What is the best cloud storage site?

Cloud storage isn’t really a good option if you want to use it for backing up important stuff, you never know when a company will go down or if something will mess up their servers. Cheaper to get a couple terabyte hard drive and just back up locally than to pay for subscriptions/storage space or whatever monthly fees.

My favourite is Dropbox. It helps me to share my folders easily with other people. For personal data I am using Skydrive. Google drive is difficult for me but it offers 15 GB for free so it’s worth a try!

None of the above. They are all subject to search and deletion by the government. Dropbox is as good as anything else, but none of them are immune from external searching or confiscation.

My advice is to buy an external hard drive.

Securely is difficult. I don’t know Justcloud, but looking at its website, I don’t see why it would be particularly secure. Probably the best option right now is SpiderOak, which encrypts your data before sending it to them, meaning that they are (in theory, at least) not even able to view it, let alone someone else if e.g. they were hacked. It’s not fully open source, though, which would be a requirement for anything that could reliably call itself secure.

I use Dropbox for work because both my clients are on it and also because it’s so easy. For personal files, I have two external hard drives.

Simply using an external drive is not a good idea. For the great majority of purposes, hardware failure is a vulnerability and prying eyes are not.

Your files aren’t safe from loss unless you have multiple copies in multiple locations. Also, services like Dropbox have versioning – so if you accidentally overwrite or delete a file, you can retrieve a previous version.

If you are concerned having your files on someone else’s computer, you can add encryption to Dropbox using BoxCryptor

Or you can create your own Dropbox-like service.
Make a private dropbox with an old computer in minutes

Because music and photos take up lots of space, I wouldn’t waste your Dropbox allotment on them.

For music I use Google Music Manager. It stores 20,000 songs for free. Also, you can sign in from any web browser and listen to your music.

For pictures, I use Google Picasa. Flickr is a good option, too.

For other files I use Dropbox. I have used Box.com, too. They both work in the background automatically.

(Oh, I should also mention: to prevent data loss, the best is always to bet on multiple horses. So besides cloud storage, do look into also setting up your own backups.)

I use Evernote, Dropbox and Google Drive (to connect with people using different systems). Like @jaytkay I also use Flickr. I also use an external hard drive and carry that with me because I’m working on various computers. I find GD tand DB okay. My favourite would be Evernote. The main problem I’ve had with DB and GD is they can chew up my data because they keep synching. I turn them off now and only turn them on when I’m sharing something or looking for something. I like to save important docs to a cloud storage site so I won’t lose my data if I lost my external hard drive or a computer. I’m aware of the security issue but the convenience and security of knowing my files aren’t vulnerable to me losing them outweighs any risk for me.

Are you wanting to back up stuff that you don’t care if it’s shared with the entire internet? Servers are more likely to be hacked than personal systems, so from a security standpoint, you’re better off keeping your own backup.

Is absolutely 100% of your music purchased from a recognized online music retailer? Even rips from CDs you own can be considered “stolen”, and get you nailed for violation of the DMCA.

Are you okay with your data in the cloud disappearing due to either hardware failure or the company going out (like Nirvanix did)? I’m not; I prefer my backups to be accessible whenever I want/need them.

I make two backups of the important stuff anyways, so even losing one won’t lose my data. While there are inexpensive sites, none are remotely secure. The only security you will have for data is the security you make for yourself. Personally, I secure mine partly by only storing data on hardware under my complete control.

@Earthbound_Misfit Convenience is actually the number one enemy of security and safety. Seat belts are inconvenient, and the risk of having an accident is low, so why buckle up ?

@Vincentt If I backed up to a remote server, I would use TrueCrypt to make sure it’s encrypted before they even knew the data existed.

@jerv The developers of Truecrypt recommend you do not use Truecrypt.

truecrypt.sourceforge.net says, ‘WARNING: Using TrueCrypt is not secure as it may contain unfixed security issues’

@jaytkay That is a rather convoluted story in and of itself. The short version is that TrueCrypt is being discontinued, and the devs refuse to accept responsibility for any problems that may exist even though none have been found by a n audit team that has been working specifically to find flaws in TrueCrypt. IMO, if it was good enough for Bruce Schneier, it’s good enough for me.

I’m an editor at http://www.cloudstorage101.com and I have personally written over 20 reviews on various cloud storage companies in great details listing all the pros and cons and pricing of each. You’ll find it very helpful.