Then there were news that photo galleries might be accessible on the Internet without the user’s knowledge.

If that was not already enough, there was an incident with the Open Source project Dropship which used Dropbox for file sharing purposes.

The interview with Dropbox’s co-founder and CTO Arash Ferdowsi is about Dropbox’s perspective on said issues.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your position at Dropbox

A: I’m Arash and I’m the Co-founder and CTO of Dropbox.

Dropbox has seen a big surge in users over the past year, how has the company accommodated the rapid growth?

A: It’s a combination of architecture and automation. We carefully think through how our infrastructure is architected to deliver a service that will scale to 50 million, 100 million, 500 million users. We’ve also hired an awesome group of support engineers that not only answer every support ticket that comes in (from free and paid users alike), but who are building automation and auto-suggest systems that allow users find answers to their questions on their own.

Can you tell us about the company’s infrastructure?

A: We store files (after first encrypting them) on Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3). We also have database servers, web servers, and the rest of our infrastructure outside of Amazon.

Dropbox staff seems very motivated, what’s the secret of the staff’s commitment?

A: Designing a great product is a very creative job. It’s amazing to be able to exercise your creativity in a way that makes the lives of millions of people better. We’re really fortunate to have that opportunity. It’s the best job in the world.

As more and more companies get into the file hosting / synchronization market, how do you differentiate yourselves? Who do you consider your competitors?

A: What makes Dropbox special is that it just works. Every update should make Dropbox not just more powerful but also simpler. We’ve spent untold hours obsessing over every tiny detail of how Dropbox works, so you don’t have to. Software like this simplifies your life and gives you time back.

Any plans to increase the available storage in the near future?

A: We’re looking at offering larger storage options. Businesses and organizations can already purchase more storage with a Dropbox for Teams account.

When did you hear about the issue?

A: We heard about this issue when users wrote into support with the link to the security researcher’s blog post.

The issue was controversially discussed on the Internet, was that similar in internal meetings?

A: Not really. As we stated, if your computer is compromised, all your files are already exposed, not just Dropbox. That said, there were things we could do to make Dropbox more resistant to attacks from someone with access to your computer, and we immediately began working on it.

Which steps were taken to resolve the situation?

A: Our client team immediately addressed the permissions issue so that the config.db file can’t be accessed across local user accounts. We also began investigating approaches to encrypting the config.db file and making user credentials harder to steal. We released the first build to our user forums a month later.

How long will it take before 1.2 is released as stable?

A: Probably a few more weeks. Unfortunately the encrypted config.db file breaks several third-party apps so we want to give them a chance to design workarounds.

Are photos that are uploaded to the photo folder automatically public, meaning not protected by a password initially?

A: Actually, they are semi-private. The links include a random sequence of characters and then the filename, and it is possible but unlikely that someone can guess this. Of course, if links are posted on a public site that is crawled by a search engine, it is discoverable.

What can users do who no longer want their photos to be public on the Internet?

A: Simply move them out of the Photos or Public folder. By default, Dropbox doesn’t create publicly accessible URLs for files. The exceptions are those files that are placed in the Public folder and Photos folder.

Can you comment on the Dropship situation?

A: When something pops up that encourages and enables people to use Dropbox for infringing copyright content, you can imagine how that could ruin the service for everyone. Illegal file sharing has never been permitted and we take great pains to keep it off of Dropbox. We have a variety of easy-to-use sharing mechanisms (public links, shared folders, etc.) that people have been using for a long time for legitimate uses.

To clear up any confusion about Dropbox using DMCA to kill an open source project, we never issued a DMCA takedown to anyone. One user posted the source code on Dropbox and we removed it via a support banning tool. Unfortunately, the user received a bizarrely-worded email from us saying that we had received a takedown notice from ourselves (no such notice ever existed), for which we’ve since apologized.

Could you describe some ingenious uses for Dropbox, for instance how users are making use of Dropbox’s capabilities?

A: Our users write in with stories every day about how Dropbox is simplifying their lives. Astronomers are collaborating across continents by setting telescope data to save directly into their Dropboxes. Disaster response workers used Dropbox to share data and coordinate the relief effort after the Haiti earthquake.

