The RedFaux Transmission

Online Storage for Recording Projects - Carbonite

 

This is the fifth & last installment of my "Online Storage for Recording Projects" post.  So far we've looked at "Amazon Cloud Drive", "SOS Online Backup" and  "Dropbox".  Today we look at one last solution:

Carbonite

Carbonite is similar to SOS Online backup in that it is intended to be computer backup, not additional storage like Amazon CloudDrive or Dropbox. 

Space:  Carbonite offers unlimited storage of backup from your main internal harddrive. Carbonite will not store data from external harddrives if you are using their "home" service.  If you use their "small business" service this feature is offered. Files can be no larger than 4GB, which would make this not ideal if you have any HD video work you want to back up.   

Reliability: Carbonite was founded in 2005. They claim that they have backed up over a 100 billion files and have restored over 7 billion files that would have been lost forever if they had not been backed up with Carbonite. Carbonite went public in the Stock Market on August 10, 2011 and their stock has been rising this week.  Carbonite has a pretty high profile image and they should be around with your data for awhile.   

Budget: There is a free 15 day trial.  For $59.99 you can back up one computer with unlimited space.  This is their "home" package.  To back up external drives you need to go with their "Small Business" package which starts at $299.00 a year for 250GB.

File Sharing: No file sharing available. 

Security: Carbonite uses a 128-bit Blowfish encryption for data back up and transmission. However part of the security of having your files backed up online is if your harddrive crashes you can always restore the file from their servers.  In 2007 Carbonite purchased over 3 million dollars of faulty equipment, which resulted in the loss of customer data.  Since then they have switched server providers.  In general this is an issue that one should be aware of with all Cloud storage, not just Carbonite.  

Platform Compatibility: PC/Mac, iphone, Android & Blackberry. 

Interface: Interface is simple.  When Carbonite is backing up your computer its is transparent.  You don't notice. Recovering files is also very simple. 

Conclusion:  Carbonite is a no-frills back up service.  If you are just looking for backup of your recording files in case of hard drive crash or any other computer tragedy than this sounds like it might be the right thing.  They offer enough space for backing up recording files, but it means that you have to keep those files on your machine and can't have them on an external drive. Carbonite has been around for over 6 years doesn't seem to be going anywhere so I feel like my data is safe in that aspect.  They use sophisticated encryption methods which is also assuring.  They did have that data loss issue in 2007 due to faulty servers, but that seems to be a one off occurance.  They stack up with SOS online and Drop box with their platform compatibility and easy interface.  Where they fall down with me is on the lack of file sharing and the fact that they will not back up external hard drives.  These are both deal breakers for me.  However, if you don't need these features and just want a simple backup service, this may be the one for you. 

Until next time... over N out

RED

Online Storage for Recording Projects - DropBox

This is the fourth installment of my "Online Storage for Recording Projects" post.  In our second post we looked at "Amazon Cloud Drive" and our third post looked at "SOS Online Backup", Today we'll be looking at: 

Dropbox

Space:  Dropbox offers the following storage packages: 2GB, 50GB & 100GB 

Reliability: Dropbox has been around since 2008 and is reportedly valued at $10 million dollars.  Dropbox is established enough that I don't believe it will be dissappearing with our data anytime soon, but the tech world can be a rollercoaster. 

Budget: You can get a 2GB account with Dropbox for free and if you complete 5 of the "get started" steps you get an extra 250mb for a total of 2.25GB. It is possible to get more free storage by inviting friends as well. There is a 50GB account for $99.00/year and a 100GB account for $199.00/year.  You can synch with multiple computers.  

File Sharing: File sharing is really what Dropbox is all about.  This is where the service excels.  You can share folders with folks who don't even have Dropbox accounts which is a nice feature. 

Security: Dropbox boasts Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and AES-256 bit encryption. They claim that their employees are prohibited from accessing user's data.  This means though, that that could access it if they wanted to, but this type of issue is typical with cloud storage.  You can read more HERE about that. Dropbox has had some security problems in the near past. On June 19, 2011 there was a window of time where a bug was introduced into Dropbox's authentication mechanism that allowed any password to work for an account.  After about 4 hours, Dropbox had this fixed.  You can read more about that HERE. 

