Resolved Free online backup service recommendations

Hi. I have decided I ought to sign up to a free online backup service similar to, for example, Adrive.com (that is just one at random I looked at after googling, not necessarily one I am deciding about). I am just a home user doing a small amount of freelance work, with a lot of email correspondence and the usual family photos, financial and legal records, etc., and reckon that a 50Gb offer should be quite enough for my data files for the foreseeable future. I know nothing about how these services operate, how they make their earnings, how reliable they are, so please assume I am totally dumb and include even very basic tips.

1. Grateful if anybody has any recommendations for reputable services or warnings about services to avoid, plus any pointers about what features to look out for when making the final choice. (If naming a service to avoid might worry you about legal repercussions, maybe a private message would be safer. Or just say "I used to use x but don't any more" or similar.)

2. Also any generic pointers on a backup strategy (or links to a good and simple discussion page) would be very welcome.

Many thanks in advance.

 

Hi Steve and thanks for prompt reply.

Well, that's what Adrive offer. After googling, this was the only site I looked in detail, until I realised I didn't really know what I was looking for and needed advice...

That's far more worrying. Makes an external drive sound like a much better option, but $75? That's quite a percentage of my pension...

Mine doesn't.

 

No further comments/advice, then?

 

Yeah, well I just might have to get another part-time job (if I can find one in Berlusconi's Italy...).

I was kind of hoping nobody would ask me that embarrassing question, although I guess I gave away the answer with my q. 2. I've saved all the family pix onto CD-ROMs, but there are now six or seven of them and it's becoming quite fiddly. Plus if I do any housekeeping and move things around into better folder arrangements, I finish up with having to do it all again or have a lot of duplicates. Plus I haven't even tackled the problem of correspondence, emails, financial records, etc.

As I said, I think 50Gb or so will cover it for however long I (or my PC) have left.

As for which online options I've looked at, well, only Adrive up to now, as it was at the top of the google result for "free online backup" or similar query. That was when I started to realise I don't know what I'm talking about and need some guidance before I look any further.

(I know, I know - don't beat me over the head. I did say I was preparing to do some serious backing up, okay?)

 

OK, if two experts like Steve and Pete totally agree on this, I'll bite the bullet and start pricing external HDDs. No point in asking the experts and then not following their advice.

Any particular tips on backup strategy? There's no way I could make weekly total disk images of 4 drives (that's two drives with two partitions each). I assume I just grab the registry and all my data files and forget anything for which I have the original CD, is that OK? And burn a slipstreamed version of XP SP3 while I'm in the safety-conscious mode?

 

Super, Pete - I think the current adjective is "awesome ". That's exactly what I was looking for; thank you very much. And I'm going down to the Computer Discount store this evening, while I'm still inspired.

(And BTW yes, I was aware that I can't simply clone the C: drive to save the operating system. I didn't express myself very clearly: I was just thinking of slipstreaming the most recently updated OS as another chore in the same sort of concept area that I'll be glad I did whenever this clunky old box finally gives up. That way at least the next box will be as close to this one as I can make it - we're used to each other after all these years.)