External HDD problem

[#1]

@nanotm

Storing stuff off line with microsoft is a non starter for me as I never use windows online only Linux.

The main thing I have is photographs, no personal or financial details and such like but more of sentemental value.

For anyone with data they cannot afford to lose or let others have access to a external drive kept in a fireproof save should cover most eventualities.

[#2]

If you're lucky enough to have friends/family near you I would burn a disc for each and ask to leave it round theirs. Even so visit anyway and tell them.

[#3]

yeah I know you don't use widnows online I used onedrive as an example because that's what I use (with windows) although I belive anyone can sign up for a Microsoft account (outlook office etc) and there is a onedrive app for other os's and they give a fairly generous allowance if your using office 365 subscription (1tb) without the advisory that they reserve the rights to steal any and all uploaded info.....

google drive works in a similar way except google does reserve the right to use any item you put online (a similar thing with any option that doesn't cost a lot of cash) or make it public at their discretion.....

I like the online backup option but I don't rely on it as the sole option /

 it was just an option of something possibly useful so that even if you had suffered a total loss through ha transformer failure and fire locally your files survive by being somewhere else and still being instantly accessible (I love the fact I can mirror files from my pc to my tablet and phone, not that I get out and about much anymore but it does cut down on clutter/

anyhow each to their own you do as you feel comfortable

[#4]

If you want to trust clouds to backup your data you must ensure that you use strong encryption.

[#5]

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@VileReynard wrote:

 you must ensure that you use strong encryption.

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why ? 

when you setup the account you give the encryption key to whatever host there is, unless your going for a seriously high end corporate style account that costs big bucks, its in the T&C's of every cheap/free options I've ever looked at....

if you encrypt the files you need to know the decrypt key will be available whenever needed, if the key is something you can remember its highly likely that someone else can guess what it is especially if there motivated to learn something about you in order to steal your files... just don't put naked pics online and your golden

also putting high encryption on a file that you store in the cloud is like setting up a red flag to the spiders and site monitor bots, they will clone your files in a heartbeat as soon as there detected, and unless you own the server your never going to find out, just assume anything you put online can be made public at any time and don't store anything you don't want being seen in digital format.... 

for me personally if someone wants to hack my online account and look at all my music, saved game files and poorly taken family snaps there welcome to look, and so long as nobody deletes them I probably wont care two figs about it, most of them are just normal family stuff with the odd one or two of the kids that I can use against them at important birthdays like 18/21/wedding.... because everybody likes seeing those photos of a kid covered in face paints and wearing a fairy costume ....

oh and they would also see some wedding photos from over 20 years ago when I got married, so again not anything I really care about being private 

[#6]

You hand out an encryption key, to protect your data in transit.

If you are daft enough to trust the cloud storage provider, then you need do nothing else.

Could you send your credit card details to me, as I could do with a bit of extra cash?

[#7]

sure but you'll need to pay the account off before you can spend anything on it