Platform Compatibility: Dropbox works with PC,Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Android & Blackberry

Interface: There are 2 interfaces really for Dropbox.  The interface for most Dropbox transactions is almost disturbingly simple.  You set up a "dropbox" directory on your computer and put the files you want to share or store on Dropbox into that folder and boom! they are transferred to your dropbox online storage.  The second interface is through their website where you can manage your files, set up sharing, restore files based on versions, etc.  Both are very intuitive and easy.   

Conclusion:  Based on my tour of Dropbox, I like how easy it is.  I like that I can set up an account with 2.25GB for free and then upgrade to 50GB whenever I want.  I like that getting to my data is simple and that it can be accessed by numerous PCs/Macs/Mobile devices.  Dropbox hasn't been around for a decade like SOS or Amazon, but it is a popular service with a decent amount of funding so I think they will be around for awhile. If you want more than 2.25GB you do need to pony up for a larger account.  Compared to SOS backup, I find Dropbox to be a little expensive: $99.99 a year for 50GB as compared to $79.00 a year for 50GB with SOS. The File sharing with Dropbox can't really be beat and is perfect for sharing with folks that aren't FTP savvy.  I also really like the fact that you can roll back to different versions of files and if you accidently delete something it is recoverable. Despite Dropbox's security snafu in June I haven't been able to find anything out of the ordinary regarding breaches and I have friends who have used this service with no complaints. I like Dropbox and if it weren't for the cost and a few doubts I have about their security, I would say its right up there next to SOS as a possible solution for my back up needs. 

You can read another review for Dropbox at bandwidthblog.com HERE

Next solution investigated... Carbonite!

 

 

Until next time... over N out

RED

Online Storage for Recording Projects - SOS Online Backup

This is the third installment of my "Online Storage for Recording Projects" post.  In our second post we looked at "Amazon Cloud Drive", Today we'll be looking at: 

SOS Online Backup

SOS Online Backup works a bit differently than a service like Amazon's Cloud Drive, which I reviewed yesterday.  Cloud Drive is a generic online storage service while SOS is specifically a back up service which uses a client on the user's machine for backup while accessing all files can be done through a web browser.  This means that it only backs up data that you have on your computer or external harddrives hooked up to that computer. 

Space:  For home data back up, SOS offers a 50GB & 100GB plan.  

Reliability: SOS Online backup has been around since 2001 and has been chosen as  PC Magazine award winner. SOS Online also just recieved 3 million dollars in investment money from Splashpond this month so they have the financing to stay around. 

Budget: There is a free 14 day trial plan which allows you to get a feel for SOS. Pricing package for the 50GB is $79.95/year for 5 PC access and $99.95 a year for 100GB. More info HERE

File Sharing: Any folder or file backed up with SOS Online can be shared with anyone you want.  You can choose between a friend already registered with SOS, a generic friend or Facebook.  You need to have an email address for the friend you want to share with.

Security: For password protection they use the typical create a password as well as supply an answer for a personal question.  They also provide the option to use "Ultrasafe" which makes your password unretrievable.  As for your data, SOS claims it is secure from loss because it is backed up on drives at their datacenter which are also backed up on a redundant server.  As far as being safe from hackers, SOS says that they use a three layer encryption.  Read more HERE.    

Platform Compatibility: Can be accessed through a web browser on PC or Mac.  There is also an ap to access data from your iphone or BlackBerry. 

Interface: I set up a free 14 day trial and installed the client on my machine.  The back up client UI was very straight forward and intuitive.  Likewise, the web interface for recovering files through a PC or Mac was simple and intuitive.  

Conclusion:  Based on what I've seen so far with the free trial, I like SOS Online Backup.  The size of the space offered is adequate and it can be used to back up multiple PCs in your household which I like.  SOS Online seems like an established company that has been around for 10 years so I don't have any worries about them dissappearing with my data overnight. The service is not free, but the fee seems reasonable when you think that you can back up multiple PCs and harddrives on the same account. The filesharing is pretty straight forward and I like the fact that you can share a whole folder or just one file and since the file access is through the web and not an FTP client this will work for even your least tech savvy folks.  Security on SOS seems far more acceptable and robust than Amazon Cloud Drive. The files can be accessed anywhere if you have access to a web browser or an iphone or Blackberry, this allows me to not drag my external harddrive with my laptop everywhere. The interface is simple and straightforward even for less technically inclined folks.  I like this service alot and so far is at the top of my list for a solution.  The only thing I'm not very excited about is the cost... but not everything is free.

