storage posts

Gladinet updates to 1.4, now with added cloud backup kung-fu

by Lee Mathews Nov 19th 2009

Gladinet is an excellent way to plug your Windows desktop in to a number of cloud storage providers - like Amazon, SkyDrive, Google Docs - as well as your own FTP and WebDAV servers. They also recently added a nifty cloud-to-cloud backup feature.

In the update to version 1.4, Gladinet has built in the ability to selectively back up specific file types to your remote storage. Want to make sure you have a current set of your local files at the ready on Google Docs? Maybe zip all your photos up to LiveDrive? It's a breeze in the new version.

From your system tray, just right-click the Gladinet icon and choose backup my files online, and in addition to folder and Google Docs backups you can now select Documents/Photos/Videos/Music as options.

Pick one, and Gladinet quickly scours your hard drive for the appropriate files. You can exclude anything you want - for example, stray .GIF images that might be selected by default.

The new task options make backing up your most essential personal files a breeze.

If you're a believer in the cloud, Gladinet is a must-have free download and the pro version is well worth a look at $39.99 (home) or $59.99 (commercial).

Tags: amazon ec2, AmazonEc2, backup, cloud, gladinet, google docs, GoogleDocs, storage

Filed under: Web services, Google, Commercial

Google announces big price cuts on paid extra storage for GMail, Picasa Web

by Lee Mathews Nov 11th 2009

You may not have heard about it before, but Google has been offering additional storage for GMail and Picasa Web users for quite some time. Today, the folks in Mountain View announced big time price breaks.

If you want a little extra elbow room for your email, attachments, and shared photos plans now start at a whopping 20 gigabytes for only $5 per year. Not enough, you say? You'll be happy to know that Google offers up to a full terabyte for $256 annually. Granted, right now you can only use this space for GMail and Picasa Web stuff.

I think I'll be passing on that 16 TB option Sebastian screencapped for now, thanks.

At any rate, Chrome OS in on the way and that likely means we'll finally get our hands on the elusive GDrive as well. Here's hoping it does, anyway.

In the event that Google does open things up, how do their plans stack up against other popular offerings? Let's look at DropBox. For 50Gb of storage, you'll spend $10 per month. With Google's new plans, $20 will get you 80Gb - for the entire year. That's not too shabby.

Sure would be nice if we could use it for all-purpose storage. You listening, Google?

Who's with me?

Tags: gmail, picasa web, PicasaWeb, storage

Filed under: Hardware, Mobile, Android

Droid Does... only have 256MB of storage for apps

by Jay Hathaway Nov 9th 2009

Motorola's Droid is a sweet piece of hardware that's hyped to give the iPhone a run for its money, especially since it's running the new Android 2.0 OS, and works on the Verizon network in the US. We care about software here at Download Squad though, and there's some dismaying news about the Droid on that front: it has only 256MB for app storage. Seriously.

The Droid reportedly only packs a 512MB ROM (that's the built-in memory), of which only half is allocated for apps. There are some iPhone games that couldn't even fit in that teeny-weeny storage space! But at least it's expandable, right? Um, nope. Google doesn't support installing apps to the SD cards that Motorola relies on, so developers are pretty limited in terms of file sizes for their Android 2.0 software.

The Droid may have a solid CPU and GPU for gaming, but games that take full advantage of that hardware are likely to need 100 megabytes or more of storage space. That's going to make things pretty tough until Android 2.0 comes to a device with a lot more pre-installed flash memory.

[via Daring Fireball]

UPDATE: While it's true that the Droid only has 256MB for apps, commenters have pointed out that various resources for the apps (graphics, etc.) CAN be stored on the device's SD cards. It looks like the situation isn't as bad as the numbers seem to indicate at first.

