Although "The Cloud" is not something I consider secure, I have found a use for it. Google docs gives you 5 gig of storage. I have started scanning receipts and putting them on "The Cloud" This will come in handy if I have an insurance claim or warranty claim.
If you scan the image as a jpg, you can use MsPaint to black out any credit card info.
I also use Yahoo calendar to record big purchases with a 1 year reminder. This is a pretty good way to keep up with how long something is under warranty.
-- O'Neil to General Hammond: For the record Sir, I wanted to blow it the hell up.
If you get a real paint program, instead of that miserable excuse (I use Paint Shop Pro, probably now out of print, probably can get it for free somewhere), you can not only do that easily, but also reduce the number of colors and save an image as a tiny .GIF. Far smaller than unwieldy JPEGs, recognized world-wide by all browsers and mail clients.
I got Carbonite. It automatically backs up all files on your computer for $55/year. I was mostly concerned about loss of business records and email and consider it a business expense. It was getting tiresome putting stuff on DVD's and while I could have a ton of storage on my websites or isp, I'd still have to upload. Carbonite does it automatically every time a new file is added or an old one changed.
There's a current ad on Houston Craigslist for 40Gig hard drives at $11 each. Hundreds in stock (I've seen 'em).
The dude buys computers that come back off of lease and almost all the computers he purchases have no hard drives. So he buys container loads of refurbished (?) drives to install in these back-from-lease machines.
Me? I'm content to use the 40Gig hard drives I find in the bottom of CrackerJack boxes.
Well, *I* won't, 'cause I've had more than my share of problems with open-source software, and I'm totally happy with PSP. Nothing it can't do that I need, and it's really easy to use. But the O.P. might want to try it.
The cloud is good for those who make money off it. I envision the day when your computer has a slot in the keyboard. The boot screen says, "insert debit card to pay by the keystroke". And it won't cost less than the computers we use today. And the access costs will be much higher.
The cloud is practical when the device used to access it (including the cost of access) costs WAY less than the device using local storage. It makes some sense when there's remote collaboration and common access by multiple users. The internet bandwidth to make practical use of it costs way more than the cost of local storage. A 16GB thumb drive costs under $20 these days. If you put it in your pocket, the only risk is that the computer explodes and takes you with it. I just checked. The total amount of stuff I've authored in 20 years is 605MB.
Scanning receipts into the cloud instead of storing them locally is an exercise in making use of something that has no use. The chance of losing your cloud data is way higher than the chance of you needing to file an insurance claim.
The cloud is a marketing wet-dream to monetize every aspect of your existence. It worked for the cellphone. But I ain't got one of them either.
With the price of external hard drives going from about $ 50 to $ 80 for a
500 GB to 1K GB, it is even cheaper to buy them new. Also you just plug them into the usb port. I still like the dvds for the important stuff. Guess that I am one of those that make several backups.
Better be secure. Maybe people hack in but why would they want to see my stuff? Any computer or computer system hooked up to the internet is subject to hacking.
"Ralph Mowery" wrote in news:ItqdnWGD2895mS_QnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:
Anyone done any studies on HOW LONG a home-burned DVD will last? I burned some CD-Roms,and they didn't last more than a couple of years and then were unreadable.
Were you using the CDs all the time or just putting them back for backups and only using them a few times ?
I just checked two , one made in March 1999 and another made in July 2001 . They both seemed ok to me. I checked several .gif and jpg files and some movies. Also some audio files and a couple of old dos programs.
I get the impression you are saying this tongue-in-cheek, when in fact this whole scenario has been finalized down to the last penny, years ago. Every mouse click, every web link followed, every email sent can be logged and billed. Old news. Why hasn't it been implemented? Probably cuz ppl would riot. OTOH, it's already begun, ever so quietly and insidiously. Look at Canada's "user based billing" (UBB).
In the dim and distant past (a few decades ago) we had computer centers that stored "our" data somewhere in our various companies. Then we got "personal" computers, so that "our" data was stored on our own computers on (or under, or beside) our own desks rather than in the computer center down the corridor, or in the next building, or in the corporate data center in another state or another country. Now we're supposed to store "our" data in "the cloud," which is operated by a totally separate company, one whose interests might be totally at odds with ours; and we have no idea where in the whole world that data is actually stored. I'd say that this is a backward step -- or maybe a few thousand backward steps.
The nice thing about DVD is you can take them off site and won't be lost in a fire/flood/tornado situation. Store one in your desk or toolbox at work. Label it "exercise and diet plan" and no one will ever touch it.
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