Lets take a look at the basics first. If you are a free Dropbox users, you get 2 Gigabytes of space. That’s usually more than enough to store documents and files in the cloud. Dropbox uses encryption to protect data on their servers from unauthorized access. As I pointed out before, that may not sufficient considering that the company may decrypt all files in a legal process, which also means there is a chance that an attacker might do the same. (Dropbox has responded to the issue)

TrueCrypt is an Open Source encryption software for Windows, Linux and Macintosh that can encrypt data containers or full hard drives or hard drive partitions. Since we only have a maximum of 2 Gigabytes of storage on Dropbox, we need to create an encrypted container to store our files in.

The basic idea is therefor the following: We create a TrueCrypt container on the local system. The size depends on your preferences, I would suggest to keep it as small as possible. If you run out of space you can either increase the size of the TrueCrypt container or create a second container to store additional data in. My suggestion is a maximum size of 500 Megabytes, if you can live with less select that number. My personal container has a size of 100 Megabytes.

Download the latest version of True Crypt from the developer website. Install it and run it after installation. Locate the Create Volume button in the interface and click on it.

Click Next two times on the following screens to create an encrypted file container with a standard TrueCrypt volume (those are the default options). Click Select File and browse to a location where you want to create the new container. Make sure it is not in the Dropbox folder if Dropbox is running. You can name the container anyway you want, e.g. holiday2010.avi.

Click Next on the encryption options page unless you want to change the encryption algorithm or hash algorithm. Select the volume size on the next screen. I suggest you keep it at a few hundred Megabytes tops.

You need to enter a secure password on the next screen. It is suggested to use as many characters as possible (24+) with upper and lower letters, numbers and special characters. The maximum length of a True Crypt password is 64 characters.

Now it is time to select the volume format on the next screen. If you only use Windows computers you may want to select NTFS as the file system. If you use others you may be better of with FAT. Juggle the mouse around a bit and click on format once you are done with that.

Congratulations, the new True Crypt volume has been created.

Move your unmounted new data container to the Dropbox folder. That folder, but not its contents since Dropbox cannot access those, will now be synced with your space in the cloud. It can take minutes to hours depending on the upload speed of your Internet connection and the size of the container that you have created.

But this is a one-time transfer. Dropbox will only transfer the changed bits after the first upload. This is theoretically a security risk as well but it would require lots of energy and dedication which means it usually can be neglected for personal data.

You can now mount the container on your local system and use it normally just like any other True Crypt volume. You can add, delete or edit files in it. Whenever you unmount it, it gets synced with your Dropbox account. This means that you need to unmount it regularly before you shut down the computer in order to sync the data with Dropbox.

Install True Crypt on all your other devices to access the encrypted volume there as well. You can also copy a portable version of True Crypt to the Dropbox for direct access without installation.

Problems

The biggest problem is that you cannot access the encrypted data on Dropbox’s web interface anymore. All you see is that one big encrypted container that you cannot access because you cannot run True Crypt on the cloud. There is no way around it: You either use the encrypted container for additional security, or trust the standard Dropbox encryption to access the data on the web interface as well.

You also need to make sure to mount the encrypted data container on one computer at a time. Dropbox would otherwise create a copy of the file in the Dropbox folder which would cause files becoming out of sync.

Verdict

If you want that extra bit of security, and eliminate the minor chance that someone manages to decrypt your data on Dropbox, or that Dropbox decrypts the data for law enforcement, then your best bet is third party encryption of the data. It may sound complex and complicated to setup, when it is a straightforward process that’s done in less than five minutes.

About those events: Dropbox was in the news lately; The cloud storage hosting and synchronization service recently changed their terms of service to better reflect that they decrypt user data stored on Dropbox to comply with valid legal process and U.S. law. This currently affects about one user per month on Dropbox. Dropbox uses strong AES encryption automatically to encrypt all data transfers and data on their servers.

Dropbox came under fire earlier this month when a security researcher found out that Dropbox’s local authentication file was not linked to a specific system. Attackers could use the file on other compatible devices to sync all data from a Dropbox account without authenticating. What made matters worse was the fact that the access was not listed in Dropbox’s access history, and that changing the password did not invalidate that file.

And then there was Google who announced that they would close down Google Video for good. Users were given time to download their uploaded videos from the service for a period of about four weeks. After that, the videos and all stored information would be no longer available on the Internet.

These unrelated events outline two major cloud hosting dangers: Data availability and security.

