What are your choice cloud services?

[cwblanch]

Hey,

I've never really used cloud services, and I currently "use" Google's Drive service simply because I have an Android phone and the Ubuntu phone is not available in the U.S. as far as I know.
I put "use" in quotes because I have like 3 files in my Drive account and I just don't use it or find the purpose of it.

What do you use cloud services for, and which ones do you use?

[Copper Bezel]

I depend heavily on Dropbox. I got grandfathered into having public hosting on my free account, which means I can host my own images in discussion forums and things, and I have 5 gigs of space on it, so it's a bit more than a new free account offers but less than paid. The main purpose for my having the service is being able to access documents and images on other machines (syncing between the laptop and desktop, but also work and school settings, or just someone else's PC) or on mobile. It's also nice to know that those same documents are backed up out there in case something horrible happens to my computer. I even use it for Tomboy notes syncing between the desktop and laptop. When I take a picture with my phone, it shows up on my laptop hard drive. That's nice.

Drive I use only for Docs, and that's almost exclusively for documents I'm collaborating with someone on (the entire corpus of reference docs and character sheets for a couple of RPs I'm involved with are hosted on Docs, for instance, so having documents that [person] and I can edit, but anyone can view, and then documents that are private to X and Y or editable by - you get the picture - is a necessity, and Docs fills that role beautifully.)

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

i use owncloud, i used to use ubuntu one, but when that service died i got a raspberry pi (i have the old outdated model b) and one of the things i did was put owncloud on it

[Diandra]

I'm using Google Drive for personal files and Copy.com for sharing with people

[cwblanch]

i use owncloud, i used to use ubuntu one, but when that service died i got a raspberry pi (i have the old outdated model b) and one of the things i did was put owncloud on it

I remember trying UbuntuOne, but I didn't do much with it.
I've never heard of owncloud though. How does it compare to the better known ones like Docs and Dropbox?

[cwblanch]

I depend heavily on Dropbox. I got grandfathered into having public hosting on my free account, which means I can host my own images in discussion forums and things, and I have 5 gigs of space on it, so it's a bit more than a new free account offers but less than paid. The main purpose for my having the service is being able to access documents and images on other machines (syncing between the laptop and desktop, but also work and school settings, or just someone else's PC) or on mobile. It's also nice to know that those same documents are backed up out there in case something horrible happens to my computer. I even use it for Tomboy notes syncing between the desktop and laptop. When I take a picture with my phone, it shows up on my laptop hard drive. That's nice.

Drive I use only for Docs, and that's almost exclusively for documents I'm collaborating with someone on (the entire corpus of reference docs and character sheets for a couple of RPs I'm involved with are hosted on Docs, for instance, so having documents that [person] and I can edit, but anyone can view, and then documents that are private to X and Y or editable by - you get the picture - is a necessity, and Docs fills that role beautifully.)

So basically you save your work and stuff on the cloud so that you can have the updated files between all the systems.

If you open a file from the cloud on a computer that has a previous version of that file does it just update the one saved locally?

Also what do you think of Docs vs Dropbox?
It seems Dropbox is more universally available, but that's pretty much all I know about it.
Even my knowledge of Docs is limited cause I just never use it.

[Copper Bezel]

Machines where you have the Dropbox client installed sync actively with every change you make in the Dropbox folder. So no, you don't have to take any steps to update to and from the cloud. Basically, on a machine you own, you're working with local files all the time, and they're silently and immediately mirrored to the cloud as you make changes to them (the files are, as I understand it, tunneled but not encrypted, but this allows Dropbox to use delta changes.) You'd normally only open the web client on a machine you don't own, because you need to print this or that thing or give a presentation and so on.

And yeah, it's a very officeworky tool.

What makes it really usable is the dependability of the updating. It's very rare that I trick it into creating a file conflict copy of something (and when it does, of course, both versions are still there) by, say, saving different versions of a document on two different machines at once or something. The Dropbox daemon monitors writes to the local folder and updates to the web storage at all times. I tried using Ubuntu One while it was a thing, and it just wasn't comparable - it wasn't as smart and quick. Where I can save a smallish document on one machine and have it show up on another almost immediately with Dropbox, that wasn't possible with U1.

And like I said, to me at least, Docs and Dropbox solve two different problems. Obviously, you can use Drive for more than just documents, and there are local syncing tools for it that emulate something like Dropbox. But Drive is still driven almost entirely through the browser, where Dropbox is first and foremost a sync daemon (and mobile app.) And the Docs files themselves are in Google's own document format and can't be edited with local tools. At the same time, Docs' handling of sharing and permissions, simultaneous editing by multiple users, and so on along with the simplicity of the Docs interface and the fluidity between the desktop web app and the mobile app are all totally unparalleled.

