Please share info & experience on free backup services like these

free storage :
MediaFire starting at 10GB (up to 50GB) [not clear to me what that means]; 200MB per file
4Shared 15 GB
Google Drive 15GB
Copy 15GB increased with referrals, 5 GB more by downloading the desktop or mobile app
adrive.com 50 GB; 2GB Individual File Size Limit
MEGA 50GB; no file size limits
OziBox 100GB
SurDoc 100GB; 2 MB file size limit; view and annotate 30 documents per month; 10GB per referral
shared.com 100GB
files.com unlimited storage?
Hostr unlimited storage; 20MB file limit upload 15 files per day for free
filecanyon.com unlimited storage; file size up to 200MB

(Statistics given apply only to free versions of their services)

Please tell about good and bad experiences with these and other free backup services. What is easy to use? What will be good for keeping current with the changes made in your data? Which options are light or heavy on your system?

Please correct any not current info above and give as much information as you can on restrictions such as file/folder size limits with various options.

Also very welcome are suggestions for the best software to automate these kinds of things.

And yes, I will be getting an external hard drive as well! Therefore I don't want to pay for this.

 

Use whatever fits your needs. Always have a plan B for Plan A. If you have a local NAS store on your LAN, always keep important files somewhere else (ie on a Cloud space on the Internet, or on hard copy like Blu-Ray, DVD or USB stick.

I use Box.com and a Owncloud storage for backups of files that I store on a 1TB Toshiba Canvio drive, that I have connected on a Cirago NUS2000+ on my LAN. I also use a Lenovo ix2-4 for NAS storage of laptop backups for mine & my son's laptops and also IP Security camera storage.

 

Personally, I would not want to use any "cloud" type service.

I would prefer to use Acronis or any other external HD backup program because you can always restore your HD without having to connect to the internet.

 

I see MediaFire says "Short-term storage". don't like the sounds of that.

Care to elaborate?

 

You always want offsite storage of documents, especially if it is a business. Box.com has never had any issues, also Iron Mountain is very secure, which government, healthcare and other large businesses uses.

There are those out there that use Amazon S3 for their cloud storage. The Owncloud storage is on a family server that is in a secured facility, that no one outside our family has access to, and is very secure, so doubt anyone is going to gain access to that one, unless they get the login info from a family member.

 

I just came across an option I had forgotten about--BuddyBackup.http://www.buddybackup.com/help/faq.aspx

Appears to offer unlimited free backup if you fiind the willing partners.

 

No thanks on that one. It uses others computers, and if they are infected, or go down, your data is lost. Now if you can find someone with rack space at a Data Center, you can setup a Own Cloud space, such as what our family has done on a server that we run a website off of also.

Right now it is setup for each user to have 1TB of space, has an app that you can run on Android OS, iOS, Mac OS, Windows, Linux, besides direct login to the Cloud space. The costs are only for renting rack space, or knowing someone that would be willing to run a server somewhere that they can guarantee that the data is safe, and willing to run a RAID 5 or RAID 10 setup.

 

There are many good backup services, it is possible to choose one
on the assumption of the existing needs. I would recommend FBackup or Comodo.
I myself use Handy Backup, a normal, reliable software. As far as I know they also have a free edition.

 

I'm not going with Comodo again because I installed the Comodo backup application and ran some sort of backing up that took a while. But a few weeks later I checked and found that it had nothing backed up, and it was suggesting I initiate backup! With only 5GB free, I'm not too impressed by Comodo.

It seems impressive. I checked, and there is no free version, however, while I have seen many free backup facilitation programs that seemed strong. It's interesting to me how it's a lot easier to find info online about backup facilitation services than about backup itself. Could you explain to more about backup facilitation programs and how to chose the best one? Is having more than one useful in any way?

 

I agree with Puppywunder58 use a external HD
or in my case a old tower not on the net
Like how many GB of space do you really need?

All theses backup services just want your money

 

I usually choose by practical way - when I try several programs.)) I write a list of what features I need. Then looking for the appropriate program.

As for the money - I do not think anyone wants to work for free.))