A look at Cloud-based backup solutions

I've always been the sort of person that tells people to back up their data regularly, even though I have to admit I put it off far too much. With the exception of my server and my website data, I have many important documents sitting on my computer, just waiting to be lost.

As it is a new year, I decided one of my resolutions would be to organize my data and come up with a good, reliable backup system. My first and most obvious thought was to backup everything to my server, however that would still mean putting all my eggs in one basket, as my server is sitting next to my computer and I have a lack of disk space to have a copy of my server and PC all on one (or both) systems. I know disk space is cheap... but I've got a serious lack of money right now, and my first point of both computers being next to each other is still valid.

Another thought was the Cloud. I've always been sceptical about storing everything on the Cloud, as companies come and go, privacy concerns arise, etc. There's also the problem of what is and isn't allowed by some hosts and how much space you're provided with (at reasonable costs).

So I started researching. I know that what I want is a lot of space, very cheap/free, very secure and reliable, with a cross-platform method of accessing my data as and when I need it. Also, syncing and sharing aren't required but would be also nice, but maybe I'll need it sometime in the future. Anyway, below are some of my findings.

Dropbox is a popular service, which I have used before. It's reliable and cross-platform, however with the quantity of data I have, it's looking a little expensive and there are privacy issues with some of the data I want to store. Another problem for me is the fact that everything needs to go into the one directory (I know, symlinks, but I want this to be completely cross-platform).

After looking around forums and review sites, SpiderOak came to my attention. I read that it was also cross-platform (even included in OpenSuse!), but it provided a lot more space (for free) with better pricing plans and something I didn't even know was allowed for this type of service, a zero-knowledge privacy policy. This basically means that all data is encrypted before being sent to their servers, and as they don't store your password, it is impossible for even employees to see what you're storing. The downside to this service is their client, which takes a lot of getting used to and can be a little buggy at times. Also, there's no way to upload via their website, although you can download.

I'm still undecided, although I'm very tempted by SpiderOak, especially if they continue working on their client. However, my choices are not limited to these two services! There are many Cloud-based backup solutions out there, each with their pros and cons, if you read around and compare.

What are your thoughts? Do you use a Cloud-based backup solution? If so, which service do you use and why? Leave a comment and tell me what you think!

P.S. If you do consider signing up for these services, using a referral will grant us both extra space. Here are my referrals!

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