cloud storage?

[Daveroo]

do any of you use cloud online storage?..or any other online storage?...not for so much photos,,but id like to have a place to put my downloaded planes and scenery ect.and would it possible to place a complete copy of my FSX install on to an online/offline..cloud type storage?.......the reason im thinking of this rather than external Hard drive..when i bought this pc im using now,,,i went from XP to vista,and every time i would plug in my external HD to transfer my old files,my new PC would crash...so i did some research and it turned out the file type?...ntfs?..something like that was differant...and i couldnt put my old files on my new pc,,i had to take my exteranl hd to my dads pc XP,burn y files to dvd,and then i was able to get them into my pc from the DVDs..but what a pain...


soooooo...what online storage do yall use??

[Dangerousdave26]

Cloud storage could get expensive.

I am using the free version of Google Drive


Store the first 5 GB of your stuff for free.

When your Google Drive grows, get another 25 GB of space (or more!) starting at $2.49 per month.

FSX and FS9 for me would take up 100s of GB of uncompressed data.

A lot of room can be saved by compressing the files to a 7z archive.

You still would have to deal with the upload time and download time to get that archive on Google Drive.

I also would not upload anything for storage to anyone that was not encrypted. It seems many of these storage facilities figure if you upload it to them they have the right to snoop it. To deal with that use TrueCrypt to place your archive files in an encrypted file container.

http://www.truecrypt.org/

Cloud storage should be your backup to your home storage. Lets face it if my home burnt down I would loose everything if I only had it stored in my home. If I only have it stored on line and they loose my data... well I think you know how that one would go.

[andersel]

People that I know, and whose opinion and experience I trust, a lot, have told me in no uncertain terms to avoid "Cloud" storage LIKE THE PLAGUE! That is enough for me.

[mfitch]

We have used SugarSync as an off site backup solution for a few years. It works nicely backing up desired files automatically as they change. I have restored and transferred files using their system a few times. It was easy. The one time a computer had problems (wouldn't sync) they worked long and hard to fix the problem (that computer had lots of quirks early on). They even extended our contract a few months to compensate for the lack of backup even though our other computer was still working fine.

Solid software and good support keeps us using them for off site backup.

[Tom Clayton]

I absolutely refuse to store online. Until the day comes that I can get an ironclad guarantee that I'll have 100% up time and upload speeds that match my downloads (impossible with a cable modem), I'll keep my files here. The same goes for the new MS business model of using a monthly subscription for Office. What happens if I need to edit a document when I'm on the road without access to a web connection and Office can't go online to verify that I'm paid up for the month?

[Allen]

XP to vista... NO.

Nothing beats have your file at all times. Have you tried start you PC with the external Hard drive already pluged in? This may let you bypass the BS that crashes the PC.

If that dosn't work I think you should .7z up you things and dump them on CDs or cloud them and reformat your external Hard drive to another fromat other than NTFS. Than dump every thing back on.

[Naismith]

Call me paranoid but I wouldn't trust any valuable files or information to any other person/body/provider. It's one thing storing photos on there but anything else is too risky.

[KellyB]

Call me paranoid but I wouldn't trust any valuable files or information to any other person/body/provider. It's one thing storing photos on there but anything else is too risky.

Just because you (and I) are paranoid doesn't mean there are no dragons out there in and amongst the cloud. Even if there aren't, clouds evaporate.

The less those in the cloud(s) know, the better!

[Daveroo]

oy ill stick to the external hard drive and figure something out if there is a new issue if and when i upgrade to a new pc someday...thanks all

[stansdds]

No Cloud or other online storage for me.

[Odie]

Dave, I'm running the 64 bit version of Vista on my gaming PC and have two external drives attached to it (USB). One is 1 TB and the other is 4 TB. Haven't had an issue with them and they stay connected 24/7. The one thing
I did notice is that when I boot-up the PC, it takes a minute to recongnize the drives. Other than that, no issues.

I much prefer keeping my backups close versus using a "cloud" solution.

[PSULLYKEYS]

I agree with most replies - looks like everything can be hacked. Do your own storage. I trust no one, especially "friends" online.

[kilo delta]

Dire upload speeds means that the Cloud is not a good option for me at the moment, but if that wasn't an issue I'd definitely consider it. I've recently added a server instead and have about 12TB of data on it with another 4TB of storage in a NAS. I'll probably need to add another server in the future as I've 5 desktop pc's and 3 notebooks in the house with about 10TB combined internal storage between them.

[glh]

do any of you use cloud online storage?..or any other online storage?...not for so much photos,,but id like to have a place to put my downloaded planes and scenery ect.and would it possible to place a complete copy of my FSX install on to an online/offline..cloud type storage?.......the reason im thinking of this rather than external Hard drive..when i bought this pc im using now,,,i went from XP to vista,and every time i would plug in my external HD to transfer my old files,my new PC would crash...so i did some research and it turned out the file type?...ntfs?..something like that was differant...and i couldnt put my old files on my new pc,,i had to take my exteranl hd to my dads pc XP,burn y files to dvd,and then i was able to get them into my pc from the DVDs..but what a pain...


soooooo...what online storage do yall use??

You're talking two different things -- needing file storage space and the compatibility of file formats. The first is a matter of personal preference; here's something for the second:

http://www.tweakandtrick.com/2012/02/convert-fat32-to-ntfs-file-system.html

I found out the hard way from prior Windows operating systems (that's basically pre-XP Pro which I use now) that files stored in FAT format were NOT compatible to being read or opened on NTFS format drives. However, it does appear that old FAT files can be converted (see link or Google "FAT File to NTFS File Conversion'). Once you get them converted to the file format of your PC, you should have no problem with it crashing when you boot up -- provided there are no other errors.