Some cloud storage / online backup providers compared (DropBox, Sugarsync, Bitcasa, …)
Posted by jpluimers on 2013/07/31
I’ve been using a few cloud storage / online backup providers for a while on Mac and Windows now, with the primary goals of
- being able to sync data between machines
- having a backup online
Here are some pros/cons.
DropBox
Pro:
- ease of setup and use
- ease of sharing with other DropBox users
- shows estimated time left to sync
- strong social connectivity: can add extra free space by referral system, recommendation and camera upload
Con:
- only sync files from within the local Dropbox folder
- shared data from others adds up to your quota too
- USD 10/month for 100 gigabyte of space
- Free plan is only 2 gigabyte
Sugarsync
Pro
- Mirror any folder from any computer to the cloud
- For cost saving: have a < 100 gigabyte plan
- Free plan is 5 gigabyte
Con
- Can only sync the My Sugarsync folder to all your devices
- Not easy to sync-share folders with other people
- USD 10/month for 100 gigabyte of space
Bitcasa
Pro
- Unlimited data storage
- Free plan is 5 gigabyte
Con
- Cannot sync folders between computers
- Primary storage is the cloud
- Has problems with Unicode. A folder name like Würzburg gets renamed into Würzburg.
They look the same, but are different (thanks http://rishida.net/tools/conversion/).
The first is WU+00FCrzburg (which uses Unicode Character ‘LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS’ (U+00FC))
The second is WuU+0308rzburg (which uses an U followed by U+0308 Unicode Character ‘COMBINING DIAERESIS’ (U+0308)
What Bitcasa does is decompose unicode characters behind your back, thereby changing your directory/filename structure (decomposition cannot be 100% undone; see Normalization Form).
Some tools I have not tried yet
Base on the interesting post Bitcasa: Unlimited storage, version history & sync | A Wild Duck, I also want to look at these:
- Symform.
Pay either by bytes or money. You get twice as much storage as you provide. - Space Monkey.
Interesting concept of having a device at home that is part of a distributed cloud. - BitTorrent Sync.
Very promising roll-your-own. Should be powerful, especially when combined with ZFS. Though it might not either.
An other possibility would be ownCloud + BitTorrent Sync. - SparkleShare – Self hosted, instant, secure file sync.
Doesn’t seem to like big binary files though.
Cannot test Digital Lifeboat any more: they have closed down for business.
More to compare: Comparison of online backup services – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
–jeroen
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
ttkk said
So, how it works? And thank you for using my referral link…
jpluimers said
Works OK, though I miss the “history” feature of DropBox (where you can see what actions have been performed, and undo some actions).
ttttkkkk said
Hi,
after my external drive died, and I loose all of my photos, i was very angry. Then I tried Dropbox (fine, but not enough space for me), Sugarsync (for me it was very slow), and now I am using Copy.
Normaly, on Copy you have 15GB for free, but if you use this link, and install Copy application to synchronize or backup your data, you will get 20GB for free: https://copy.com?r=zPku0e
jpluimers said
Thanks for this tip. I used your referral URL so you should have gotten extra disk space too.
Will try this over the next couple of weeks and see how well it works.
–jeroen