Microsoft One Drive

Box Brownie

Box Brownie

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Hi all

Every so often my W10 PC gives me a reminder about One Drive. I have never sorted this out.....................is anyone using it as (one of) their cloud backup solutions? If so any pointers or thoughts as to how good One Drive is compared to other cloud storage.

Just thinking if there I may as well start to use it as part of my backup process? And how reliable is it in regard to capacity (is it free?) and potential for loss of uploaded data???

TIA for the feedback :)
 
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It depends what other MS products you have purchased, but the free limit is as low as 5Gb:

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/microsoft-cuts-onedrive-storage-here-are-3-cloud-alternatives/

I'm paying for LiveDrive backup at the moment (unlimited storage) but am considering a switch to CrashPlan (also unlimited storage).

In terms of potential data loss, you need to factor in that any single backup destination might experience a catastrophic failure so ideally you need multiple backups in different locations that cannot all fail at the same time or in the same way.
 
maarten.dhaese said:
It depends what other MS products you have purchased, but the free limit is as low as 5Gb:

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/microsoft-cuts-onedrive-storage-here-are-3-cloud-alternatives/

I'm paying for LiveDrive backup at the moment (unlimited storage) but am considering a switch to CrashPlan (also unlimited storage).

In terms of potential data loss, you need to factor in that any single backup destination might experience a catastrophic failure so ideally you need multiple backups in different locations that cannot all fail at the same time or in the same way.
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Thanks for the reply & insight.

As you say like all backup plans it needs layers (so to speak), in my case even the free size or One Drive will give me a usable though limited asset. I recall seeing CrashPlan mentioned before but cannot recall seeing LiveDrive mentioned?
 
LiveDrive was OK when I signed up to it but the platform seems to have suffered from a lack of investment over the years.

Here's a recent review: http://uk.pcmag.com/livedrive/40067/review/livedrive

I've found this article to be quite useful when looking for potential alternatives: http://uk.pcmag.com/backup-products-1/8648/guide/the-best-online-backup-services-of-2017

I've got more than 1 Tb to back up so that limits my options.

One of the nice features of CrashPlan is that the software can be used to backup between 2 PC's for free. So if you have 2 PC's at home, one can be the backup for the other and vice versa. If you have a friend with a PC, you can agree to be each other's backup location. It's only when you back up to the CrashPlan servers in the Cloud that you have to pay.
 
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Cloud can get expensive. Cheaper to add another hard drive to you computer and have it auto sync. However still have a Google photos account which is free unlimited backup of jpg and raw but only at 16mb but as another backup it's fine
 
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If you buy Microsoft Office (about €60 per year) you get 1TB storage with OneDrive included which is a great deal!
 
stryvya said:
WHAT, Libre Office is free.
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Free often isn't good. :-)

Libre Office can be a bit clunky (though damn good when you do consider the price). Google docs is also free (And can be a bit clunky).

I have a NAS at home which I backup to Crashplan. Crashplan is relatively cheap for unlimited storage (Backblaze and a few other options out there too) but I use it solely as a backup if my NAS dies for some reason. If I want to sync stuff between devices I use my dropbox or google drive.
 
I use Ondrive to backup some files, Don't have much of a problem with it TBH, only niggle is you can't (or at least the last time I used it) is you can't drag a folder full of files into Onedrive from your computer, you have to create the folder on Ondrive first then upload the files to the created folder.
 
frank said:
I use Ondrive to backup some files, Don't have much of a problem with it TBH, only niggle is you can't (or at least the last time I used it) is you can't drag a folder full of files into Onedrive from your computer, you have to create the folder on Ondrive first then upload the files to the created folder.
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You can do that now. OneDrive now works the same as any other folder on your PC
 
Ballyman said:
You can do that now. OneDrive now works the same as any other folder on your PC
Click to expand...

Probably depends HOW you do it. If you have a OneDrive folder on your PC, then I assume you can. If you open OneDrive in your browser, then you can't - I just tried. And it is a right royal pain.

I got a new laptop last year and went on holiday with it. That means limited WiFi connections and slow speeds. Exacerbated by my having given my OneDrive details to the laptop, and discovering half way through the holiday that it was seizing every opportunity to download all the contents of my OneDrive onto the laptop, until I discovered this and stopped it. That was my first introduction to Win10, and I've made sure ever since that Win10 doesn't know where my OneDrive is!
 
Compared to the others one drive isn't that great.

Google Drive and Dropbox are my go too at the moment with Box as another backup for fun.

I suppose it really depends what you want to use it for, how much space you need, how you want to upload/sync your files and if you are already bought into an ecosystem.
 
I was quite lucky. A few years ago when looking for storage options I signed up for dropbox and had 2GB free. I purchased a Samsung phone which gave an additional 50GB for 2 years and started to back up all of my phone photos there. Backups were seamless and just happened in the background. All was good but my storage was going to be lapsing and i needed to pay for something. I chose to give one drive a whirl mainly because it was free but mainly because i was given 200gb to trial. Onedrive was slow and would often report errors. Images were backed up but sometimes these were not copied onto the computer (I think the client is a pile of poo).

I did persevere but found that i was spending lots of time sorting and storing... i just wanted something which was seamless and just simply worked, hence why i went back to Dropbox. I pay £79 a year and it does it all for me. Syncing is seamless and doesn't trouble me.

I do also like Flickr but although you can get flickr drive I have found that dropbox is far easier and quicker to work with. I guess you pay your money and take your chances, but I would recommend Dropbox
 
Onedrive has options on which folder you sync. Just pick the folder (i.e. most workplaces uses the local documents folder)
Works well, not only as a backup but availability to files from everywhere/other devices or to share files with colleagues
 
You can get 50GB FREE with Mega www.mega.nz

Simple to open an account (you can use a disposable e-mail address like Mailinator and a 64 bit password) and to setup.

The free account is slow on speeds but it does get it done eventually and you can have several free accounts etc.
 
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