| Prices for data storage and recovery can be | | | | Here are the ones that caught my attention: |
| outrageous! | | | | FlipDrive ( |
| If you have ever lost any important data and paid an | | | | This website looked nice, but after a quick look, it |
| expert to try to recover it, you know what I mean. | | | | turned out that there was just a free trial offer. I |
| The thing is, the online data storage solutions can get | | | | quickly moved on! |
| pretty pricey. And backing up to CDs all the time is a | | | | Box.net ( |
| pain in the neck. | | | | This site does provide free storage, but it only goes |
| What to do? | | | | up to 1 GB. More than that and you will need to |
| Well, earlier today, I made a discovery. It seems that | | | | signup for a paid option. Still, it could work for you |
| quite a few free backup services have come about | | | | just fine. |
| in the past year or so. I found one and thought it | | | | StreamLoad ( |
| was cool, but then I looked around and found about | | | | Offering up to 25 GB of free storage, this is the |
| 50 more! | | | | obvious winner. The interface looks pretty good and |
| I must admit I was getting pretty excited. None of | | | | their terms seem reasonable. If you need more |
| these services were even offered a few years ago. | | | | storage, the rest of their pricing plans look somewhat |
| It must be the decline in file storage hardware prices | | | | reasonable too. |
| and the site owners' hopes of high advertising | | | | So in the end, the dream of free file storage is not |
| revenues. | | | | as bright as it seemed at first. If you only have a |
| But as I browsed the numerous sites, my excitement | | | | few important files, these services are great. But if |
| began to wane. Most sites offered up to 100 MB of | | | | you are a serious computer user, you might want to |
| storage, which is really not that much space. There | | | | shell out the cash for a better solution. |
| were also limits on how much you could download | | | | One thing that worries me is that these sites will not |
| during a given month. | | | | make money by giving away free storage. That |
| Instead of providing a list of all these providers, I am | | | | turns into a problem when they shut down and take |
| going to mention the ones that stood out from the | | | | your data with them! |
| rest. After a quick glance at each site, it was a simple | | | | Not to worry though, because there are reputable |
| process to narrow down the results. | | | | backup services available for as little as $5 per month. |