[Technology] Cloud Storage

[maffew]

i dont know, but do you want to find out...?

na you're alright thanks

 

[clapham_gull]

If you are uploading thousands of files to box a word of advice.

I've just been downloading them for a work project and noticed something a bit odd.

Box allows you download a whole folder as a zip. Except I did a check and it can miss some.

So I advice you check what the site says and what is actually in the file.

 

[maffew]

If you are uploading thousands of files to box a word of advice.

I've just been downloading them for a work project and noticed something a bit odd.

Box allows you download a whole folder as a zip. Except I did a check and it can miss some.

So I advice you check what the site says and what is actually in the file.

is it > 2gb?

 

[tinx]

I know this doesn't help with the video and other files but I thought if you had amazon prime you had unlimited photo storage including RAW. Using this would reduce the amount required for the other stuff.

Maybe I'm wrong but that was my understanding.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201634590

 

[Badger]

I pay £5.99 (I think) a month for Microsoft Office 365 which gives me 1TB of OneDrive storage. I think it's pretty good value.

 

[Bozza]

I know this doesn't help with the video and other files but I thought if you had amazon prime you had unlimited photo storage including RAW. Using this would reduce the amount required for the other stuff.

Maybe I'm wrong but that was my understanding.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201634590

You do.

However, if you're starting from a position of having many years worth of photos, I found it such a pain to upload them there that I gave up. That was a few years ago now though - perhaps it has improved.

 

[Worried Man Blues]

I store my I tunes on a Touro hardrive that I keep in the garage, is that ok? I mean the principle not the garage!

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

You need to be clear what your requirement is.
Cloud is all about access to data from anywhere in the world [online] using many different devices, often simultaneously [true data sharing].
Backup is all about having a duplicate [or several] so that in the event of [the inevitable] hardware failure or loss - your data is still available,

Cloud does not make a particularly efficient or effective backup approach, although many cloud providers try to convince us otherwise.

 

[Notters]

The safe network will be along soon (hopefully)

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I've just noticed Amazon are ending their unlimited storage offering for Amazon Drive. My bill for next year has risen from £50 to £240 for 3Tb or storage.

Can anyone recommend another service? Given Google Drive is £80 a month, perhaps £240 is not unreasonable, but the near 500% increase rather grates.

That was always going to be the problem with cloud storage. Soon as they think they've got you over a barrel and all your stuff's on there, they were always going to up the charges. And if you're daft enough to trust them with several terabytes of data, you'd be IMHO far better off investing in a serious bit of non-cloud hardware to hold your stuff.

 

[Dorset Seagull]

I use Mega for 50gb free but don’t know what they charge for bigger storage but worth checking

 

[Wardy's twin]

I worked in a database/data manager role for a big company that offers online/cloud storage my preference is to do my own backups using locally attached drives. i guess I was used to calling the shots professionally so just seems natural to do my own.

I have little need to share data but when I do (photographs) it would be via flickr.

 

[Bold Seagull]

These cloud set ups worry me.
I read this week that one company has said if subscriptions are not paid then all your stuff on their cloud will just disappear.
Supposing something happens in your life that payments can't be made for say 6 months. Seems like you would lose everything they are storing.
Perhaps I am reading all this wrongly??!!

I only see cloud storage as one aspect of your backing up strategy. I would never keep anything on a cloud that I don't have backed up with a redundancy backup. If your cloud is merely a backup, then you can chop and change services as you feel like it, doesn't really matter if they cut you off, use another service.

I'm actually using a bit of software called Odrive that links all the cloud providers together. I'm actually able to utilise about 80GB of all the free space each provider gives you, and Odrive manages the syncing from your desktop.

However the latest Bladerunner film, and William Gibson novel for that matter, both suggest a future apocalyptic event might actually the wiping of all data off every device in the entire world - so there is that to think about.

 

[Willow]

I know this doesn't help with the video and other files but I thought if you had amazon prime you had unlimited photo storage including RAW. Using this would reduce the amount required for the other stuff.

Maybe I'm wrong but that was my understanding.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201634590

It is a good offering if you only need photos stored but as you say, videos, music etc would need to go elsewhere and you would be splitting archives across different platforms. A bit messy. Also, as I now know, any 'unlimited' offering is only unlimited until it isn't any longer. Microsoft One Drive and now Amazon Cloud Drive both used to be unlimited, and now withdrawn. Who knows if Prime Photos will go the same way?