Data Availability

Who would have thought that Google Video would be discontinued one day? Sure, it became pretty obvious after the purchase of Youtube, but before that? Closing down a service is an extreme but it happens frequently. You see services going down for a limited period of time more often than that. It recently hit Amazon’s cloud storage service which caused service disruptions for popular destinations such as Foursquare or Quora.

You may still believe that sites like Facebook will be there forever. Look at MySpace for instance to see that the logic is flawed. The site is still there but what was once the most popular social networking site on the Internet is now fighting for survival. If it goes down, so will data of all of its users.

Your consequence should be obvious: Keep a local copy of data that you hold dear. You can use backup software to store the data in save locations locally, for instance on DVD or an external hard drive.

Businesses should keep local copies as well, considering that a service disruption might otherwise cut them off from data that they need to run the business. So, instead of relying solely on cloud storage to store contact information, important documents or applications, they need to make those available locally as well to be prepared when the cloud service goes temporarily or permanently down.

Suggested Actions

• Local Backups and copies of data
• Regular backups or synchronization of data

Security

Data security is the second big issue that you need to address to protect your data in the cloud. Some users say, you should not upload anything to the cloud that needs to be kept secure and protected from third party access. While that’s a sound advice, it is not always as easy as that.

The next best thing is to make sure your data is properly encrypted. That’s on the other hand not possible in all scenarios. Sure, you can encrypt your data before you upload it to a storage solution like Dropbox or Microsoft’s SkyDrive. But you cannot encrypt videos that you upload to Youtube, or text that you publish on your Facebook wall.

You need to follow two different approaches when it comes to securing your data in the cloud. You encrypt what you can, usually files that you have direct access to. I suggest True Crypt for the job but you can use other encryption software as long as it is updated regularly.

I’m going to write a separate article on encrypting Dropbox data with True Crypt.

You need to evaluate data that you post in semi-public or public places, and data that you do not have direct control of once you have uploaded it to the cloud. This includes Youtube videos, wall posts on Facebook, a comment on a third party site or showing everyone your favorite artists on Last.fm.

You may have control over deletion on some services, but that does not mean that the data is gone for good. Someone may have read and liked your Facebook wall post or someone may have downloaded your Youtube video and published it on another video hosting site. You lose full control over your data as soon as you upload it to a semi-public or public place on the Internet.

There is not really a lot you can do once you have uploaded the data. Some services charge a premium to get data removed from the Internet, but even they cannot guarantee that every last bit gets removed.

Suggested Actions

• Encrypting data whenever possible
• Evaluate data before you post it online

Closing Words

Hosting data in the cloud can be very beneficial for individuals and businesses alike. The benefits have however overshadowed some of the dangers of storing data online. The dangers become more present as more and more people and organizations move to the cloud, and with news that put the focus on those dangers.

This happens completely in the background. The attacker does not have to enter the account credentials to initiate the synchronization. The original user furthermore will not be notified about the transfers, and the new device will not be added to the list of allowed devices in the Dropbox account settings.

To make matters worse, there is only one option to block the attacker from synchronizing and downloading files from the original user’s Dropbox: By removing the original device from the list of authorized devices in the Dropbox account. But for that, the owner needs to know that the computer was compromised. Changing the account password does not invalidate the config.db file, it can still be used to synchronize data.

One could say that the original user has other problems if someone managed to get access to the computer, and that’s definitely true. With that access, one could easily transfer data from the local Dropbox folder, access mounted True Crypt volumes or access other files like mailboxes that the user has access to.

It does not however make it less worrying that the reliance on config.db for authentication is inherently weak. One step in the right direction would be to implement safeguards, for instance by linking the file to the system it has been authorized on, and by using a notifications system to inform the user of new devices that have established a connection with the Dropbox account.

You can check for unauthorized access manually on the Dropbox website, but there is no notifications option available. And even then, the attacker’s device would not appear in the list of devices.

But what about encryption? If you encrypt your Dropbox data you are safe right? Encryption is not really an option either, considering that an attacker who got local access to a computer system could very well have the means to log the decryption on the local system. And it would render the file and folder sharing on Dropbox useless.

So what is it that you can do right now? You could for instance make sure that you do not host important files on your Dropbox, and if you do, you should consider encryption as it adds another layer of protection around the Dropbox files. But as we mentioned earlier, it is not a complete safeguard.

You could also start monitoring the config.db file or try to change the rights of the file so that it cannot be accessed by standard system users.

