... My number one concern is my photos to be honest, that's why I'm giving a positive review here for Windows Live Skydrive.
What is it?
Windows Live Skydrive is a service provided by Microsoft completely free of charge for storing files online.
You are given 25GB of space (it used to be a ... Read review
Advantages: Free, lots of storage, sharing Disadvantages: Lack of features with file movement, 50MB file size limit
...a positive review here for Windows Live Skydrive.
==What is it?==
Windows Live Skydrive is a service provided by Microsoft completely free of charge for storing files online.
You are given 25GB of space (it used to be a lot less and maybe it will increase in the future) to store all the files that you want (if they fit and are under 50MB individually).
==How do I get it?==
If you have ... ...you can sign into the service.
==Main features==
Online backup - You can backup all the files you want, up to 50MB in size per file. Obviously you can't store anything that infringes any copyright.
Online sharing - You can share folders and files with friends (you can restrict it to certain users) or completely publicly. Friends can even make use of the RSS service to see when new files are added. Note that ... more
As many of you will know, some things need to be backed up from your PC. I've had hard drive failures, my laptop stolen and everytime lost something I didn't have a copy of somewhere else. Most things I don't care about, but some things are important. My number one concern is my photos to be honest, that's why I'm giving a positive review here for Windows Live Skydrive.
What is it?
Windows Live Skydrive is a service provided by Microsoft completely free of charge for storing files online.
You are given 25GB of space (it used to be a lot less and maybe it will increase in the future) to store all the files that you want (if they fit and are under 50MB individually).
How do I get it?
If you have a Windows Live ID (from Messenger or Hotmail for instance) you can sign into the service.
Main features
Online backup - You can backup all the files you want, up to 50MB in size per file. Obviously you can't store anything that infringes any copyright.
Online sharing - You can share folders and files with friends (you can restrict it to certain users) or completely publicly. Friends can even make use of the RSS service to see when new files are added. Note that not everything is shared with the world, so it is okay to store stuff that is just a backup for yourself.
Photo Sharing - The photo sharing is much like the file sharing, only it displays the photos in albums according to the directory structure that you choose.
Drag and drop uploads - You are able to highlight a series of files on your PC and drag them into the upload page.
Limitations
I find it frustrating that you cannot drag a folder to be uploaded. You have to create the folder in Skydrive first, then upload the files to that folder.
The 50MB limit is also a bit awkward, home movies will be difficult to store and any zipped archives of your photos.
The most annoying feature for me is that once a file is uploaded you are able to rename it, but you cannot move it between folders. Very annoying indeed if you uploaded something to the wrong location in your folders!!
The upload tool can be sensitive to slow or flaky internet connections. My upload speed can be quite low, if I leave photos uploading overnight it isn't unusual to see that 3 photos made it and then a page full of errors.
If you use Window Live Onecare, Skydrive is not compatible with this from what I can see, so you cannot take advantage of the photo backup feature in that software here. This is an extra cost feature in Onecare.
Summary
Personally I use Skydrive only for photo backups. These are the most important things that I would want to back up, the files are below the 50MB limit and they are displayed well within Skydrive itself. I don't use the sharing features, but maybe that could prove useful to me one day. For now the 25GB is plenty for me, especially as the service is free.
I wouldn't personally use this for sensitive personal documents, banking stuff or anything along those lines. I don't have these sorts of things on my hard drive anyway.
If you're looking for a simple, free, backup solution then this could be useful for you. Sadly it involves quite a bit of manual work, some kind of automated backup tool would be nice!