So if you're already using Docs and you just want a way to back up or make accessible some other files that don't happen to be documents, Drive is very good at those things. Docs itself is a tool that Dropbox doesn't have anything comparable with, while Drive doesn't have the local integration that Dropbox does and largely requires you to work through webapps, where Dropbox is about synchronizing and backing up local data to be used with local applications.

[philinux]

I tried google drive first on my android phone for backing up photos and vids but it ended up creating endless duplicates. I dont use it anymore because of this.

I now use microsofts onedrive which automatically uploads any new photo via wifi. And I've not had one single duplicate. ;)

[flaymond]

Google Drive is the way to go, sometimes I just use mail cloud service.

[howefield]

ownCloud gets my vote for the best balance between convenience and security. They also have some nice add-ons such as calendar and contacts.

The downside is that is not as easy as simply giving someone else your data and installing a client to access them :)

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

I remember trying UbuntuOne, but I didn't do much with it.
I've never heard of owncloud though. How does it compare to the better known ones like Docs and Dropbox?
i have not used docs or drop box
i have my raspberry pi doing other stuff than just owncloud, for example i have a toggle switch hooked upto it to turn mp3 playback on/off (i figured if i have it syncing my music i may as well use it to play it)
i also made a html5 web based music player so i can stream my library to any device
it also controls a automated keyboard light for my desktop and has a tells me my room temp

for sharing files i just put them in a temporary folder on my desktop and link to them, if i need something long term i use mediafire

[user1397]

I have google drive, box.com, dropbox, and mega.co.nz accounts. Combined, it's well over 100GB of free cloud storage (I don't pay anything for any of these services, never have).

Funny thing is, I really only use google drive, and barely because I basically use it for storing backups of my important documents (I mainly use an external hard drive or microSD cards for backups).

It is convenient as a small backup solution considering I'm so integrated with the google world (I have an android phone as well).

Once in a while I'll use it for sharing something with a friend or relative (by sending public download links).

My other cloud services have nothing in them, they just kinda sit there. I've been meaning to put important documents in all of them so as to not rely on one particular service, I'll probably get around to that eventually. If you're curious, yes I do encrypt my important documents before I put them up on cloud services. I just simply zip the folder up usually in the 7z format and place a password on it (which is a AES-256 password).

[Francesco_Verlato]

Google drive is the best choice for me, can i access to all my files from pc, phone, tablet ecc.. without problems. I find it a fantastic service and has a lot of free storage that many others would make you pay.

[AllenGG]

Well, Francesco has nailed it.
But some tidbits. Google Drive, after you have installed the APP on your Android phone, is directly linked to Drive, and it appears instantly on your Google Mail account.
That said, be careful, don't lose your phone. Drive is too easily accessible.
And, you can nudge up your storage volume. by slowly adding info. Then deleting a little, and on... To Drive.
I'm now at 15G but only use 3G. Watch Google g+ , it aggressively copies and duplicates things like photos *(fotos)
...............http://ubuntuforums.org/images/icons/icon6.png

[Copper Bezel]

Amend that to "don't lose your phone, pin-protect it, and use Android Device Manager to lock or nuke it if you do lose it." But that's kinda normal, right?

[acedia2]

I have 50ish gb in dropbox. Currently using it to keep things like vacation photos, music and some school work. It's convenient and I got it free through a promotion but will be looking at an external drive instead of having stuff on the cloud. It's nice because I don't have to worry if I crash my computer or where I am. There is always a way to access

[cwblanch]

Machines where you have the Dropbox client installed sync actively with every change you make in the Dropbox folder. So no, you don't have to take any steps to update to and from the cloud. Basically, on a machine you own, you're working with local files all the time, and they're silently and immediately mirrored to the cloud as you make changes to them (the files are, as I understand it, tunneled but not encrypted, but this allows Dropbox to use delta changes.) You'd normally only open the web client on a machine you don't own, because you need to print this or that thing or give a presentation and so on.

And yeah, it's a very officeworky tool.

What makes it really usable is the dependability of the updating. It's very rare that I trick it into creating a file conflict copy of something (and when it does, of course, both versions are still there) by, say, saving different versions of a document on two different machines at once or something. The Dropbox daemon monitors writes to the local folder and updates to the web storage at all times. I tried using Ubuntu One while it was a thing, and it just wasn't comparable - it wasn't as smart and quick. Where I can save a smallish document on one machine and have it show up on another almost immediately with Dropbox, that wasn't possible with U1.