Tags: android, apps, droid, motorola, storage, verizon

Filed under: Utilities, Productivity, iPhone

Dropbox drops onto the iPhone

by Jay Hathaway Sep 29th 2009

Dropbox, the über-slick cloud storage and backup app, now has an iPhone version. You can use the iPhone app to get to your Dropbox on the go, sync media files from your phone to your Dropbox, and share links. You'll need a free Dropbox account - which comes with 2 gigs of storage space - to use the iPhone app, but you can sign up directly from your iPhone.

The iPhone app works with Dropbox's photo gallery feature, so it's easy to upload and view photos on the go. You can also download any of your stored files that you can view on an iPhone, which strikes me as pretty darn brilliant: now, instead of just using Dropbox to back up your computer, you can use it to back up all the media on your phone, too.

If you're away from a computer and your iPhone's music and photos get wiped, they'll still be safely waiting for you in your Dropbox.

Update: Although you can obviously store music (and anything else) on your Dropbox account, there's not actually a way to sync music to your iPhone via Dropbox. Oops. Photos and videos definitely work, though.

Tags: backup, cloud, dropbox, iphone, storage

Filed under: Utilities, Web services

Gladinet releases cloud-to-cloud backup

by Jay Hathaway Sep 1st 2009

Here's an idea I wish I had thought of first: instead of backing up files from your PC to the "cloud" of some online storage service, create a way to back up data from cloud to another. Gladinet's already doing it (for Google Docs users, anyway). With the latest version of Gladinet, you can back up your Google Docs data to Amazon S3, Windows Live SkyDrive, Box.net and more. The backup process can also be automated, so it'll take place behind the scenes, with no work required on the user's part.

Sure, backing up Google Docs might not be such a big deal, but the principle is solid. Arguably, the toughest thing about selling new users on the cloud is convincing them that their data will be safe when it's not stored on a device they can see. The extra security of being able to back up crucial data to multiple systems, in case one provider has an outage, makes the cloud look a heck of a lot more reassuring to the unconverted. For now, though, it's just a good way to back up your documents.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

Tags: backup, cloud, gladinet, google docs, GoogleDocs, storage

Filed under: Windows, Macintosh, Windows Mobile, Commercial, BlackBerry, Mobile Minute, iPhone, Mobile, Android

Mobile Minute: SugarSync now available for Android

by Victor Agreda, Jr. Jul 29th 2009

Need to sync files across machines? Need to access those files on your mobile devices? SugarSync to the rescue. There are currently SugarSync clients for WinMo, BlackBerry, iPhone, Mac and Windows, and starting today, Android phones (Android netbooks too, if they ever appear).

The apps are free, but you pay for storage, starting at $4.99 a month. You can try it free for 30 days, or keep it free with a mere 2GB of storage. You get 30GB for the $4.99 price. SugarSync hasn't yet replaced my current favorite, DropBox, but in light of Apple's iDisk app release, it seems there are more options for syncing files than ever. Here's to choice!

Tags: android, blackberry, cloud, document, false, file, file sync, FileSync, iphone, storage, sugarsync, windows, windows mobile, WindowsMobile, winmo

Filed under: Retrocomputing

Ever wonder who your hard drive's father is?

by Grant Robertson Jul 27th 2009

Do you ever think about the family lineage of your hard drive? Heck, do you ever think about the history of your hard drive at all? Of course you don't. Hard disk storage has become so ubiquitous, so reliable, and so inexpensive that most of us never give it a second thought. But where would Download Squad be if you didn't have all that cheap, seemingly endless space to download your prize finds to?

Nowhere, that's where.

So hard disk drive, we salute you. These videos, which I found on the Magnetic Disk Heritage Center are true gems. The first, an IBM marketing film-strip ca. 1957, dramatizes the invention of the hard disk at 99 Notre Dame, San Jose, California by IBM engineers in the early 1950s. The entire concept of storing data in such a way that it's directly addressable, and accessible at random is so heady and incomprehensible for the time, they explain it over and over again. It even demonstrates how they built a marketing tour bus and went on the road to demo the new hotness to customers across the USA.