The underlying insecurity, as rare as its exploitation may be, needs to be fixed by Dropbox. You can read Derek’s article and several interesting comments on his personal website.

All of the headlines, features, and promises have caused the public to overlook a disturbing section of the fine print in the lengthy legal agreement. As a part of using the Cloud Drive, Amazon reserves the right to look at your files. They don’t have to ask or notify you. They can even keep files you delete. They can even share this information with others. This kind of clause usually mentions something about courts, subpoenas, or some other legal context. There are no such conditions here.

“5.2.Our Right to Access Your Files. You give us the right to access, retain, use and disclose your account information and Your Files: to provide you with technical support and address technical issues; to investigate compliance with the terms of this Agreement, enforce the terms of this Agreement and protect the Service and its users from fraud or security threats; or as we determine is necessary to provide the Service or comply with applicable law.”

This is in striking contrast to Dropbox, a service similar to Amazon’s Cloud Drive in many ways. You can upload files to Dropbox for storage through a web interface, just like with the Cloud Drive. In the Cloud Drive, files are unencrypted, easy for the company to read. Dropbox encrypts both its connection and its files, leaving only the file names unencrypted. This is to protect your privacy, but it does come at a cost. If you have a problem with a file, and an old version is not sufficient or available, then there is not much that Dropbox’s tech support can do. An IT employee at Amazon would able to take a closer look to diagnose the problem. Security is often a trade off between convenience and privacy, so there is some validity in Amazon’s decision.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Amazon’s 1984 incident shocked the world, and it is in a position to take such controversy to the next level. Anyone could find files missing, information leaked, or embarrassments made public. Alternatively, they could simply delete music you own.

There are some other parts of the agreement that are note worthy, but less than alarming. You are not supposed to share access of your account with anyone else. An unsurprising, and arguably sensible, clause. With no feature to share files, as found in Dropbox, this can create problems. The only way to share a file would be with a joint account, which would not be permitted in the agreement. There also is no way to publicize a file, so you cannot use the service for any kind of web hosting. In contrast, not only can Dropbox do that, but it can generate photo albums that can be shared with just a link.

To use the Service, you must have an Amazon.com account. You may only use the Service in connection with one Amazon.com account, so if you have multiple Amazon.com accounts, you’ll need to choose the account you want to use for the Service. The email address and password for your Amazon.com account are all that is required for access to files you store on the Service. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account and password and preventing their misuse and you agree to accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your account. You may not use a name, username or email address that you are not authorized to use or share your Amazon.com username and password with others for purposes of allowing others to use the Service through your account. If we suspend or terminate your use of the Service or your Amazon.com account, you may not use the Service through another Amazon.com account.

There is one kind of file that makes sense to store in Amazon’s Cloud Drive: any kind you got from Amazon. They already know you have it, so there is nothing for them to discover. Music is a prime example, and they literally have thousand of free songs. Several gigs of files can be loaded into the cloud drive in a single sitting, and new music purchased from Amazon (even for $0.00) never counts against your quota. This solves a problem that exists in other services: re-downloads. There is never a fee to download a song from your cloud drive. It effectively can be seen as an instant off-site backup. Hopefully Amazon will expand this service to other products such as games and movies.

While the privacy concerns limit the usefulness of Amazon’s Cloud Drive, it does not make it useless. It would be inadvisable to store sensitive information on it, but it provides a perfect backup for files you purchased from Amazon.

One of the latest addition to the list of support cloud based storage providers is Amazon Cloud Drive which was introduced by Amazon a few days ago. You can check out our initial coverage at Amazon Cloud Drive, Free Online Storage for an overview of the service.

To sum it up: Users get 5 Gigabytes of free online storage space for files, that they can increase by paying $1 per Gigabyte per year for up to a maximum of 1000 Gigabytes.

It was until now not possible to map the Amazon Cloud Drive storage to the local system. This has changed with the latest update of Gladinet Cloud Desktop. Amazon customers who have signed up for Cloud Drive can now integrate the storage as a virtual drive and directory on the local computer system.

Here is how it works. You select Amazon Cloud Drive from the list of available storage providers and assign a virtual directory name to that storage provider (which is then displayed in the root of the Gladinet drive).

You then fill in your Amazon username and password which are needed to establish the connection to Amazon’s service.

The third and final configuration screen is only relevant for users of the professional version of the software. Free users click on finish to complete the setup.

