I do a lot of multimedia work on my Mac Book Pro and with all the videos, photos and other content I am constantly trying to shuffle content to backup storage drives to keep from filling up my hard drive. I back up my computer via a portable drive which I carry with me as well as with the an Apple Time Machine. But I recently was concerned with the overall wear and tear and dependency on other hard drive devices. To help minimize the risk of data loss I decided to seek out a solution that uses the Web to back up my files. In doing some research and asking around a bit I found JungleDisk which I initially tested. JungleDisk is only $2 month and can hook to Amazon S3 to store all your data. It even encrypts your data if you so desire.
I also looked at Mozy, Box.net, Chronosync and a few others but I since I was looking for a simple interface for connecting to an Amazon S3 account these solutions were a little too feature rich and heavy for what I was looking to do. I wanted a little more control similar to an FTP client.
While I was testing out JungleDisk, my friend Jimmy Gardner suggested I giving, Transmit 3 by Panic for Mac OS X, a try. In doing so I found just what I was looking for. Transmit 3 allows a simple FTP interface for connecting to Amazon S3 storage. It allowed me to connect and drop 22 gigabytes of .AVI video files over in a matter of hours. The cost was only $29 for the software and then you pay Amazon directly for transfer and storage. My first bill was $2.31 for 22 GBs. Not too bad at all. So I think I found a solution that I will be able to use for clearing up my hard drive space from anywhere I can access an Internet connection. If you are in the same situtation I was in you might want to give Transmit 3 a try. This cloud solution works better with my on-the-go digital nomadic lifestyle than carrying a hard drive at all times.
I am curious, what products or services do you use for online storage?