The second is a true geeky-pleasure masterpiece. A very technical discussion of the inner workings of IBM's second generation of hard drives. Possibly intended for engineers who serviced the units -- which look larger than your washing machine and dryer put together -- it's as dry as a bread sandwich, but it shows some amazing footage of the inner workings doing their thing. Amazingly, those inner workings haven't really changed *that* much in principle, they've just gotten a whole lot smaller, faster, cheaper and densely packed with bits and bytes.

Grab some popcorn and click through to check out both videos.

Tags: ephemera, hard disk, HardDisk, hdd, IBM, retrocomputing, storage

Filed under: Web services, Social Software

Share files via Twitter with FileTwt

by Jay Hathaway May 26th 2009

If you've used a file-sharing service that lets you upload files and send the link to a friend via email, you might appreciate FileTwt. It's the same idea, but you pass the link along via a tweet or a direct message on Twitter.

In keeping with Twitter's spirit of brevity -- or maybe with FileTwt's inevitable bandwidth costs -- the max file upload is currently only 20mb. FileTwt is a brilliant idea for a couple of reasons, though.

Twitter can be a good broadcast and promotion mechanism, and sometimes you want to share a new design or a demo of some music you recorded with everyone who follows you on Twitter. Or maybe you have a friend who needs a file, and Twitter is the only way you two are connected. Tweeting can definitely be faster than sending email.

Tags: file-sharing, filetwt, sharing, storage, twitter, upload

Filed under: Internet, Web services

Archive.org gets 4.5PB data center in a box, geeks everywhere drool

by Grant Robertson Mar 26th 2009

If you had to back up every hard drive, USB key and portable device in your possession, just how much space would it take? What if you wanted to backup the Intarwebs? I see you reaching for that 1TB back pack drive. Not so fast! Try 4.5 Petabytes. That's four and a half quadrillion bytes.

In order to support the ever growing Wayback Machine at Archive.org, Sun just delivered a brand-spanking new data-center in a shipping container. To put that much data storage in perspective, it would hold nearly 55 copies of everything in the Libraries of Congress.

Dude, when that deal with the guy in Lagos comes through, this is the very first thing I'm buying! Take the jump to watch a 4 minute video which would make any good storage addict drool.

Tags: backup, petabyte, storage

Filed under: Audio, Utilities, Podcasting, web 2.0

Playlist.io: store music in the cloud with Drop.io

by Jay Hathaway Mar 10th 2009

Drop.io is known for having one of the best, most simple file storage interfaces out there. They've already expanded into file sending (usend.io) and tweeting (tweet.io), and music playlists are the next thing on the hit list. Enter playlist.io. It gives you 102mb of space to upload audio files into a playlist that you can play or redownload from anywhere.

Once your music is uploaded, you can customize the look of your playlist, or subscribe to it in RSS. Possibly the coolest feature is Dropcast, which lets you subscribe to your playlist as a podcast in iTunes. Forget turning Playlist.io into the next Megaupload or Rapidshare, though. It's not searchable, and they have a one-click takedown policy.

Tags: cloud, drop.io, music, playlist, playlist.io, storage

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Beta, Web

Livedrive web storage service adds Facebook, video playback support

by Brad Linder Jan 16th 2009

Livedrive has added a bunch of new features to its web based file storage and sharing service. The company, which claims to offer unlimited file storage, now allows you to:

Use a Java based tool for drag and drop uploading using the web interface
Watch videos from the web portal after they've been re-encoded
Drag and drop images from Livedrive to Facebook and vice-versa through a Facebook app

Livedrive also offers a Windows utility that adds a virtual hard drive to your system allowing you to copy files to and from your Livedrive account using Windows Explorer.

The service is free while in beta.

Tags: livedrive, storage

Filed under: Utilities, Mozilla, Browsers, Web

Do more with GMail storage with the GSpace Firefox addon

by Lee Mathews Jan 6th 2009

I've used GMail Drive for quite a while - it's a handy way to back up files into my unused GMail storage. The GSpace addon for Firefox is another way to take advantage of your inbox's excess gigabytes.

