I am just wondering if anyone uses online file backup sites and can recommend one?

I make backup of my Mac using time machine but my worst nightmare is that if both the computer and the hard drive crash at the same time I loose everything

I would like to preserve some important docs and pictures etc in case the unthinkable happens!

I don't know about online ones, but I had the same night terrors of losing pictures / docs / large music collection, so I bought myself a plug-and-play 1terabyte external HD and now I backup everything in there, they are reasonably cheap and a good alternative.

hope this helps

Recently I've been using Wuala http://www.wuala.com/en/learn/features
I've read several good reviews. You get 1 GB free, and you can also trade local storage for online storage. You can also buy more storage.

PS: no, I am not affiliated, but I like the fact that it supports Linux natively

I use Mozy at Home to back up 100GB of photos and music.

So far I haven't had to test it so can't report on how it goes for restorations, but seems okay to me.

I use Dropbox . It's great for syncing data between multiple computers and you can access all your files on their website wherever you are.

You get 2GB free and it saves older versions of files too.

It's really fast and supports Windows, Mac and Linux.

I'm also using dropbox - and it has an iPhone client too which is nice
2GB free

smugmug.com for my photos - paid but unlimited storage - and can serve them up on my server whenever i want

I use dropbox for docs and pics, external hard drive for everything, and sometimes I use Amazon.com S3 for big things that I don't need backed up forever.

oh yeah i have stuff on my HD, then backed up to external HD which is backed up to another external HD

and then sometimes i have yet another HD that i backup to and leave in the office

you can never have enough

50GB free 14 day trial anyone ?

I need a few terabytes for my data... And I'm not too happy leaving my data in the hands of people I don't know.

So I'm quite happy using my home RAID1 NAS setup along with a few separate backup disks for additional incremental backups whenever I need them.

ADrive is fine... as are all the others mentioned, but i cant see it being worth $90 a year

I dont need 50GB, and I dont think most other ppl do either. Someone should offer a useful service for say 25 a year. that would be value for money.

then try amazon S3. they charge $0.15 per gig.

I use box.net for online, and a 1TB external hard disk drive. Box.net has a very user-friendly and cool interface. You get 1GB free, with the option of upgrading to a pro version.

Dropbox here too (plus a bunch of external harddisks). And I encrypt everything, that goes into the dropbox with GPG for a little peace of mind

How do you see the security of your files in light of the online backup companies, who encrypt before uploading? Would you encrypt yourself as well?

Buy yourself a NAS. A 1gb mirrored machine should cost about chf300 and set it up to do auto backs everyday. I have mine set up to back up all the family's machines each day. Took me about 10 mins per machine to set up.

Jim.

errr yes and no - i agree that they're worthwhile BUT you have to have another backup somewhere else too

If someone steals your NAS or it burns down in a house fire etc. and you have no offsite backup then you're still up the well known creek

I think a NAS is a great starting point - but you should definitely take advantage of the feature on many of them to plug in an extra 1TB drive in the back and do a one or twice weekly backup of the most important stuff from your NAS to the 1TB and then take that 1TB drive to work and leave it locked up in your desk or something like that

I use Spideroak. https://spideroak.com/
It does zero knowledge encryption, supports network drives and is compatible with just about everything.

Very good idea! Definitely better that some online outfit where you have no idea what they are doing in the background.

Jim

I use Dropbox as well. If you didn't know Dropbox is actually using the Amazon S3 service which feels nice. Regarding encryption I usually make strongly encrypted .dmg archives with Mac OS X containing everything sensetive (anything else, go ahead and hack it . As others point out, now with the iPhone app its even more convenient.

Also, you start out with 2 GB. Going through some extra steps in the registration and you will be awarded another 250 MB. Then, as a bonus, for each and every referral you will get yet another 250 MB! Invite your friends and family. The maximum of this bonus space was just raised to 8 GB! So all in all you could get 10.5 GB of free space.

When you register make sure to do it with a referral link giving you 250 MB extra space from start. Such as this one: https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTE3NTY3Mzc5