You might want to take a look at Amazon Web Services S3 storage. Space is essentially unlimited, cheap, and you get the first year for free. The only drawback is that there isn't an automated backup program.

You can also use it to host images if you want to share them or use them on a website.

Thanks Mike, I will check out Amazon but really, truly think I'd be better off with automatic backups. Just sayin' ... I know me. :-)

Jodi-

Jodi,

I don't know how much data you're talking about but there are plenty of free options. You may not have everything in one place but you wouldn't be paying much either. Amazon offers some kind of individual cloud storage as well. The first 5 GB are free.

Frankly, I don't understand much of what Amazon offers through their web services but it sound really good. ;-)

As a graphic designer & a photographer, I have lots of files, most of them quite large. 5 Gb would be used up in no time. I just returned from five days in the Sierras and have 30Gb of photos. I shoot both JPG and Raw files and often do bracketing which means each subject is shot three times in rapid succession. That means for every subject there are six images (3 jpg/3 raw) It adds up quickly.

Jodi-

Jodi...look in familiar places. Google offers Google Drive with the first 15 GB free. Bit Defender offers Safe Box as a stand alone as well as next to their internet security system protection. And Malwarebytes offers Secure Backup. If I were you...I'd opt for a cloud system that's part of a larger/secured internet service...like the few I've listed above. Cloud storage is not fault/crash free but the bigger the "offeree" the better the chances are that their cloud system is well protected. No matter what you elect to do...don't ever toss your own backups.

Just my two cents worth.

Anne

What operating system ?

Windows 8 with a windows live account, along with skydrive is pretty impressive and extra skydrive capacity is very reasonable. Quite simple but you need to study up and understand it to see if its something for you.

Skydrive here I've marked most of my files to be offline only except for current things I use daily - everhing is in the cloud,mostly on their hard drives, and not mine.

Let's stop the guessing...

If you have many hundreds of gigabytes or many terabytes of data that you store and access, an over-the-internet solution isn't going to work for you. Your ISP will pull the plug before you've hardly started. As an example, a 30 GB upload from your current trip (which could take days to process) could be enough to trigger a phone call or a speed throttle back. Large volume isn't the service they sell to home users.

External drives can be easily set up for auto-backups. If that doesn't work for you, maybe you need an in-house NAS device?

What do others in your line of work do? I think you'll get better advice from asking colleagues than from this group here.

I agree with Snidely. Sooo...if you take his advice and opt for an external hard-drive...I strongly recommend one of WD's Passport models. I've been using their My Passport external hard-drive for over three years and I'm completely satisfied. It saved my butt big time about a year ago when a surprise local power outage did considerable damage to my system. Mine has a 500 GB capacity. WD now makes one with up to a 2 TB capacity. Check the link below and click on "Specifications" for more info. I can't say enough good things about this company and their equipment. Just for the record...I'm NOT affiliated with them. Just a satisfied owner.

Anne

Here is a link that might be useful: My Passport

This post was edited by anne_ct on Thu, Sep 12, 13 at 23:36

I have a 2TB Passport and two smaller external drives.

I use a 17" Dell laptop with Windows 7. Just purchased in July because my previous laptop hard drive failed. I did not want Windows 8 so I really had to shop around for something with W7.

I currently have no dedicated office so the work I do is generally while sitting on the sofa. Not optimum but it is what it is. As such, a NAS would not be practical. I know about NAS, they were used in the design department I used to work in.

I'm tired of dealing with external drives and remembering to manually back up. It got me in trouble once, it will get me in trouble again.

The cloud is really the way I want to go. I didn't know that bells and whistles would go off if I tried to upload 30Gb of photos.

I'll contact my ISP and see what they suggest. Thanks.

Jodi-

Check out Seagate Free Agent Go Flex or WD My Book. Both are attached to the network but not your your laptop and can be set up to back up files from the laptop automatically over the network. Nothing for you to remember. These are easy to set up for someone having only a bit more than basic skiils.

Use your Passport as a second backup, keep it not at home. (At a friend or relative's home or in a safe deposit box).

With as cheap and easy as large capacity backup alternatives are these days, no one should ever suffer a data loss.

Thanks Snidely, I will check it out. I like the idea of backing up via the network!

Jodi-

From what little I have read about Cloud services one might want to study each EULA very closely to see who owns or can control content. Especially as the OP appears to be in business.

Bad enough Jill and Joe Public 'borrow' photos from web sites without Cloud operators perhaps having control.

O,

Great point on the EULA. The stored data may no longer be considered work product and proprietary. The position of Facebook as to the use and ownership of posted material on its site is right along this line.

DA