And like I said, to me at least, Docs and Dropbox solve two different problems. Obviously, you can use Drive for more than just documents, and there are local syncing tools for it that emulate something like Dropbox. But Drive is still driven almost entirely through the browser, where Dropbox is first and foremost a sync daemon (and mobile app.) And the Docs files themselves are in Google's own document format and can't be edited with local tools. At the same time, Docs' handling of sharing and permissions, simultaneous editing by multiple users, and so on along with the simplicity of the Docs interface and the fluidity between the desktop web app and the mobile app are all totally unparalleled.

So if you're already using Docs and you just want a way to back up or make accessible some other files that don't happen to be documents, Drive is very good at those things. Docs itself is a tool that Dropbox doesn't have anything comparable with, while Drive doesn't have the local integration that Dropbox does and largely requires you to work through webapps, where Dropbox is about synchronizing and backing up local data to be used with local applications.

It seems like Dropbox is more like what I imagine cloud services being rather than Drive (drive still has its uses though). I'm probably going to spend some time with it. Does it work as you say in both Ubuntu and Windows?

[night_sky2]

I use OneDrive/Box. The two combined give me 25 GB of cloud storage, which is more than enough for my needs. I've looked at Mega Cloud but despite the generous 50GB for free, I found it too limited. My interests for the cloud stems from being able to listen to Mp3 songs, videos, edit documents and read pdf files all in a web app and anywhere I want but Mega can't do any of that.

As for Dropbox.. 2GB... I mean come one.

[PhilGil]

It seems like Dropbox is more like what I imagine cloud services being rather than Drive (drive still has its uses though). I'm probably going to spend some time with it. Does it work as you say in both Ubuntu and Windows?Yes. Windows, Linux and OS X.

As someone who uses three computers regularly, services like Dropbox are invaluable because they will sync anything. For example, I keep my keypass database, homebank data file and zim notebooks in Dropbox so the files are always available and synced regardless of which device I'm using. It is true that Dropbox's free storage is paltry (although it's easy to get it up to 5 GB if you have a smartphone), but the client is relatively lightweight and their sync is bulletproof. I've been using Dropbox for several years and have never lost data or had a failed sync. There are certainly things not to like about them (their security practices are a bit sketchy, for example), but in my opinion they're currently the best cloud sync service.

[wildmanne39]

I use dropbox, I have never had a problem with it.

[night_sky2]

As someone who uses three computers regularly, services like Dropbox are invaluable because they will sync anything. For example, I keep my keypass database, homebank data file and zim notebooks in Dropbox so the files are always available and synced regardless of which device I'm using. It is true that Dropbox's free storage is paltry (although it's easy to get it up to 5 GB if you have a smartphone), but the client is relatively lightweight and their sync is bulletproof. I've been using Dropbox for several years and have never lost data or had a failed sync. There are certainly things not to like about them (their security practices are a bit sketchy, for example), but in my opinion they're currently the best cloud sync service.

It is perhaps because I don't use any client that Dropbox is not to me attractive at all. And to get a minimum of 5GB you need to do these extra steps
like promoting their product on social media, downloading their client, Android app ect which I find quite silly. As for myself, what I want available in the
cloud on all computers I happen to use I upload it with the web interface of OneDrive or Box, and that doesn't require installing anything. Period.

[mikodo]

I'm barely out of the "everything on paper" era, so with my one device (desktop), I presently am not using any cloud services. I just use local backups for well, backing up.

But, I am going to use Tarsnap (http://www.tarsnap.com/), as an adjunct, for backing up off site, for my more sensitive data. It appeals to me, and for my small amount of "sensitive data", it is really cheap. It wouldn't be for large volumes.

my 2 cents.

Nice read.

[Habitual]

"usb"="usb" + 1

[Copper Bezel]

It seems like Dropbox is more like what I imagine cloud services being rather than Drive (drive still has its uses though). I'm probably going to spend some time with it. Does it work as you say in both Ubuntu and Windows?
Yeah, as folks have said, it's all three, and then there's an app that more or less emulates the web interface, but with a local cache and integration into other apps, on iOS and Android. And yeah, they both have their uses. Dropbox hits a sort of sweet spot for versatility, but there are still some things Drive does better and simpler, and Docs particularly has its own crazy featureset as a webapp itself, where Dropbox doesn't supply any software for editing the files directly on the web at all.


