Aug 16, 2003 11:44 AM
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Back in 2000-2001, I think, online storage was a rage! Reason? Simply, it was FREE! And you know how it is! When something is FREE, people just jump on to the band-wagon! Of course, that included me too
;-) Regrettably, common sense gave way to non-sense! dot coms were offering huge space storage accounts, some of them spanning into GBs, completely FREE! However, there were problems.
Most of these accounts were completely unreliable. Worse, files disappeared! Confidentially was not assured, and the possibility was high, of data being compromised. These accounts were then usually useful only for individuals, and then, that also disappeared!
The dot com bubble burst, and one by one, the online storage companies started disappearing, and the survivors converted from a FREE model to a PAID model. One of the more reliable ones, X-drive, which offered FREE online storage at that time, now offers only PAID storage. This, and other online storage companies that have survived the dot com bubble have now become paid companies. In fact, take a look at the earlier Reviews written by other members of https://mouthshut.com on online storage, and you will discover the fact that what I say is completely true, and that there is no such thing as a FREE lunch!
However, not everything is lost! And for those who need online storage but cannot afford to pay for it, there are still a few good options around! This is the first one in a series of reviews that I propose to write then, that cover one such good option. As the saying goes, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. I cannot promise you a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but something definitely decent enough!
Mind you, these are reliable options at this point of time! But I cannot guarantee that they will always be so. In fact, down the road, may be, in the year 2004 or 2005, you might even see a review by another smart aleck like me(with a lot of hind-sight;-) and possibly very little fore-sight) lambasting all that I have written here!
And now to the really interesting part.
Are there still companies offering FREE online storage? And the answer is. YES! I am, of course, referring to reliable storage companies offering FREE online storage. However, please do not expect this online storage to be huge, because it is not! It usually is around a couple of Mega bytes! Say around 20 Megs or so! This might look very small, but is usually very much sufficient for our normal usage. And if you were to club a few accounts like these, you would get a decent 100 Megs or so!
Think it is enough? Well, it is a matter of personal opinion, and your actual requirement! So far as I am concerned, it meets my regular requirement.
In fact, you might have some storage space allocated for your photos, and the remaining for regular data. Forget about music; this kind of storage is usually quite insufficient for music files which require lots and lots of space! If you have a better idea or a better option, please let me know.
At least one of the options has been staring at you for a long time! Several of you, probably, are using it actively! Think Yahoo! and you will understand what I mean!
Ever heard of the Yahoo! Briefcase or Yahoo! Photos? This is as decent an option as you can get for FREE online storage! Yahoo! Briefcase and Yahoo! Photos, combined give you 30 Megs! That is excluding the eMail Account space which figures to another 6 Megs! So, totally, you have in just 1 single Yahoo! Account, 36 Megs of FREE online storage space!
However, a word of caution! When uploading files to the Yahoo! Briefcase or Yahoo! Photos, make sure that the files are not huge! There are some restrictions here. For example, if you want to upload in a single instance a file of size, say 1 Meg, Yahoo! will start giving you headaches! So, what is the solution? The best thing you can do is break-up the file into small chunks with free software like File Splitter, and then upload the chunks online! Later, when you need the file, download the file chunks, and combine them back using the same software that you used to break it up! All this looks sooo complicated, but trust me, once you get used to this procedure, it will be a piece-of-cake! And you can always rely on me, or any of your knowledgeable friends, for help!
The above procedure works out well for regular data files, but what about photos that you want to upload online, and have others see them online? If the photos are large in file size(small ones are no problem), then obviously, you cannot break-up them up into small chunks for uploading online. Because, once you do that, they cannot be viewed online by your near-and-dear ones! They will still be good as data, and you can always download them and re-assemble them, and see them offline, but that is all they will be useful for! I am afraid that the only solution that I can suggest is that you get the photos scanned for small file size, preferably, JPEGs or GIFs.
Additionally, I just would like to add that you can also Save Yahoo! Mail attachments directly to your Yahoo! Briefcase! This helps reduce the clutter in your eMail Account!
Yahoo! Briefcase is still the easiest way to put your files online and share them with friends or co-workers. You can share your files with friends and family.
For more information, please check out the following hyperlinks. https://briefcase.yahoo.com/ https://photos.yahoo.com/
Succinctly put –
Pros:-
+ FREE - 30 Megs of decent & integrated online storage
Cons:-
- Problems when uploading large files
Please remember, the Yahoo Photos is a part of the Yahoo Briefcase. Importantly, it is also far more exciting! It has several advanced options to manipulate your photos, but I would rather leave you to find out all that for yourself! Have heaps and heaps of fun!
Hey! You still here? What are you waiting for? Get on to the website, and start experimenting;-)
You can check us out at https://urbanohermits.blogspot.in/