You can read the CNET review of SOS Online Backup HERE

Next solution investigated... Dropbox!

 

 

 

Until next time... over N out

RED

Online Storage for Recording Projects - Amazon Cloud Drive

This is the second installment of my "Online Storage for Recording Projects" post.  Today we'll be looking at: 

Amazon Cloud Drive

Space: You get 5GB free with your Amazon Account.  Upgrades are available from 20GB up to 1TB, priced about $1 per GB. With accounts 20GB or larger you get unlimited hosting for MP3 & ACC files.

Reliability: I don't think Amazon is going anywhere anytime soon.  If they were to phase out their CloudDrive I would imagine there would be enough notice to move the data.

Budget: Pricing packages are done in 20GB, 50GB, 100GB, 200GB, 500GB & 1TB costing about $1 per GB. 20GB = $20 / year while the 1TB is $1000 / year.  

File Sharing: There doesn't seem to be any support for sharing files with other users with Cloud Drive.  

Security: While Amazon boasts that you can "securely" store your files on their Cloud.  They don't really tell you what that means exactly, nor do I see any privacy policy specifically for content on the Cloud Drive.  I'm not the only one who is feeling dubious about Amazon's Cloud Drive Security.  Here's two articles I found on the topic.  HERE & HERE

Platform Compatibility: Can be accessed through a compatible web browser. PC, Mac, iPad & any Android mobile device can be used for streaming content off of the Cloud Player. 

Interface: There are two interfaces to be familiar with when using the Cloud Drive.  The first one is the Cloud Drive page and the second is the Cloud Player page.  While it is pretty easy to upload multiple files at once with the Cloud Drive page you can only download one file at a time unless you want to download music files via the Cloud Player.  Both interfaces are simple and fairly intuitive.

Conclusion: While I do use Cloud Drive to store my Amazon music purchases, I don't really think this is a good solution for archiving our recording session files.  The platform compatibility is good and I feel like the web interfaces are easy enough to navigate even for a newbie. However, while $20 a year isn't a bad price for 20GB, I'm sure we'll need more space.  The next upgrade package is 50GB  for $50 which is more than I want to pay for storage at this time.  Also there is currently no way of sharing content between members unless we all want to use my Amazon account, which really isn't an option.  Lastly, while the content I plan on storing isn't personally sensitive, it is a work in progress and original material.  I'd like to know its secure.  Currently I don't feel confident that Amazon's Cloud drive offers that. 

Next solution investigated... SOS Online Backup.

 

Online Storage for Recording Projects

For the last 6 months my band, Fluorescent Echo, has been busy working on our new EP.  We are in the final stages of mixing and are almost ready to hand our new songs off for mastering.  All of the mixing has been done in my home studio, thus all of the files are on hard drives in my studio.  I didn't think this was a problem until this weekend.  On Labor Day weekend our neighborhood was evacuated due to brush fires which destroyed 25 homes and damaged 30.  Before we knew the exact location of the fire I had to get comfortable with the possibility of losing all the work we had put into the album. Luckily the fire was contained enough on Labor Day and we were allowed to go back home.  However this close call made me realize that I need to think about a better way to store our work.  I spent a few hours today researching free options for cloud storage.  For those of you not familiar with the concept you can catch the Wikipedia definition here. 

I need to find a solution that allows for enough storage to store all of our recording sessions and mixes until I we have finished the album and I can archive them.  I have the following requirements:

1. Space: Audio .wav files can be big.  Currently our album folder is coming in at about 20GB.  
2. Reliability: We want to know that the company hosting the files will still be there tomorrow. 
3. Budget: Free if possible.   
4. File Sharing: we want to be able to make these files available to all band members
5. Security: While this isn't overly sensitive data, I don't necessarily want other people messing with our work in progress.
6. Platform Compatibility: PC and Mac
7. Easy Interface: band members have varying degrees of tech savvy

I have been looking at a number of options... Next we'll look at Amazon Cloud Drive.

Stay tuned... 

- RED