15 Best Free Online Data Storage & Backup Services
This is my eighth post in this series. It is a handy list, a one stop shop if you like, of the best Freemium Online data Storage, File Sharing, File synchronization and Backup services. Ok! I admit, there are NO totally free services available.
Everyone needs to backup important data in one way or another. The safest method of backing up important data is to create multiple backups: to an external drive and also to an online storage service.
Nowadays, external drives are reasonably priced. About 10 months ago, I bought a 1TB external storage device for about $100. The nice thing about it, is that you can use Windows tools such as: "Back Up Files Wizard" and "Windows Complete PC Backup". I am not sure if this would be possible using an online storage service to do a "Windows Complete PC Backup".
Things To Consider
There are several things to consider when storing data online:
- Security of stored data and of data during transmission.
- Storage size limitations.
- Reliability and credibility of the service provider that you choose.
- The ability to automate backups.
- Customer support.
- Restrictions on file size and/or file extension.
- Restrictions on download/upload speed.
- Restrictions on bandwidth per day.
- Expiration of stored files.
Criteria
I would like to emphasize that all the services listed below:
- Offer a Freemium service.
- Offer a minimum of 2GB of online storage for Free.
- Are in my opinion, the best.
There are too many online storage services available and it can get confusing. After an extensive research and reviews, here are some of the best freemium online storage services that I found.
Hover over each image or link for a short description. All links are External. Good Luck!
Top Freemium Services
Update: On January 19, 2012 – The US government put MegaUpload out of business with piracy crimes allegations, so they are out…
Paid Service Worth Mentioning
Comparison Between Different Services
- Wikipedia – Comparison of Some Online Backup Services
- TopTenREVIEWS – Online Storage Services Review (2011)
- Comparing SugarSync to the competition
Definition of Terms
References
Do you have any more online storage services to add? If so, please share it in the comments section.
copy.com provides all what Dropbox provides + lot more storage space 15GB + 5GB for invite registration.
Hi I wanted to add my website to your list of backup company review websites, Online Backup Search. I would be curious to know what you guys think of JustCloud or ZipCloud
You might also want to take a look at onlinestoragesolutions.co.uk who are currently offering 512 GB storage for free.
SugarSync it’s the best online backup!
For starters, things may be very difficult if they don’t know what to expect and the things to be considered in choosing online data storage and backup services. This post is of great value indeed.
BTW, if you are Ubuntu user, they offer a quite competitive cloud storage service called Ubuntu One. 5GB of space is offered for free… and there’s an Android app available at Google Play.
Hi,
Thanks for the great review you did on online backup companies. If I may ask, I was wondering if you had come across a backup plan that lets the user download an entire folder of files instead of just individual files? I am a graphic designer & I keep my projects in individual folders. When I complete a project I would like to archive it to an online backup site & delete it from my computer. When I need to work on it again, I would like to be able to download the entire project folder back to my Mac. Do you know of any backup sites that works like that? Any suggestion would be appreciated.
Thanks again.
Michael
Thanks Michael for your feedback.
My first choice would be SugarSync (you get 5GB free). SugarSync also work on a Mac, and you can also specify what folder(s) to backup.
And when you’re done with that/these folder(s), you can specify other folder(s).
See this link for a comparison chart: https://www.sugarsync.com/sync_comparison.html
Hope this helps.
Boutros.
Nice post and resource guide. I’ve been a long time Dropbox user and in the past 30 days have been evaluating MS SkyDrive and Google Drive. Both Skydrive and Google Drive eclipse Dropbox in terms of storage space and I’ll be migrating all of my file sharing and collaboration to Google Drive. If you are a Google/Android user, Google Drive is a slick solution. Like Brian above, I use both to Sync local files but wouldn’t consider DropBox, SkyDrive and Google Drive as a business solution because you still need to work out of a central folder. Even small businesses may be misled to believe they are “backed up” if they use one of these freemium cloud storage services. Although you have to pay more for an automated solution like Mozy, it’s worth the price if you have mission critical files to restore.
The online backup service is better than using an external drive to backup data. But there are many services providing backup, you gave a full detailed information and list of best services.
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Nice list. I use Skydrive everyday – not really as a back-up tool, but as a syncing tool. I use MS Live Mesh to sync my documents on my two desktops (work, home) and my laptop. The back-up is an added bonus.
I used to use the paid version of Mozy, but I dropped it when they removed the unlimited storage. I wanted to back-up a lot of images (which takes up a lot of space). I doubt I’ll ever try it again. It took forever to upload the gigabytes of data, and it’s quicker/simpler to just back it up onsite with an external hard drive.
I’ve also been looking for a way to move/share images between people. 4Shared is ok. I tried Box.com, and at first I thought it was cool, until I realized that you can’t download images en masse on a free account. So I had to click and individually download 150+ images… oops.
Thanks Brian for your great feedback and insight. Much appreciated.
Hi I’m Kevin Allen. You have a great thread, it is very informative, a lot of information readers can get in this thread.
If you have time you can also visit this site for more information about Store Your Media
I would like to invite you to try a new Online Storage website: https://dataFilegrid.com which is an easy to use online file manager and allows users to upload/download, organize, share and stream their files.
Please feel free to review it and note the Pros and Cons of the site.
25 GB free online storage.
Thank you!