows Live Skydrive: Get 25GB of free personal storage with Skydrive, part of Microsoft’s Windows Live group (no file larger than 50MB can be uploaded). The password-protected Skydrive lets you handle files in three ways: you keep them private, share them with contacts, or go public. Installing an Active-X-based tool makes uploading drag-and-drop easy, but you can upload files without it.

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