Best free online backup site?

[catucker_2000]

I need some advice on where to back up my files online. I have about 16G in files. My computer has to be sent away for repairs and I will be without it for about 2 weeks and I need to be able to go in and grab those files once I get it back. (I know I could go out and spend $100 on an external hard drive, however don't have the cash) Any suggestions are appreciated!!..thanks!

[Jojo Yee]

Try Skydrive which supports up to 25 GB free and other online services mentioned in Best Free Online Backup Sites.

[Ritho]

Also A-drive provides a liberal 50GB storage for free account and allows individual file size uploads 2GB of http://www.adrive.com/

I think the max file size on Skydrive is 50mb.

If the only backup of your important files is going to be online, consider making a set of DVD's of your files just to be safe.

[Sope]

It'll be interesting to hear how long it actually takes to upload 16GB of files!

I know it will depend on your particular broadband upload speed, but please share your experience when you've done it.

[Anupam]

Backing up data on DVDs is a good idea as suggested by Ritho. For 16 GB, it will take only 4-5 DVDs, and your data will be stored safely with you. Further, DVDs are also cheap these days.

As Sope said, I too think that uploading 16 GB of data online can be a big task. Even if the internet speed is good, but still 16 GB is a lot of data to be stored online. I would also be interested in knowing the details, if you do decide to go that way.

If you indeed decide to store the data online, I would advise finding out full information about the site that you intend to use. Some sites which offer free storage, do not impose much limit on the upload, but they impose limit on downloading of those files.

I had come across an online storage, which offered 1 GB of free storage, but to download the data back, the limit was only some MBs per month. So, such a service is pretty much useless, if your main purpose is to restore your data back to your computer. So, be careful about this thing, and research fully on the various features, and limitations that the site is offering.

[Jojo Yee]

Originally Posted by catucker_2000

...My computer has to be sent away for repairs and I will be without it for about 2 weeks and I need to be able to go in and grab those files once I get it back... Any suggestions are appreciated!!..thanks!

...Also think about if the repair is nothing to do with your harddisk, insist that you want to keep the harddisk to yourself, save all the trouble.

[catucker_2000]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. My disc drive isn't working which is another reason I am taking my computer back for service. So, I am not sure what to do. I guess it does take a very long time to upload 16gb files. Not sure what to do?

[Anupam]

Originally Posted by catucker_2000

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. My disc drive isn't working which is another reason I am taking my computer back for service. So, I am not sure what to do. I guess it does take a very long time to upload 16gb files. Not sure what to do?

By disc drive, you mean the hard drive? If you have a DVD writer, backing up the data on DVD seems to be the easiest way to go. Or, if a friend of yours has a hard disk to spare, or has extra amount on his hard disk for your data, then you can copy the data there, by making a master-slave combination.

[Sope]

I'm guessing you mean DVD drive when you say your disc drive is not working.
In which case, as Anupam suggests, copying your files to another HDD, preferably an external HDD, is probably your best option.

[Ritho]

Well we don't know what your Internet connection's upload speed is. I have a 2Mbps upload speed, at that rate it would take about 17.5 hours to upload 16GB of data if I were to get all my guaranteed bandwidth. At 512Kbps that would increase to almost 70 hours. That may help you estimate.

On another note, have thought about buying a few usb flash drives. I see 4GB on sale for a few dollars all the time. You could pick up 4 or five of those pretty cheep, if you can not afford a hard disk.