Gladinet Cloud Desktop adds a My Gladinet Drive with the drive letter z: to the system. This drive lists all mapped cloud storage spaces as directories in its root.

You can from that moment on work with the mapped cloud storage folder as if it would be a local folder.You can copy or move files into or out of the folder, create directories or delete data.

The video below demonstrates the setup of Gladinet Cloud Desktop and the integration of Amazon Cloud Drive into Windows Explorer and the Windows operating system.

Interested users can download Gladinet Cloud Desktop from the developer website. The free version has several limitations which are outlined at the product comparison page. The most limiting feature in terms of mapping and file operations is the 1000 file limit per task. This basically means that you can only copy or move a total of 1000 files per task. You are however not limited in the number of tasks.

Most users should never hit that limit anyway, and those who do need to divide the file operations into multiple tasks to transfer all the files.

Every Amazon customer, even new customers without purchases, gets 5 Gigabytes of online storage. US customers who have purchased at least one digital music album on Amazon get 20 Gigabytes of extra space for the first year.

Mp3 files that are purchased on Amazon can be transferred to the cloud drive where they do not count against the storage limitations.

Paid plans are available starting at 20 Gigabytes and up to 1000 Gigabytes. Each Gigabyte sets you back $1 per year with no additional costs (which means no data transfer rates).

Amazon Cloud Drive appears to be browser based at this point in time, with no option to map the storage or access it via third party tools. Upload and download of data is handled via the browser interface. All data transfers make use of HTTPS and authentication.

The cloud storage is folder based with folders for documents, music, pictures and videos available by default. Users can create folders or subfolders to sort and organize files. I was not able to upload using Firefox, switched to Google Chrome and it worked without problems in the browser.

The uploads are handled in the background, it is possible to switch pages on Amazon Cloud Drive without interrupting the uploading or downloading of files.

Files can be moved, copied, renamed, downloaded or deleted once they have been uploaded to Amazon’s online storage.

US users can install Amazon’s Cloud Player for Web or Cloud Player for Android to play the music they have uploaded to the cloud. The web player supports all popular web browsers with the exception of Opera (officially). Both players can play mp3 and aac music files as long as they have no drm. Basic controls are available to select songs based on artist, title or album. It is furthermore possible to create playlists.

5 Gigabytes seems to be the standard free storage size that most cloud based storage services offer. Amazon Cloud Drive looks solid on paper, especially the pricing is attractive when compared to solutions such as Dropbox. Dropbox on the other hand is more flexible when it comes to accessing the storage space and transferring data. It is just not practicable to upload thousands of files, stored in multiple folders to Amazon Cloud Drive. Another missing feature is a file sharing option.

Amazon customers from the US, who purchase mp3 albums regularly are most likely to use Cloud Drive extensively, especially if they own an Android smartphone as they are then able to use the player on the Android phone to listen to music stored online. Plus they can use the Amazon Cloud Player to upload music from their computer more comfortably.

Everyone else is severely limited by the web-only interface. The Terms of Service contain several passages that could convince users not to upload files to the Amazon Cloud Drive.

You give us the right to access, retain, use and disclose your account information and Your Files

We may also restrict your access to the Service if we determine that your use of the Service violates this Agreement or substantially exceeds normal use by other users

While those appear to be common phrases in Terms of Services it is still scary to know that Amazon may access and use the files that you upload.

Here is the link if you want to try out Amazon Cloud Drive.

The storage space can be used by the Google products Google Docs, Picasa, Blooger, Google Buzz and Gmail. It is assigned on a first come first serve basis which means that it is possible to use the additional storage space exclusively for one product if it is the only Google product used.

We all know that it is possible to upload multiple files to Google Docs via the web client. Documents can be dragged and dropped to the interface or selected via a built-in file browser. This works well for a couple files, but is not that practicable for dozens, hundreds or even thousands of documents, especially if they are stored in different folders on the computer.

The alternative? CyberDuck, a free data transfer client for Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows PCs. The program supports several protocols,like ftp, sftp or webdav, and offers built-in support for cloud based solutions that includes Amazon S3, Rackspace Cloud Files and Google Docs.

The Google Docs integration is one of the easiest to configure. It begins with the selection of the Open Connection button in the program interface. This opens a smaller window where a new connection can be configured.

