Need 1TB+ of online storage? Chinese storage provider Weiyun has you covered
How much online storage space do you need, and what do you need it for? If the answer to the first question is "as much as possible" and you don't mind hosting your data in China, then you may want to check out the current offer of Chinese online storage provider Weiyun.
Note: I'm not implying anything here. There are valid reasons for not wanting to host your data in a country, for instance if connections to it are slow, if you don't speak the language and cannot read the Terms of Service or follow instructions, or if you don't trust the government of that country.
Weiyun gives away 1TB of storage space to users. Sign-up is a bit complicated, and it is not only the language that you may have issues with but also the process itself.
First thing you need to do is signup for a QQ account id. Good news is that the registration page is in English so that you should not have problems filling out all information on the registration page.
Attention: The connection to the signup page is not secure.
The page itself asks for your email, a password, location, birthday, a nickname and your gender. The main issues that you may run into are that the verification code is not accepted even if you enter the code correctly, and that you may get a "sorry server is busy" error message when it is accepted.
Once you are past that step, download Tencent Cloud for Android or iPhone, and sign in to the application using the QQ account that you have just created.
This can be slightly problematic as the apps are only available in Chinese. All you need to do however is tap on the blue link on the first page, enter the email address in the first and the account password in the second field and tap on the big blue button afterwards to sign in.
You can now sign in on the Weiyun website and start filling up the online storage space with data. The interface is in Chinese but you should get around easily using translation.
Note: Some users mentioned that they only got 1 TB of data by default. That's still a lot and some comments on the Internet seem to suggest that you get more once you fill that space.
Others on the other hand mentioned that they have received prompts to upgrade their account once they have uploaded a certain amount of data. This kicks in for instance when you try to upload files larger than 1 Gigabyte using the account.
Now You: Are you hosting data in the cloud? If so, where?
Why QQ sign up “seems” to fail when correct code entered, etc: Hmmm… Non-encrypted link for sign up, so “Chinese Government man-in-the-middle” attack on every sign up. They now have your username and password. hope you didn’t use the same one you used everywhere else :-O
Don’t trust, don’t use. Don’t like, don’t buy. Stating your preference here is useless.
I’ve got my cloud storage needs covered elsewhere (both via paid for and free options), but if I hadn’t I think id be happy enough to check it out as possible secondary cloud storage for my music and video (films) collection, but I’d not be prepared to trust it with anything of a personal nature, pictures, documents, home videos and so forth.
DO NOT USE IT.
It’s totally a scam. Take a look at Baidu and 360 cloud.
They limited your traffic. Only 2GB upload quota a day reset at 3AM.
When will you utilize those space? A whole life time!
Any they kindly bind some security and useless function inside, also they will scan every readable thing in your box to check if porn exist…
I bet no one here truely use those chinese softwares LOL
Wow!! the USA based cloud companies are the most trusted, and respect your privacy. LOL
Really??? China and USA government policies aren’t much differents: China takes control on your own country, and USA takes control over the whole world.
IMO, this appears to be very, very obvious bait.
giving away 1TB free storage + China = bait
The adage: “if it’s free, YOU are the product” comes to mind, but in this case you are the stooge.
FWIW, china is doing crazy things with their military right now, and has been caught hacking into several top level U.S. gov’t agencies. Their gov’t has total control of their internet. I wouldn’t trust them with my comic book files, much less anything of importance.
Probably a FANTASTIC option for storing bootlegged materials, though.
Maybe good choice for Hillary in case she needs to ‘leak’ some backdoor secrets but for ordinary folk why bother when Google or OneDrive will do. Matter of fact google has taken their photo storage site off google+. Now unlimited if choose option within to use the high quality upload setting which won’t count against any cap the way the other choice does (that being mainly for DSLR cameras). sidenote, the goog also beefed up the old Hangouts feature.
Well, I for one would have NO real problem storing my data in a Chinese Cloud. I don’t use Cloud, but if I did my data would be encrypted before it leavers here and wings it’s way to the Cloud. I don’t mean encrypted “here,” as in SpiderOak et al, who control the encryption process, albeit on my desktop, but I mean encrypted by my encryption software. I know there are no back doors, no matter how much they doth protest to the contrary. :)
Now, where did I put that tin foil hat, oh wait, it is on my head. Using any Cloud not owned and controlled by me is nuts. There are a myriad of Open Source alternatives to running your own Cloud, in fact OwnCloud is one. I pay $3.50/month for a website hosting with I think about 3500GB. I could run OwnCloud on that and if I needed more space, the next plan up is only $7.99 for some Terabytes.
