Longevity of Cloud Storage

[DipDiveDodge]

Box.com (formerly Box.net) recently ran a promotion that invited anyone to download their iPhone app in order to receive 50GB of free storage. I've since uploaded a lot of information to that particular cloud service.

My question is, how long can I count on it being there? Will it stay there forever theoretically?

[LethalWolfe]

Originally Posted by DipDiveDodge

My question is, how long can I count on it being there? Will it stay there forever theoretically?

It will only stay there as long as the provider (in this case Box.com) is in business.

[miles01110]

Will it stay there forever theoretically?

Lots of things are possible "theoretically."

[calb]

Don't rely on one storage system. I keep files on my MBP's hard drive, on two external hard drives and in cloud storage systems. I've not heard of Box.net having any issues with data loss (as an enterprise-focused company, that should be expected), but there are complaints of missing files/emails on Apple's cloud solutions in the past... so why take the risk when HDDs are inexpensive?

As for how long data will remain on Box.net, I very much doubt the service (and by extension your files) will just disappear without you being given plenty of notice. Widespread cloud storage solutions are still in their relative infancy; use them by all means, but don't risk life or limb on them.

[maflynn]

Originally Posted by DipDiveDodge

My question is, how long can I count on it being there? Will it stay there forever theoretically?

As long as the company is in business and providing that service. Personally I don't trust my data to the cloud. I use dropbox, but that's information that is not crucial and its on my local computer as well. If the company suddenly goes out of business or fails to maintain backups and a hardware failure occurs, your data may not be there.

[Arelunde]

Any "cloud" storage is fraught with danger ... failures at the physical cloud site, hacks, loss of data, and (as mentioned above) business failure. There is no substitute for using your own external drives for backup and data storage. My old PC crashed unexpectedly a while back - dead in the water. The only thing that saved me was all my data was on an external drive, only programs/apps on the PC hard drive.

Now that I have a Mac, I do the same thing ... depend on external drives and multiple backups using flash drives for smaller files.

[Heilage]

Where you keep your backup is irrelevant, it's a backup. If you delete your stuff, it's just cloud storage.

I have one local copy, one time machine copy and one cloud copy of my important stuff. I feel pretty safe.

[yg17]

I think anyone who keeps their important documents exclusively at a cloud service is out of their minds.

If you can't stand to lose it, always keep a copy locally and in the cloud for backup. And if it's extremely important, keeping it in a 3rd location wouldn't hurt, even if that 3rd location is just a USB flash drive.

[ellaimac]

I for one would rely on SkyDrive, because you can guarantee that your files will be in a safe place. And the fact that their servers are eco friendly means you will also support going "green"l Also, SkyDrive is cross platform, MAC, PC, Droid, Iphone and Lumia alike supports it.

[LethalWolfe]

[QUOTE=ellaimac;14953911]I for one would rely on SkyDrive, because you can guarantee that your files will be in a safe place./QUOTE]
There are no guarantees. SkyDrive, just like every other hosting service, does not guarantee against loss of data. If a catastrophic server failure happens or a tech makes a mistake causing data loss there's nothing you can do about it.


Lethal

[smoledman]

Originally Posted by ellaimac

I for one would rely on SkyDrive, because you can guarantee that your files will be in a safe place. And the fact that their servers are eco friendly means you will also support going "green"l Also, SkyDrive is cross platform, MAC, PC, Droid, Iphone and Lumia alike supports it.

Considering it seems to be conventional wisdom(around here, Cult of Mac, MacDailyNews) that Microsoft will be out of business soon, I would not locate any data on SkyDrive.

[Jessica Lares]

I keep my stuff on the Adobe Creative Cloud. It is not like Dropbox which has 50M+ users using their service and most aren't paying. It has like 1% of that number, is only used by the people paying for the service, and is by a company who I have a lot of trust in and KNOW that they won't just disappear one day without notice.

And it is cross-platform as it's browser based. I think you can even upload from the touch apps.

[johnanthony]

You cannot say that it will stay there permanent but it is sure that it will stay there for a long time. I'm using box.com cloud storage services and it is perfect with all its supports and applications. It is among the top cloud services out there. But there are others service providers from well known companies like google and microsoft which are to be there most probably permanently. For other guides in choosing the right cloud starge check this link http://www.techyv.com/questions/diff...-cloud-storage

[reefoid]

You should be aware of this clause in box.net's terms:

In addition to other termination provisions, if your account it not currently subject to a paid subscription plan with us, we at our discretion may terminate your account if: (a) you do not engage in any activity in your account within thirty (30) days after becoming a Registered User, or (b) you do not engage in any activity in your account for any period of one-hundred and twenty (120) consecutive days. In the event of such termination, any Content you may have stored will be lost.

So if you have one of the promo accounts, Box can remove it after 120 days of no activity and you'll lose your data.

I keep all of my data on a Debian server at home, its backed up to my Windows PC each week and then at the end of each month all of my critical data is encrypted and stored on Drive.

[ThisIsNotMe]

My personal opinion of digital storage over long periods of time is highly negative.

Let me put it this way, I have pictures from the 1800s that look as good as the day they were taken.

My mother wrote her thesis on an Apple IIe and can't get it off her 5 1/4" floppy disks (which probably no longer work anyways).

Simply too much effort to move entire collections to the "next" storage format.

[tech4all]

Originally Posted by ThisIsNotMe

My personal opinion of digital storage over long periods of time is highly negative.

Let me put it this way, I have pictures from the 1800s that look as good as the day they were taken.

My mother wrote her thesis on an Apple IIe and can't get it off her 5 1/4" floppy disks (which probably no longer work anyways).

Simply too much effort to move entire collections to the "next" storage format.

But as long as you upgrade legacy storage media 'as they go' you'll be safe. Course if you skip a few, it can be a pain.

[sabahm]

Yes, i have got that 50Gb space from Box...Feeling in the cloud..!!

[elistan]

I trust no cloud service. Stuff happens. Cloud storage and DRM authorization are two completely different useages, I know, but they both are subject to the same risk. It's one reason why I've only ever purchased a single movie off iTunes as a test - although Apple seems to have some staying power, I don't want to be stuck with a stack of encrypted files I can't do anything with if they ever go under. I'm glad Apple offers iTunes Plus format - makes me much more likely to purchase music online.

I don't own a single e-book due to DRM. I'd like a B&N Nook, but what if B&N goes the way of Borders?

I do use Apple's iCloud for backups and settings storage, but it would be no loss if either of those went away. I have some pics on Google's PicasaWeb, but those pics are still on my local HDD. I use SkyDrive for convenience accessing (but never modifying) non-sensitive info that I keep a local master copy of.

That's about it.

[roadbloc]

Originally Posted by smoledman

Considering it seems to be conventional wisdom(around here, Cult of Mac, MacDailyNews) that Microsoft will be out of business soon, I would not locate any data on SkyDrive.

Pfft! Despite thinking it impossible, you have gone down in my post-respect chart again. I mean seriously? Microsoft are in no danger of going out of business anytime soon.

I use Dropbox. It's lightweight and works on practically everything. I use it to sync my documents.

[decafjava]

Well I like Dropbox but agree with others that have said don't trust one service exclusively. Backup to local drives and external drives etc.

Oh and lol and microsoft going out of business.

[sabahm]

It will remain until and unless their marketing team makes some other strategy The inferring is very good, i av opted one for me and it works remarkably well I also agree with the aforementioned replies that better is to keep your backups on some other cloud or external drives. Just in case something bad happens, you should have the data along with you!