I’ve been using a few cloud storage / online backup providers for a while on Mac and Windows now, with the primary goals of
- being able to sync data between machines
- having a backup online
Here are some pros/cons.
DropBox
Pro:
- ease of setup and use
- ease of sharing with other DropBox users
- shows estimated time left to sync
- strong social connectivity: can add extra free space by referral system, recommendation and camera upload
Con:
- only sync files from within the local Dropbox folder
- shared data from others adds up to your quota too
- USD 10/month for 100 gigabyte of space
- Free plan is only 2 gigabyte
Sugarsync
Pro
- Mirror any folder from any computer to the cloud
- For cost saving: have a < 100 gigabyte plan
- Free plan is 5 gigabyte
Con
- Can only sync the My Sugarsync folder to all your devices
- Not easy to sync-share folders with other people
- USD 10/month for 100 gigabyte of space
Bitcasa
Pro
- Unlimited data storage
- Free plan is 5 gigabyte
Con
- Cannot sync folders between computers
- Primary storage is the cloud
- Has problems with Unicode. A folder name like Würzburg gets renamed into Würzburg.
They look the same, but are different (thanks http://rishida.net/tools/conversion/).
The first is WU+00FCrzburg (which uses Unicode Character ‘LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS’ (U+00FC))
The second is WuU+0308rzburg (which uses an U followed by U+0308 Unicode Character ‘COMBINING DIAERESIS’ (U+0308)
What Bitcasa does is decompose unicode characters behind your back, thereby changing your directory/filename structure (decomposition cannot be 100% undone; see Normalization Form).
Some tools I have not tried yet
Base on the interesting post Bitcasa: Unlimited storage, version history & sync | A Wild Duck, I also want to look at these:
- Symform.
Pay either by bytes or money. You get twice as much storage as you provide. - Space Monkey.
Interesting concept of having a device at home that is part of a distributed cloud. - BitTorrent Sync.
Very promising roll-your-own. Should be powerful, especially when combined with ZFS. Though it might not either.
An other possibility would be ownCloud + BitTorrent Sync. - SparkleShare – Self hosted, instant, secure file sync.
Doesn’t seem to like big binary files though.
Cannot test Digital Lifeboat any more: they have closed down for business.
More to compare: Comparison of online backup services – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
–jeroen
Filed under: Cloud Apps, Development, DropBox, Encoding, Internet, Power User, SocialMedia, Software Development, Unicode