Only the Google account email and password are needed to establish a connection to Google Docs. The program tries to connect to Google right after the credentials have been entered. All existing folders and files are displayed in the program window if the log in was successful.

Documents can now be uploaded via the Upload button in the header, or a right-click in the file listing and the selection of Upload. The major advantage over the web interface upload is that it is possible to select files or folders for upload. Imagine a folder with dozens of subfolders. It requires quite some browsing and selecting to upload all the available documents to Google Docs via the web interface.

If you use Cyberduck instead, you just have to select the root folder and the program takes care of the rest. This way it is possible to upload hundreds of documents at once with minimal effort.

Another interesting option is the ability to sync a folder with the online storage at Google Docs. This is also configured in a few steps. The action button displays a list of available options, and synchronize is one of them. Cyberduck displays all files of the folder in a listing to give the user an option to block select files from the process. All remaining files can then be synchronized with the Google Docs server.

Documents can also be transferred from Google Docs to the local system if the need should arise.

Cyberduck is an excellent program that serves many different purposes besides the ones mentioned in the article. It is an excellent program to upload multiple documents to Google Docs, and may save lots of time even if it is a one time process.

Interested users can download the application from the developer homepage at Cyberduck.ch. (via)

Devices will include apps for popular smartphones like Apple’s iPhone or Android powered devices. There is however no final list available with all compatible operating systems and mobile devices.

Many questions at this point in time remain unanswered. Among them how data can be backed up and accessed. Will AVG LiveKive use a Dropbox like solution to give users access both via a native file browser integration and website? Will they provide a software for the access?

I have contacted AVG but have not heard back yet. AVG plans to kick of a public beta in the coming week which means that we will know more about the service by then at the latest.

As with any web service, when the volume of data increases, the complexity increases as well. There arises a strong need to manage the data effectively on you Amazon S3 account. Many vendors have developed third-party S3 management tools to simplify S3 account administration and usage for users.

Amongst the most popular S3 management tools are CloudBerry Explorer Pro (developed by CloudBerry Lab, free version available as well), S3Fox (developed by Suchi Software Solutions) and S3Hub. In this article, we do a head-to-head comparison between the mentioned S3 management tools.

CloudBerry Explorer

CloudBerry Explorer lets you manage your Amazon S3 and CloudFront accounts. The tool has two versions – Free and Pro. With the Pro version, you get access to CloudBerry Lab’s professional support and all your queries are answered within 48 hours. For a detailed listing of features of CloudBerry explorer, refer the Head-to-Head Comparison Table below.

S3Fox

S3Fox is a Mozilla FireFox extension for Amazon S3 developed by, a company specializing in developing FireFox Extensions. S3Fox runs in a FireFox browser tab and looks very similar to most FTP clients which follow the dual-pane layout.

S3Hub

S3Hub is Mac OS X only client for Amazon S3. Even if you do not have an S3 account, you can use S3Hub to view other users’ public buckets. It offers limited functionality thorough a neat and easy to use single pane interface.

Head-To-Head Comparison

We compare CloudBerry Explorer, S3Fox and S3Hub in terms of ease of use, features, security and the overall value they offer to users.

[table id=1 /]

Conclusion

Cloudberry Explorer offers several features that the other two programs do not offer. It is on the other hand a commercial program. Users should take a look at the additional options offered by the pro version. Especially the premium support could be worth the money. But that’s on the other hand only valid if Windows is the operating system of choice.

Are you using other tools to manage Amazon S3 data? Let us know in the comments.

This article is a guest contribution by Pavel Bondarchuck. Entrepreneur, founder CloudBerry Lab, developer of CloudBerry Explorer freeware for Amazon S3 and CloudBerry Online Backup

Chances are you are already entrusting this mystical cloud with your data by dropping it into the famous box, watching it skydive, uploading it with unseen simplicity or just backing it up securely with Mozy (ran out of metaphors on this one). The catch is, this fluffy “cloud” in reality consists of hardware that doesn’t come in lite or free versions, thus inflicting these otherwise great services with individual usage caps on free accounts, usually set at around 2GB with the exception of SkyDrive which has some other disadvantages, though. Of course, obtaining additional on-line storage with a paid membership is a decent choice… Until you familiarize yourself with the idea propelling Wuala.