You need to be clear what your requirement is.
Cloud is all about access to data from anywhere in the world [online] using many different devices, often simultaneously [true data sharing].
Backup is all about having a duplicate [or several] so that in the event of [the inevitable] hardware failure or loss - your data is still available,

Cloud does not make a particularly efficient or effective backup approach, although many cloud providers try to convince us otherwise.

I want both - backup and availability! Cloud works well as an offsite backup, removing risks such as hardware failure or fire/theft. I also like the accessibility from anywhere.

That was always going to be the problem with cloud storage. Soon as they think they've got you over a barrel and all your stuff's on there, they were always going to up the charges. And if you're daft enough to trust them with several terabytes of data, you'd be IMHO far better off investing in a serious bit of non-cloud hardware to hold your stuff.

Totally agree, these nefarious providers can change the Ts and Cs once you have committed the time and effort. I do still have a local NAS but without a cloud copy it isn't as fail safe as it could be.

I worked in a database/data manager role for a big company that offers online/cloud storage my preference is to do my own backups using locally attached drives. i guess I was used to calling the shots professionally so just seems natural to do my own.

I have little need to share data but when I do (photographs) it would be via flickr.

I also use Flickr, it works well as storage for JPGs but won't accept videos over 1Gb.

I remember the days when HDD capacity used to double in size every year. Seems like spindle drives have peaked now and the technology has moved on to solid state drives, building them up again from smaller capacities. I guess in a few years time 10Tb SSDs will be cheap as chips.

 

[Willow]

I only see cloud storage as one aspect of your backing up strategy. I would never keep anything on a cloud that I don't have backed up with a redundancy backup. If your cloud is merely a backup, then you can chop and change services as you feel like it, doesn't really matter if they cut you off, use another service.

I'm actually using a bit of software called Odrive that links all the cloud providers together. I'm actually able to utilise about 80GB of all the free space each provider gives you, and Odrive manages the syncing from your desktop.

However the latest Bladerunner film, and William Gibson novel for that matter, both suggest a future apocalyptic event might actually the wiping of all data off every device in the entire world - so there is that to think about.

No problem walking away from your data but you then have the hassle of uploading again!

 

[clapham_gull]

is it > 2gb?

No.

These are very small files - subtitles actually. Tiny designed to fit on a floppy disk originally.

I downloaded about 10 folders each containing a few thousand files - some folders were bigger.

I've always though the speed of the compression was a bit quick and wondered whether it happens as a routine background task.

Anyway a couple of zips contained less that the files in the folder. The site reports the correct count - but simply doesn't zip them all up.

Use an FTP client and they all download successfully.

 

[Woodchip]

I'd recommend a Synology NAS. You'll get way more value for money from it, than paying some random to hold onto your stuff. Get a 4 bay NAS and have 4 big ass drives in the right RAID formation and your data is doubled up. Ideally get two different types/brands of drive as if you get 4 identical ones they'll probably all die around the same time.

 

[Woodchip]

I remember the days when HDD capacity used to double in size every year. Seems like spindle drives have peaked now and the technology has moved on to solid state drives, building them up again from smaller capacities. I guess in a few years time 10Tb SSDs will be cheap as chips.

Give it another 10 years and I suspect long term data storage will be on DNA drives. Slow ass read/write but can hold tremendous amounts of data.

 

[maffew]

I'd recommend a Synology NAS. You'll get way more value for money from it, than paying some random to hold onto your stuff. Get a 4 bay NAS and have 4 big ass drives in the right RAID formation and your data is doubled up. Ideally get two different types/brands of drive as if you get 4 identical ones they'll probably all die around the same time.

Debatable/. Actually it would be more expensive in a way with 4 drives if you want to RAID them. You would need to use RAID1 or RAID6 losing half your storage for parity, RAID5 not safe this big if you want redundancy so RAID 1/6 would require 2TBdrives x 4 for 4TB of storage. If you got different brands make sure they are the same speed (the controller would recognise the slowest drive)

 

[nicko31]

Microsoft Onedrive