Backup...which is better?

[musical74]

Here's the deal...

I hear a fair amount about websites that offer to back up data on the computer. Fine...but I NEED one that charges next to nothing (money is very tight)...would I be better just putting the stuff I want to backup on a flash drive? Have the flash drive already.

Initially wasn't too worried about it, but as I now have things that would be devastating for me to lose...which is better? An online backup site, or just stick with the flashdrive?

[Lotus]

I can't say which is better, but if you need a site that stores backups of your files for free, I'm quite fond of Dropbox. I also use it for sharing files that I don't want to upload to Deviantart because it might spoil the story of some of the games I'm working on. I think you get like 2 GB free? I've got 2.5 GB because I registered my account via a referral link, and one of my friends registered using one of my referral links.

(Edit: Dropbox does have two upgrade options, one for 50 GB and another for 100GB. It costs $10 a month to upgrade to the 50 GB plan, or $100 a year. The 100GB plan runs at $20 a month or $200 a year. Not cheap D: But the free service (2GB) is all I personally need. I've probably used up about 1% of my limit. )

Windows Live has "Skydrive", which stores up to like 20 GB I believe, but you can only upload fairly small files, probably average picture file sizes. I actually had to size down one of my pictures for it to be small enough to upload!

And those are the only sites I know of, sorry ><

A tip for flash drives if you end up choosing that, make sure you click the "Safely Remove Hardware" button that pops up when you're done with it. One of my friends backed up her files on a flash drive and I guess she didn't click the "safely remove hardware" button, so every file on her flash drive got corrupted. Needless to say she was not happy. D:

[LVUER]

Use all of them. Make multiple backups in your current HDD. Copy it regularly to your flash-disk (and your backup HDD if you have it). And nothing to lose to back it up to the website too... And don't forget burn one or two DVDs.

Me, personally, I have four HDD and one DVD to take care important data. Have three flash disk, but I never count on flash disk to backup data due to the high traffic (since flash disk is my main utensil to copy data so virus infection probability is high).

[Lumen_Astrum]

I usually use DVD and USB drives... but sometimes they can be corrupted with viruses and sometimes you are forced to delete the stuff tho remove the virus (which will only lose the thing for back-up-ing) And why spend money for back-up-ing files? You can just buy CDs and DVDs and USB drives and it will be a lot less than using those sites XD

If back-uping is necessary, I suggest updating back-ups for around one week. (I mean, update back-ups every one week or so) Once I made a back-up for an old game that I am making, but our PC is crash-prone, so everytime I make progress and our PC crashes, I had to repeat what I did XD

[LVUER]

After burning the discs (DVD or CD), it's impossible for a virus to infect them. If there is any virus in those discs, then your PC is already infected with viruses before (or when) you burn them.

[number473]

I also use Dropbox for backup. I think you can get up to 8gb extra by referring people, but the 2gb that you start with free has been all that I have needed so far.
If you're going to use a flash drive, be sure not to go putting it into other computers, especially public ones. There is a good chance for it to get infected with a virus. In my experience, they are the no. 1 method of virus transmission. They also can get lost pretty easily. An external hard drive might be a better bet, since you can disconnect it while it isn't being used.
DVDs are a good permanent storage method, although I don't use them because being read only is a pain (I don't even have a CD writer in my pc ) although that's what you want for a backup.

[LVUER]

DVD IS good because it's read-only. You use DVD for data that you don't need to touch/edit anymore, but still need to read it. So it's good because you're sure that no virus (or prying hand) could touch the data in your DVD.

[rioka]

You can actually use your email for backups nowadays. The only limiting factor is how much you can upload/attach to your email. Other than that, I use what pretty much everyone has mentioned already: DVD CDs, external HDD, and flash drives.

[Junker-Kun]

I think Google Docs is not bad opportunity, since you can upload quite big files. I personally use free ftp server, backups on my HDD and flash drive and quite happy with that.

[LVUER]

Perhaps it's because my unreliable and slow internet connection, but I feel strange and unsafe if I store/back-up my data on the internet or someone else's HDD.

[Junker-Kun]

Well, it's never hurt to have a backup on your local drive. Just because internet may be turned off someday.

[LVUER]

Or like when SkyNet finally take control over the internet and nearly wipe humanity out of Earth surface... jk

[El Presidente]

Online backup has the advantage that it also protects against things like burglary or fire.

[Junker-Kun]

Or like when SkyNet finally take control over the internet and nearly wipe humanity out of Earth surface... jk

[offtop]
Nah, the humanity will die in december 2012 XD
[/offtop]

[sake-bento]

Whoa, double off topic posts all the way across the forum! So intense. (This is a general reminder to stay on topic.)

And in that spirit, I've never actually considered using an online backup site. I store most of my files on an SD card or a flash drive (but usually an SD card), and I keep extra important stuff stored in my GMail inbox (except for .EXE files, which GMail refuses to send).