Online data backup

I am thinking of using an online data back up service and have been looking at my broadband supplier as they are offering me unlimited storage for £1 for the first year, i am going to use up around 250GB max limit do you think this will be sufficent http://titan-adsl.co.uk/home-broadband/online-backup/

there are many competing products for this, free for small amounts of data,
see dropbox or skydrive for instance
250gb is large though

edit noticed gb not mb

Edited by ggremlin (Wed 20-Jun-12 21:06:12)

250GB? Free?

noticed gb not mb too late...

I would always, always, be very sceptical of any offer of "unlimited" anything.

Offering you the bandwidth and disk space (as well as the management, configuration, and maintenance of the required systems) you want will cost money. A cost that will rise the more bandwidth and disk space you need. Quite apart from the fact that on the entire planet there is not an unlimited amount of storage space available (and so the claim is quite impossible), there will come a point where the price they offer is impractical, unprofitable, and unsustainable.

If I were you I would read the fine print very carefully.

By "unlimited" what they actually mean is "more than we think you'll ever want" and so by taking the offer you are gambling that they think people are at least as greedy as they actually are and/or they have enough overhead built in to cover for the particularly greedy. If they are wrong and/or have scrimped on the overhead, you may find the service fails to offer what it claims to.

And it's all done and stored on your home network? Amazing!

That is a confusing advert.

It does not make clear whether the files are also served from your own network.

If all they do is backup your own files on their own disks but serve the files from your home network I'd steer well clear.

They presumably add their own Titan software to your home network as well. No way José.

Personally I'd never store sensitive data with a third party, however secure they think they are.

Trading standards?

In reply to a post by john2007:

Personally I'd never store sensitive data with a third party, however secure they think they are.

Personally I would NEVER be without a secure off-site backup of data on my PCs!

You only find out what is really important to use and others when you lose it!

The product being offered does seem "confusing" though!

The problem I see is in the "£1 for the first year". I always find these headline prices unhelpful. Online storage gives you access to your data wherever you are, and protects you from theft, fire and flood (but possibly not prying eyes). Valuable data should be copied offsite. Have you considered using an external drive for holding backups? These can be taken with you when you leave the house. These are a pain to use as you need to remember to copy your files. If you are feeling flush you could buy a Home Server. These will automatically backup daily all your computers allowing you to recover individual files or restore a complete system from over a reasonable period.

In reply to a post by CutieCakes:

I am thinking of using an online data back up service and have been looking at my broadband supplier as they are offering me unlimited storage for £1 for the first year, i am going to use up around 250GB max limit do you think this will be sufficent http://titan-adsl.co.uk/home-broadband/online-backup/

I see that you have signed up this morning.
Good to have you on board on our data backup package.

Our first year deal is £1 providing you use the promo code, however all we ask is that if you use the promo code you stay with us for the 2nd year at the full price of £24.