re: Can I trust

I totally agree JC. If you can't store your data on an external hard drive or CD-ROM, don't come back here screaming when all your data gets lost. The only data that is stored outside my house is the info i might have on FaceBook and that's where it ends. What a bloody stupid idea...Andy :(

re: Can I trust

Carbonite Pro is a good solution, particular as it allows a combination of local user and central user access

re: Can I trust

The only question I'd ask, here, is .........."How valuable is your private data (to you?), that you'd be sooooo stupid........to put it all in the hands of another person?"

The ONLY person in the entire World......who can truly ensure that All of your private data....does stay private, is YOU, and you alone!

How do you do that?
Well, that's entirely up to you!
It does not fall.....into the RESPONSIBILITY..........of another person.
It's your private data, you keep it safe-n-secure, not anyone else!

re: Can I trust

Questions you need to ask.
What■s the cost now and how can it change in the future.
Could I be hit for massive fees to retrieve my data?

Your data will be stored on a server not necessarily in your country, what safeguards do they have? And if the political situation changes?

Who has access or potential access to my data?

Encrypted transmissions are routinely intercepted and scanned. If I encrypt my data for my protection, will I be subject to scanning, interception or question?

Can I retrieve my data if I change ISP or host?

Can I afford to lose the data?

Can I afford to have the internet go down for hours or even days?

What form of redress do I have if the host loses data? would, say, the IRD accept data loss in this context?

Do I have to update any hardware or software if the host changes anything?

What happens if the host, isp or anyone between my data and myself goes belly up?

What happens if the host, isp or anyone between my data and myself is sold or taken over by another company?

If I have to keep a backup, what■s the point of storing data online? Why do I not do it myself?

What happens to deleted data and what happens to data if I close the account, and of course, if payment is delayed for any reason, what happens to my data and how soon?

Personally I would not trust my data to clouds; clouds by definition are ethereal things, impossible to catch, uncontrollable and float wherever the wind takes them. here today, gone tomorrow and incredibly inconvenient when they come down on you.

re: Can I trust

When I backup our data at work and store it, and then someone does something they regret like delete a file, they come to me and say "This is gone, can you get it back please?", and I look through the backups and retrieve it. Sometimes it doesn't work, but mostly it does.
what happens when you have it in the "cloud" and someone deletes it ? Can you recover an older version because something that went missing from in the document ? Can you pull that really old version back ?
The cloud is limited in my opinion. What do you want with your data ? Do they do it ?
Trust ? The bigger question is what services do they actually offer ? how long will it take for them to do something for you ?

re: Can I trust

I read recently that companies (SAS specifically) are offering private clouds. No idea of the nuts and bolts, but they're supposed to be secure. Might pay to check it out. It's supposed to offer cost savings because you won't need as many hardware upgrades.

The article I read was in The Canberra Times on 8/3/10.