It is perhaps because I don't use any client that Dropbox is not to me attractive at all. And to get a minimum of 5GB you need to do these extra steps like promoting their product on social media, downloading their client, Android app ect which I find quite silly. As for myself, what I want available in the cloud on all computers I happen to use I upload it with the web interface of OneDrive or Box, and that doesn't require installing anything. Period.

You can either do the promotion thing, or you can pay for the service - the point is that only the first two gigs are "free." But web storage and cloud syncing are not the same service (the former is a small subset of the latter.)


Yes. Windows, Linux and OS X.

As someone who uses three computers regularly, services like Dropbox are invaluable because they will sync anything. For example, I keep my keypass database, homebank data file and zim notebooks in Dropbox so the files are always available and synced regardless of which device I'm using. It is true that Dropbox's free storage is paltry (although it's easy to get it up to 5 GB if you have a smartphone), but the client is relatively lightweight and their sync is bulletproof. I've been using Dropbox for several years and have never lost data or had a failed sync. There are certainly things not to like about them (their security practices are a bit sketchy, for example), but in my opinion they're currently the best cloud sync service.

They are, but they have had one day of wild security brokenness and one day just down so far, so they're not perfect. Nothing is, but they're also not. = ) (Nobody dinked with my stuff on the former, but I did lose access to a file I needed on the latter, while at school without my computer.)

And yes, I think that they're the most featureful and reliable service out there. their weakest point is security. Again, to my understanding, the files are not properly encrypted in exchange between you and them, which is what allows them to use delta changes. That doesn't make them any less secure than an e-mail account ... but they're not any more secure, either. (Of course, you can host encrypted files along with everything else to your heart's content.)

[PhilGil]

They are, but they have had one day of wild security brokenness and one day just down so far, so they're not perfect. Nothing is, but they're also not. = ) (Nobody dinked with my stuff on the former, but I did lose access to a file I needed on the latter, while at school without my computer.)

And yes, I think that they're the most featureful and reliable service out there. their weakest point is security. Again, to my understanding, the files are not properly encrypted in exchange between you and them, which is what allows them to use delta changes. That doesn't make them any less secure than an e-mail account ... but they're not any more secure, either. (Of course, you can host encrypted files along with everything else to your heart's content.)
At the end of the day, if you're going to use a cloud host you have to take responsibility for your data security. That means accepting that your provider may have a security breach or that you may experience loss of data. I know that some people use encrypted containers when they store items in the cloud. I'm not that paranoid but I don't store my most sensitive documents in Dropbox (except for my password database, which is encrypted). I do, however, still include my Dropbox folder in both my local and offsite backups (you can never be too careful when it comes to backups).

At the risk of sounding even more like a fanboy, one other reason I use Dropbox is that Linux has been fully supported since the service was introduced. If I'm going to give my trade to a commercial provider I'd prefer to give it to a business which treats Linux like a first class citizen. By contrast, it's been three years since Google introduced Drive and there still isn't a native Linux sync client.

[Copper Bezel]

Yeah, that was worth a lot of points with me, too. Not just Linux compatible, but specifically Nautilus integrated, able to take command line flags, fully GTK in its settings and dialogue screens - it's native in every possible sense.

[a.h.lohmann]

I have also been looking at cloud services. Primarily to maintain one Thunderbird address book. Google and the various sync add-ons did not work for me. I am trying to do this with one of the free providers using the minimum size drive.

I note that some of you have managed to get google drive and Mircrosoft onedrive to work but neither of these providers support Linux. I have tried to find the settings for a number of them including those so that I could use a utility such as ownCloud but have not found the answer. I am therefore interested in how you did it?

ownCloud needs a sever address which is a web address.

[Copper Bezel]

There's an unofficial sync client for Drive on Linux. I've never used it, though; I just use Drive's web interfaces and the mobile app. That wouldn't work for the way I use Dropbox, but my use case for Drive is different.

[a.h.lohmann]

Since posting above I have picked dropbox see my notes;

http://www.andrew-lohmann.me.uk/engineer/xp-2-linux---operating-systems#TOC-Thunderbird-Address-book-sharing-or-synchronising

Although this is not entirely relevant to the discussion. DropBox is an American company which means anything put on its service you are moving outside the EU and its jurisdiction on surveillance.

