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Mozy 2.0 for Mac is faster, more Mac-like
Mozy, the cloud-based backup service for both PC's and Macs has just released version 2.0 of its Mozy for Mac software. Lifehacker reports that while most users won't notice anything other than the shiny new Mac-native appearance, Mozy also added a new query builder to make creating advanced backup rules easier, improved performance and stability, increased backup speed, and added an easy on/off switch for setting up automatic backups. In other words, they have attempted to make it even simpler to use than it already was. Mozy 2.0 for Mac is available for download now and just as before the first 2GB of online storage is free while monthly prices vary for larger home or corporate accounts. It's interesting to see how far they have come since the first version of Mozy for Mac came on the scene. I saw firsthand the value of having an offsite backup system in place when a buddy of mine lost both the internal drive on his iMac AND his external backup drive at home on the same day. He was a Mozy user and had them send him his complete backup on DVDs which he then used to import his data onto his new computer. Regularly backing up your machine (both local and in the cloud) is one of the most important things you can do as a computer user, and I myself have been a longtime user of backup service from BackBlaze. For $50/year, the expense of paying for an online backup is totally worth the safety net it provides. [via Lifehacker and Online Backups Review]
Novatel NovaDrive cloud-based unlimited storage preview
Hold onto your hats, it seems Novatel, maker of some of the finest 3G / WiFi devices, has decided to stretch its legs from connectivity into the realm of data storage. Not only is the cloud-based storage accessible through their software for Windows or Apple, but the company's thoughtfully built a nice mobile site so your cellphone can get in on the fun. Other notables include the ability to mail files to your file server, easy online collaboration for a team, and you can even send folks links to files who don't have access to your server and track when and if they download it. NovaDrive also touts "unlimited" storage -- though, we'd bet they'll drop the fair use hammer quick if you go too wild -- for roughly $50 a year for the personal version and $150 for the team fileserver version. Not too shabby if online storage is your thing, and even if it isn't, Novadrive has a 30-day demo that won't cost you one red cent, so feel free to give it a whirl. %Gallery-89034%
YuuWaa's hardware flash drives combine serious online storage with a silly name
There is certainly no shortage of backup solutions available for people with data that they'd rather not have disappear, and realistically that's probably everyone reading this, but there's always room for tech that makes the process easier. That's what YuuWaa's thumb drives pledge to do. Plug one into your PC (no Macs allowed) and you'll automatically be prompted to create an account and upload whatever you store on the drive. There are two models, a 4GB "Go" for €19.99 ($27) and a 8GB "Plus" flavor for €29.99 ($40), each offering twice their capacity in online storage -- storage that's free for half a year but thereafter costs between $3 and $6 a month to keep your files alive and, optionally, shared online. For that money you could just buy yourself a new thumb drive a few times a year, and we all know you can never have too many of those.[Via Everything USB]
ASUS launches Eee Storage, takes your Eee PC to the cloud... kind of
Apparently Jerry Shen and the homegirls / boys at ASUS want to get a slice of that sweet cloud pie. According to a report, the computer-maker has launched a service called Eee Storage, which provides 20GB of online storage for Eee PC users, as well as access to downloads of around 3,000 pieces of free software and games. The company hopes to expand the service -- which uses a drag and drop interface for file management -- into a full blown "store" where users can download music and "various other content." In the picture above you can see Jerry demonstrating the service to a group of bemused high school reporters.
QuickShareIt 2.0
QuickShareIt, which we covered a while back, has received an upgrade to 2.0, adding many of the originally promised features as well as a host of new ones. QuickShareIt is a Mac app that provides online storage and file sharing with both Mac and PC users. It's growing up amongst a host of similar products, but differentiates itself by offering some unique features centered around the teaming of its dock icon drop-box, "recent uploads" floating panel and web-based file access. For example, if you drag multiple images onto the dock icon, it will ask you if you want to create a gallery. When the upload finishes (with Growl notifications), it will give you a url that you can share and provide options for handling that gallery in the floating panel. It also accepts text clippings and creates a line-numbered, online document for quick sharing of code samples or text snippets. Previews for other filetypes are available. Right now uploading to QuickShareIt is anonymous and public access. The developers are rolling out registration options in the near future, as well as paid options with extra features. If you want to try QuickShareIt out, just download the application and run it. There's no configuration or sign-up necessary (despite the option being present), just drag files or text clippings onto the dock icon and watch it go.
Omnidrive finally releases Mac client
After promising and promising yet failing to deliver their Mac client, online storage firm Omnidrive has finally released this elusive product as a free download. As you can see, the Omnidrive client mounts the remote storage as a Volume in your file system so you access it in the Finder, save to it, open from it, etc. Like Apple's iDisk the Omnidrive client works in the background to manage file transfers, hopefully cutting down on network lag.In many ways it works like WebDAV, but with the considerable advantage that they have a web client that works properly with Safari and other browsers. This makes it very easy to access your files when your away from your main machine (or to give somebody else guest access to a file).You can get 1GB of free storage just for signing up, or bounce that up to 10GB, 25GB, or 50GB for respectively $40, $99, or $199 per year. This looks like a good alternative to Apple's iDisk, particularly since 1GB of storage on .mac runs $99 (though of course there are the other .mac services as well). By my calculations, if you maxed out the Omnidrive's storage and bandwidth allotments using instead Amazon's S3 service,with something like JungleDisk, the S3 price alone would run about $14, $66, $165, and $330 respectively. So especially if you're likely to use most of the bandwidth allotment, Omnidrive looks like a good deal.