Install GSpace and access it from the Firefox tools menu and you're given an FTP-style interface to transfer files. You can also switch to special modes for viewing your photos or listening to music that you've uploaded. Multiple GMail accounts are supported, though you have to switch between them. Being able to access them all simultaneously would be a killer feature, but it's not a serious deficiency.

You'll probably want to set up a new filter for GSpace messages. By default they show up in your inbox like the rest of your new mail. All it takes is filtering subjects for GSPACE and telling GMail to skip the inbox (archive). Doing this won't affect how the files display in GSpace.

Don't fret if the if the installer reports the addon's size incorrectly while downloading - it showed 4gb on my system, but the actual file is only about 200k. Sure, there's a banner ad displayed at the bottom, but AdBlock can take care of that if it really bothers you.

Tags: firefox, gmail, gspace, storage, web-storage

Filed under: Internet, Web services, P2P, web 2.0, Web

P2P storage service Wuala launches web access, API

by Brad Linder Dec 16th 2008

Wuala is an online storage and file sharing service that takes a different approach than most companies offering similar services. Wuala offers users 1GB of web space for free and charges for additional storage. Nothing new there. But the company also lets users dedicate a bit of hard drive space on their own computers to storing files from other users. In exchange, you get an equal amount of additional storage space for free. That's because Wuala uses a peer to peer network to store and transfer encrypted files.

Today Wuala has expanded the service by adding a web interface and web API. Users can now share selected files over the internet. Users can also send links to files that are privately shared to friends who haven't already signed up for the service. The new API also allows third party developers to integrate Wuala with third party web apps, widges, or other services. For example, you could create an app that would allow users to open images stored on Wuala with an online image editor like Picnik or Splashup.

Tags: p2p, storage, wuala

Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Web services, Commercial

Backblaze offers truly no-hassle online backups

by Lee Mathews Dec 3rd 2008

Many users have the same problem when it comes to configuring a backup application: they forget to add one important file or folder to the job. Backblaze - a new online backup service - thinks they have a solution to the problem.

Unlike most applications where items to be backed up must be manually added by the user, Backblaze works by automatically excluding the junk it knows you don't really want to back up anyway. Gleb from the Backblaze team explained it like this:

"The reason we took this approach was that most users would get stuck at the "pick what files and folders to backup" step. They either didn't know how to navigate the file system (try finding your PST file), or their files were not organized, or they just didn't have time."
By default it won't back up operating system, application, or temp files, and you can add any other exclusions you like via the settings screen.

Now, if you're like me and confined to 30kbps upload your initial backup is going to take a while - four days in my case. Once it's done, Backblaze keeps things efficiently in synch by performing differential backups. Your data is encrypted prior to uploading, transmitted securely via HTTPS, and users that demand added security can add their own private key.

Tags: backup, cloud, online-backup, storage

Filed under: Windows, Macintosh, iPhone

Use an iPhone or iPod Touch in disk mode with DiskAid

by Jay Hathaway Nov 10th 2008

One of the first things that iPhone and iPod Touch users noticed was the lack of a built-in "disk mode," where your device would appear on the desktop as a drive that you could use for file storage. Other iPod models even had a setting to specify how much of their storage space should be used for music, and how much should be used for disk mode, but the latest and greatest ones didn't. But thanks to an app called DiskAid, you can still transfer files between your iPhone and your Mac or PC without jailbreaking or using iTunes.

Sure, you may already know how to access a jailbroken iPhone's hard drive via SFTP, but that's a pain in the butt compared to DiskAid. You can just plug your device in, start it up, and start transferring files in a straightforward interface that anybody who's ever used Windows Explorer or the OS X Finder can figure out. As a brief disclaimer, realize that storing files on your iPhone doesn't mean your iPhone can interact with them. It's like putting music on an old iPod in disk mode: you can store it there, but you can't play it.

Tags: disk-mode, DiskAid, iPhone, ipod-touch, storage

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

View more Time Wasters

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