Also there are simple NAS for home which you can then use a DDNS and access the data from anywhere there is Internet. I saw a 4TB Seagate on Newegg the other day for $49.99. I use an old Lenovo Atom-CPU win7 laptop and external drive adapters. Other than the cost of the Lenovo which is circa 2005 and the battery only lasts 30-minutes or so, it has cost me $62 to put together MY Cloud.
Time to wake up folk, if you think you like the idea of Cloud then roll your own. Find a web host running cPanel and they will have auto-installers for OwnCloud etc. Something like four clicks and you have Cloud. OK, back to my rocket sciences. Or, try the NAS/DDNS approach.
RottenS: Who is the website hosting service that you referenced? Thanks……………….
Yeah, I agree with the idea of getting things done by yourself to the maximum possible extent as the only way to getting as close as possible to security and privacy. Unfortunately the very idea of services, here applied to the Web, aims people not too fluent with self-made environments. As always less you know more you depend on others, sometimes for the worst.
I wonder if we, myself included, are not elaborating on cliches when it comes to today’s China. Private companies adhere more to the International Business Community than to a political regime, be it Chinese. There is a mass of propaganda on all sides and I’d be fortunate to aim for objectivity.
But, but, but… I confess a certain reticence with the idea of handing data to China. Presently I’m dealing with that reticence, not sure of the issue at this time. But I don’t consider China (nor Russia by the way) as an enemy of the western world, more as a strong competitor.
Enemies might be a tad strong. But make no mistake those two countries do not stand for democracy. With their respective strong men(Xi and Putin) they have control over everything from the internet to companies. Those are not cliches!.
Yes I know that in the Western world we also are in a way monitored but this is not comparable to Russia and China.
But as I said I believe business nowadays is it’s own master if not the master of all. Capitalism is worldwide whatever the regimes, and capitalism is tied to none and to no one. In a way it preserves peace even if it indirectly triggers winds of war when it goes too far, but wars against what, against who? Against more and more an economical system as people get aware that the real masters are no longer politicians, whatever the regime. Always better than communism but perfectible :)
So, be fed or starved by a Chinese, a British, French, American company, who cares about the company’s citizenship?
I would certainly think twice (or even thrice!) about trusting my data to a Chinese outfit. Certainly not for a sole back-up, that’s for sure. Am I reading this incorrectly, or is this only available for Android or Apple powered devices and not a desktop PC? Seems an awful lot of data to go from a phone.
We already have to be careful with western companies. What do you expect from non democratic states like Russia and China were the state directly or indirectly controls all companies..
I will stick with Mega which provides 50 GB free. But one can open several accounts in order to get more. At least they are based in New Zealand. Yes I read that a Chinese company is involved with them but as long as it is based in NZ I am OK with it.
>Chinese
oh
Eh, this isn’t exactly new, was reported back in 2013: http://thenextweb.com/asia/2013/08/30/forget-1tb-chinas-tencent-is-giving-away-10tb-worth-of-free-cloud-storage/
NO Ma’am . . . I Trust Nothing coming out of or related to the People’s Republic of China – – especially things pertaining to all things digital; electronic and cyber-space!!!
i
I am using it already. I am careful not to put any sensitive data there. I use it to store the innumerable photos and videos I have taken on my huge number of travels. So far my one problem is that they allow only 1GB data upload per day. So it is very slow to put my current 400GB worth. Will take probably 2 years. If anyone knows how to increase the upload limit please let me know. For faster service I use Mega now. They allow 50 GB free and I have uploaded as much as 15 GB in one day with no problem.
i’m not saying you should trust a free chinese online service, but when the nsa is installing surveillance equipment on the servers of us-companies, has backdoors in every other software and is actively sabotaging worldwide encryption standards, the question is who even remains that can still be trusted.
i agree…please add food and toys to your list.
Whoa there. I have to agree with the above post. The business practices of Chinese companies are deplorable. Their well known business penchant for “screwing the customer is ok if you don’t get caught” is well known.
@Tom,
I think the implication is that China’s gov’t has more direct control of their country’s internet, and can integrate itself into Chinese businesses, and the American gov’t would never ….
oh wait…
It’s been said and repeated that business is amoral (not immoral, amoral), so it seems to me that stating it would be less moral there than here is for the least nonsense. Business practices are questionable, but the debate is pertinent to business not to a country!
I mean, what? The western world would include the good amoral businesses and China would contain the bad amoral businesses? Come on!
I would have to agree with you. I’m weary enough with most American companies as it is…