Wuala takes a unique approach to secure online storage. After registering for a free account, you immediately get 1 free gigabyte of online storage managed through a convenient cross-platform client (JRE required). What? 1GB, are you kidding? Behold, this is merely the beginning. Obviously, if you are serious about full-scale online backup of the majority of your data or just need to store/share large files in a long-term fashion, 2 gigs just won’t cut it and Wuala’s 1GB won’t even cut through half. That is, unless you buy additional storage at competitive rates or, even better, begin trading your local diskspace for remote space.

Wuala doesn’t stop at simply storing user data in encrypted form on their back-bone servers. It boosts its overall accessibility, speed and reliability ahead of the competition using deliberate redundancy – by spreading encrypted chunks of received files over a vast network of peers who decided to become “pro” members merely by giving up an unused portion of their hard drive in exchange for secure online storage accessible from anywhere and due to the very nature of the system expandable to sizes never seen before with free accounts.

Who is eligible to participate in this storage-trading network you ask? Well, all you need is some spare space on your HDD, reliable internet connection and the ability to meet a requirement of staying on-line in the long term for at least 17% of the time. What if you fail to meet the last criteria later on? Don’t worry. If your on-line presence drops, you won’t be allowed to upload more until you match up again but you will NOT lose your data. Clearly, your disk space is of little use if it cannot be accessed at least now and then. Therefore, the calculation determining the amount of online space you receive in exchange for your local space takes into account two factors: amount of shared space and your online presence. Simple math tells us a realistic rate to expect would be somewhere between 170MB and 700MB for 1GB of your harddisk space, which is not bad, provided you have some spare gigabytes to pass around. I, for instance, have been online for about 35% of the time (and rising) since signing up a few days ago, thus earning a total of 8GB online so far for the 20GBs shared with the world. With my 0.5TB HDD half-empty, I’m aiming for about 100GB of online space in the future… Oh, did I mention Wuala keeps old file versions and lets you share uploaded files, create public groups or set up folders on your computer to be synced online regularly?

To make myself clear, I still don’t put full trust in the “The Cloud” with my data. I always use it to either mirror my data to remote storage for backup purposes or upload files of less importance with the mere intention of sharing/accessing them online. If your data is really valuable to you, never rely solely on remote storage, no matter how extremely safe and secure it allegedly is.

Got some spare gigabytes to share with the internets? Don’t hesitate to join in! Got more questions about security, privacy and sharing options? Check out the extensive FAQ.

Each can then be accessed like any other folder in the Windows operating system. Integrating Google Docs would for example display all documents that are stored in that service on the local computer desktop. Gladinet will automatically synchronize the folders whenever data is edited, added or removed from one of the installed data storage services.

New online storage services and applications are added by providing authentication information in a simple form, usually the username and password to access the service online. Some, like WebDav servers require an url, IP or additional information besides the basic authentication data.

Gladinet runs in the Windows system tray on the local computer system from where it can be accessed and configured. It only takes a few clicks to add a new online storage service in the software. The professional and premium editions of the service add new features to the software including:

• Advanced Task Scheduler/Manager (Run Once or Recurring with Pause, Resume and Reschedule Support)
• Incremental Backup to Mounted Cloud Storage (with File Type Filtering*)
• Advanced Download/Upload Acceleration Technology (Compression, Chunking, Parallel Uploads/Downloads, Bandwidth Throttling)
• Encrypted Local Profile and In-Memory-Only Profile for Better Security
• IIS/Apache Support (Avoid Port 80)

Users who regularly work with the previously mentioned cloud storage providers might want to give Gladinet a try.

The concept of ZumoDrive is to move the data to a server on the Internet. The data is accessible like any other local folder on the computer or electronic device which makes it interesting for various things like hosting the music collection online. Local software like iTunes acts like the data would be local content.

The online storage provider ZumoDrive uses an algorithm to sync popular documents with the local device so that the data is available even in situations without Internet connection.

ZumoDrive keeps track of edited files providing access to older versions of the same file. It also makes use of a trashcan that can be used to recover – or permanently delete – files. Both of these options are available when logging into the homepage of the service.

The service is offering 1 Gigabyte of free storage space with the option for paid upgrades. An upgrade to 10 Gigabytes of storage space for example costs $2.99 per month.

ZumoDrive is currently in private beta available for Windows and Macintosh. Versions for Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android plattform will be released soon. You need to enter an invitation code. The following one was provided by Techcrunch and is working at the moment.