Extras Come with Three Free Online Storage Solutions
Web Worker Daily has done quite a bit of coverage of online sites you can use to back up and share files. I’m always looking for new and different solutions, though. Lately, I’m impressed with Drop.io, Xdrive and Box.net–each of which has some unique advantages. It’s worth taking a look into all three of them.
Recently, I did a post on Box.net’s new OneBox offering. While Box.net offers only 1GB of online storage with a free account, its free OneBox service seamlessly exposes files that you store to a slew of useful, free online applications. These include online editing with Zoho, document signing with EchoSign, CAD previewing with Autodesk Freewheel, working within the ThinkFree productivity suite, cropping photos with Picnik, and more. If you want to work with the files you store online, take a gander at this. But what if you need more storage space?
For those who want significantly more than a gigabyte of online storage at no cost, Xdrive is a good choice. With a free account, you get 5GB of online storage—more than a Gmail account gives you. If you do ever need to upgrade, you get 50GB of storage for $9.95 a month. On the fun side of this service, Xdrive Shows make for a very easy and slick solution for sharing photos with others.
If you’re really looking for an unusual solution with some unique advantages, consider Drop.io. When you upload files to Drop.io, the application creates a web site to store them in (a drop). You can assign passwords to the files you store, and you can provide a link and passwords to those you want to share files with. This adds up to the service’s biggest advantage: Nobody you share files with on drop.io needs to register in any way—including you—and you don’t even have to provide an e-mail address.
Drop.io also has easy features for letting collaborators add notes to posts, and it automatically converts most popular file formats, including video and audio formats. If you regularly share files with clients where you want a truly quick-and-dirty way for everyone to get at them, it’s worth a try. One caveat about it, though, is that beyond using passwords, you don’t get the level of security that online storage sites usually provide. It’s worth remembering that there are so many good, free online storage solutions that you don’t have to use just one.
Do you have any good tips on online storage and file sharing solutions?
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Thanks for the tip, I like the idea of converting between common file formats, this gives me and clients the best of both worlds
Xdrive : Nice classy Skin. Jaw dropping online storage space for the free sign up. Comparatively faster than most of the Online storage mediums.
Corporates with abound need of storage for data may get a paid signup, But for individuals the storage space is a Mini-Mobile-Hard Drive.
Or you can host them on your own server using Files Together (www.anywhere together.com). Its free with 2 user licenses and runs on linux and windows servers. There is also a mobile version for your pda and phone.
Thanks for a useful overview – particularly of Drop.io which is newer to the space. Does anyone have a feel for how Drop.io intends to montetize its service? Both Box.net and Xdrive offer paid subscriptions for premium packages, but I couldn’t find a for-pay option at Drop.io.
If not obvious by my screen name, I’m a devotee of yet another service in the online backup and storage space called ElephantDrive. I like it a lot, but they should add a feature like Drop.io.
Hi, i am an employee at drop.io and just wanted to respond to the above comment. We are a very new service having just started our alpha a few weeks ago. We will eventually have the ability to pay for extra functionality on our site – but we will be doing it in a very different way than most other services. We are working on a bunch of updates, so for now please just stay tuned. Also, if any of you need a little more space than 100MB in the meantime, reach out to contact@drop.io and reference this post – we can’t accommodate a huge rush/everyone, but are happy to do what we can while we are in our early alpha for the next few days if you really need it
I’ve never used the other services, but I would really reccomend Box.net. I recently stopped using them (simply because I didn’t need them) but they were excellent. Customer service was outstanding. And they *DO* have a mechanism for sharing.
Let me update everyone…
On November 12 2008 Xdrive LLC part of AOL LLC sent out to Xdrive account holders an AOL Official Mail notifying them that the Xdrive service will be shutting down on January 12 2009. On December 12 2008 Xdrive LLC part of AOL LLC sent a second notice to Xdrive account holders.
Check your SPAM box if you don’t see it in your Inbox especially if you have a non AOL email account.
I would not recommend waiting until the last day. Get it done today…!
I recommend choosing ElephantDrive and to make transferring those digital assets over as easy as possible just click the link http://www.elephantdrive.com/m/ct.aspx?ici=267 …this is the Xdrive to ElephantDrive migration page.
ElephantDrive is the only solution provider working in cooperation with Xdrive using their Open Xdrive API. While competitors of ElephantDrive may offer discounts on their subscription plans you’ll have to do all the work of transferring your digital assets. ElephantDrive is committed to helping every Xdrive account holder make transitioning their digital assets seamless and transparent by using the Xdrive to ElephantDrive migration page.
ElephantDrive offers packages that are designed to protect the digital assets of individuals, SMBs, and large organizations.
Xdrive consumers with questions about transferring their digital assets over to ElephantDrive can check our Common Questions page.
https://www.elephantdriv…ve_migration.aspx#Learn
Matt K. Olson
Consultant @ ElephantDrive