Alternatives to Google Drive

With Google on the list of companies that (willingly or begrudgingly) handed over data to the NSA, what alternatives are there to Google drive where some of your most personal data may be stored? Lets take a look at a few different options.


Dropbox
 
I've mentioned Dropbox before, but its worth putting on this list too. You get 2 GB for free to start, but if you send out some invites to friends and they accept, you get a 500 MB bonus for each person that signs up with a current maximum of 18 GB. Beyond this, Dropbox offers a few different storage options starting with 100 GB for $9.99/month. In addition, your data is encrypted in their cloud, the downside being that y0u don’t choose the encryption key.



Dump Truck 

Dump Truck by Golden Frog offers 5 GB of space on sign-up, and features 500 MB of additional storage per referral, same as Dropbox. In addition, its pricing plans are nearly identical to Dropbox, though Dumptruck's offeings start at 50 GB for $5/month, followed by 100 GB for $9.99/month. From there, the pricing/GB is the same as Dropbox, minus the discount if you pay for a year of service upfront. It even offers the encryption, though it claims to be more secure than "other services" as it made its own apps, and owns its network and servers, therefore having a higher degree of privacy for users.




SugarSync

SugarSync offers 5 GB free, and slightly different pricing plans than Dropbox & Dump Truck, though the 100 GB for 9.99/month is the same, with a maximum of 250 GB for 24.99/month, it also has special options for businesses. Like the other two, it also offers apps for Windows/Mac/iOS/Android, to easily sync files/folders across devices. This is all done securely as SugarSync, like the others, features file encryption measures for your privacy.

Back up your computer

Backing up your data is an important step in securing your information, because if your hard drive crashes, chances are you still want access to your files. There are several ways to go about this, you can get an external hard drive and store your data on there (possibly with the help of a backup  utility) or you can use a cloud service like Dropbox and sync just your most important files, or your entire computer if you're willing to cough up some cash. Lets take a look.




Dropbox

Dropbox offers 2 GB free on sign-up, and for $9.99/month, you can get 100 GB, with other plans offering 200 or 500 GB, which is probably plenty for most people. The advantages here are that you can download an app that will sync the contents of a folder from your computer to the cloud, the bonus being that you can access them anywhere. Best of all, it encrypts your data for extra security.



External Hard Drive

If you go the external hard drive route,  you probably want to use a back-up utility to handle backups for you & help keep you sane. On Mac you can use the built in Time Machine tool to manage backups, if you're running Windows, then Crashplan is for you! It comes in both free and paid flavors.





Another important thing to remember about backups is to have one off-site that way if your house burns down and everything is destroyed, your data is safe on the hard drive you keep at work, or in the cloud.