[Geoffrey_Arndt]

It is perhaps because I don't use any client that Dropbox is not to me attractive at all. And to get a minimum of 5GB you need to do these extra steps
like promoting their product on social media, downloading their client, Android app ect which I find quite silly. As for myself, what I want available in the
cloud on all computers I happen to use I upload it with the web interface of OneDrive or Box, and that doesn't require installing anything. Period.

Am using Dropbox for 3+ years and no problems at all. Have 50+ GiB free storage of which I''ve used less than 5%. Did not have to do anything special to get that storage other than registering all 3 of my PC's, 1 smartphone, and 1 Samsung Tablet. The dropbox app is in the Ubuntu Software Center and takes about 5 minutes to install. I'm sure OneDrive and Box are great, but see no down-side to Dropbox as it offers nice compatibility with Gnome/Nautilus (Dropbox very Linux friendly).

By the way, "registering" means setting up a free dropbox account (at Dropbox website) before initial 1st system install of the client from Ubuntu Software Center, and then just installing Dropbox app on the other devices I mentioned. I also like the convenience of using encfs & Gnome Encfs Manager to setup "private directory" on local machine which link to encrypted directory on Dropbox. Very easy and Dropbox does not have access/knowledge of my encfs keys.

http://www.webupd8.org/2011/06/encrypt-your-private-dropbox-data-with.html

http://www.libertyzero.com/GEncfsM/

[kenharkey7]

I really love Google Drive (all google services really) but the lack of an official linux client really sours it for me. Dropbox has restrictions on bandwidth and I simply don't like it much. Copy is nice and works on all my platforms as does Mega so those two are the one's I currently use.

[Welly Wu]

You can purchase the third party Insync from InsyncHQ.com. I purchased it, but I did not install it and I don't use Google Drive. It works with Ubuntu GNU/Linux.

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

You can purchase the third party Insync from InsyncHQ.com. I purchased it, but I did not install it and I don't use Google Drive. It works with Ubuntu GNU/Linux.

How can you post in a thread about your choice cloud service when you never actually installed the Insync product?

[Welly Wu]

I purchased it and I used it in the past. I used Insync Plus. It allows for up to three Google accounts and Drives to be connected and you can choose to sync some or all of your data across three different Google accounts and you can schedule specific hours of the day or night to perform the synchronization. It's the only commercial third-party app for GNU/Linux users to connect to their Google Drive accounts. It's better than the native Google GNU/Linux desktop app that never shipped yet.

[Welly Wu]

I am using the latest Insync GNU/Linux desktop client on both my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P and ZaReason Zeto PCs right now. I also purchased 1.0 TB of Google Drive cloud synchronization storage capacity for $9.99 USD per month. The latest version of Insync is 1.2.16.35181 64 bit. InsyncHQ added new features that were requested by its customers recently. You can visit http://www.insynchq.com to find more information about this software product. To the best of my knowledge, this is the closest native and unofficial GNU/Linux desktop client that Linux users can get to the official Google Drive desktop client which is available for Apple Macintosh OS X and Microsoft Windows customers. One of the features that I like is the integrated GNU/Linux file manager feature that makes it easy to select or deselect specific folders or files to be added or removed from your Google Drive account respectively. Another feature that I like is the ability to selectively sync specific folders or files and to pause syncing. There are other features that make the latest Insync software product more useful and user friendly. It has a refreshed GUI design that is more attractive and it makes it easier to use this software product. It does cost $15.00 USD, but this is a one time price and it does not mean an annual or monthly subscription for the Insync software product. You will need to pay a monthly subscription price if you wish to add additional cloud sync storage capacity for your Google Drive. It is not meant to be used as a data backup or for archival purposes. If you need to share specific folders or files with someone else or multiple people or you need to synchronize specific folders and files to multiple PCs, then both Insync and Google Drive are suitable for those tasks. Insync is a more premium software product compared to the official Google Drive software application and it is the only realistic choice for GNU/Linux users right now.

[dalekirkwood]

Personally, I use box.com. It was one of the originals and comes with 10gb of storage as standard. Only problem is there is no decent sync client for Linux. You can add it as a server and then use unison to sync.

[portalhavoc]

I use Google Drive. It's really easy to use and it comes with 15 GB free. :)

[Skaperen]

i am still addicted to AWS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Web_Services) despite being long past the free year

[anakai]

I use gooolge drive and mega drive. Mega drive I have 50 gb on and google I don't know. I also have a Onedrive that I got somwhere with 15 gb on it. Google drive is the one I use for almost everything.

[hunterkasy]

I use spideroak, a zero knowledge full encryption and 1tb for $12 a month