Now that I'm moving into the 21st century, I'm giving thought to saving some of my stuff online rather than just on my hard-drive.    What does everyone else use ("free" would be preferred).

Depends on how much you're looking to store.

For most folks just wanting to store some documents, pictures, etc for personal use the free storage offered with various accounts (Google, Microsoft, Apple) they already have is enough.  Web interfaces and apps for the major services also make it easy to upload and organize.

So if you already have a user account with one of the above, it's probably easiest just to use Google Drive, Microsoft One Drive, or Apple iCloud because they're already integrated into an account you already have and use.


The main thing you'll want to look at though, if it's a consideration, is how file access/sharing works.  There's ways to make files accessible to others but if you're looking for specific functionality you'll want to verify what the current support is.

As an example Google Drive used to give you a direct access link (www.webaddress.com/yourfile.jpg) for any images you had, so you could use it as an image hosting site for example, embedding images on RPoL.  That functionality was depreciated a long while back.

So if you have specific use cases you'll want to dig in a bit to the specific storage account's features to verify it will let you do what you're looking to do.

I use a thumb drive. Well, I use two, now, because last year one died on me and I couldn't access the backups. Much cheaper than a monthly or annual subscription to a cloud service.

I'm one of those nutty privacy goons who goes by the mantra "there is no such thing as the cloud, there's only somebody else's computer."  I use an external hard drive that goes back in my desk drawer after I back up.

Google Drive, MS Onedrive and Dropbox freebie accounts are all viable ways to store stuff online for free. Personally most of my critical data and work in progress stuff is on a heavy duty USB drive carried on my keyring; if I'm out of the house my keys are with me. I've also got a USB hard drive that lives in a fireproof box inside my home safe, containing the same critical files as well as a copy of my entire MP3 and ripped DVD collections - stuff that is not critical but would be an annoying pain in the bum to re-create. I really out to make a second copy and store it somewhere else too.

If privacy is a concern then its relatively easy to password protect most of your files saved from MS Office (I assume other apps have the same function), or save them as a password protected ZIP file, or use an encrypted flash drive (hardware or software versions available) or a combination of the above.

I have no principles to speak of, I sync seamlessly with the Dropbox folder on my computer and never have to think about it. What do I care if it’s on someone else’s computer? As long as it’s backed up I’m safe against losing data. I’m more likely to lose a physical USB drive…

In reply to Dream Sequence (msg # 4):

I agree with you on privacy -- If Google has it, it isn't really 100% private.  However, there's not point in being an extremist.  Consider if you would actually care if an item were released into the wild.  Frankly, if anybody really wants to see all my photos, they are welcome to it.  Only my important stuff is kept on my own computer and backed up only on my own backup system.  This, it turns out, could probably all fit on an old-school floppy disk.  Everything else is on the cloud.  It's not secure, but who cares?

Being concerned about privacy is one thing if you're worried about things like your personal information, your children's information, or something that you might one day publish or sell (artwork, writings, etc.) that you don't want to fall into the hands of someone that might abuse it.

Unfortunately, worrying about something like photos (of yourself, your children, or anyone else) is rather pointless. In this day and age, everyone and their idiot brother walking down the street has a phone with a camera, and if you live in an actual neighborhood, there are probably at least a half-dozen doorbell cameras pointed at your house. Your image is out there. Your children's image is out there. Your car, your license plate, your home address, what companies you order items from, what hobbies you engage in within your own yard - it's out there. Because people (that IMHO aren't thinking rationally) have decided that they value 24/7 surveillance and being able to record/photo their day at random over anyone's privacy.

...and unfortunately, in a lot of locales, there's nothing you can do about it because the laws on the books don't prevent recordings being made as long as one party (the person doing the recording) is aware of it.

When you look at it in that perspective, being concerned about whether or not someone manages to access a load of character sheets or your party campaign (unless you indeed to publish and sell it, obviously!) is rather irrelevant.
This message was last edited by the user at 15:47, Sun 25 Aug.

With me its one part privacy and one part how much "free" or base storage you get before you have to pay for more. You are much better off the a flash drive or a portable hard drive, the biggest you can get. Just mho.