Cloud storage has been all over the tech news for the past week with big announcements from SkyDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox.  While it’s all good news for customers, it can also lead to a lot of confusion over which solution is right for each individual.  There aren’t many major differences, but each service is different in some ways from all of the others.

Yesterday Casey Johnston, over at Ars Technica, published two charts to help users easily compare seven of the top cloud storage services available  - SkyDrive, Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox, SugarSync, Box, and SpiderOak.  Among the things shown are the amount of free storage, total storage amount, the cost per month, and more.  In a separate chart Johnston illustrates which services are available on which different platforms, for instance SkyDrive is the only service to offer a Windows Phone app and only Dropbox and SpiderOak work with Linux.

You can check out one of the two charts below.  To view the other, and read more about this, head over to Ars Technica.  You can also read about the recent changes to SkyDrive and the release of Google Drive to get more in-depth about those services.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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There is no shortage of both both free and paid programs you can use to backup files and folders , but there is always room for one more in the market, especially if it works well, doesn’t install other things like browser toolbars, and preferably is free.  There are several that fit that bill nicely.  The latest one I have taken a look at is called Backup Folder Sync.

Backup Folder Sync lets you save the backups to a local folder, external drive, USB stick, network share, or mapped drive, and restore them to any folder, including the original one.  Once you have set up backup “jobs” they can be run easily at anytime, so you don’t have to worry about doing this setup each time.

Once you have downloaded and installed the app, you can begin creating your backups.  The main screen has two panes – the left one displays the location of your existing files, while the right displays the backup and restore process.  To choose a folder for backup you just right-click on it and if it has a sub-folder within it that you would like to exclude you can Ctrl-Right-click on it.  NOTE: If you are planning to work with drives that are on a different PC on your network then you will need to make sure you first have them mapped because there is no Network browse in the left pane – there is a Network option when you choose your backup destination.

Once you have chosen the folder you want to backup then click the “Destination” button at the top of the screen and choose the location where you want your files backed up to.

Now that you selected your destination you can click the “Backup” button on the top menu bar.  You will now be prompted to enter the job name.  This will save everything you have just entered and make it easier to do future backups.

When you want to restore your data, just select the Destination where you saved your backups, click “Restore Open” and select the folders you want to restore by right-clicking on them.  When all folders are selected, click “Restore”.

The only real limitation here is that it doesn’t have a scheduling feature to allow it to run automatically.  But, the price of free still makes it one of the top solutions you should look at when you are in the market for this type of software.

Download Backup Folder Sync

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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Not long ago we brought you a how-to guide on setting up a Box account on both Windows and Android.  Now, today, Box has announced a special offer for Android users.  If you update your Android app and sign in between now and March 23rd you will get a free 50 GB of storage credited to your account for life!

Box, if you aren’t familiar, is a serious Dropbox contender that is really taking off in the market these days.  They have mobile apps for all platforms and have been adopted by many major corporations.  They do have tiered storage available for serious users, but with 50 GB, the average user won’t need to worry about any of that.

You can get started by visiting Box, and by reading our tutorials listed above.  The service is compatible with all computer and mobile operating systems and lets you share, sync, and access files from everywhere.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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If you have been looking to get into a cloud storage service then there may be no better time than now.  There are many of them out there, like AVG LiveKive, Carbonite, and Mozy, plus many more.  Perhaps the best known service is S3 from Amazon.  That may be because of the Amazon name, but it may also be because they work and they are priced right.  All of the pricing in this market is competitive these days, but Amazon today went one better than their competitors by slashing S3 prices below the already low entry point that they had.

Amazon S3 works like most of it’s competitors, in that they price themselves based on what you will store there.  By what, I mean space and not content, because content is your business and Amazon pay no attention to that.  The new prices are retroactively effective as of February 1st and ar effective for all regions.

“We are excited to announce that we have reduced the Amazon S3 standard storage prices in all regions. With this price change, all Amazon S3 standard storage customers will see a reduction in their storage costs. For instance, if you store 50 TB of data on average, you’ll see a 12% reduction in costs. If you store 500 TB of data on average, you’ll see a 13.5% reduction in costs. The price reduction applies to all of your standard storage- both existing storage and all new storage you add. Here is a summary of price changes for the US Standard region:”

                          Old         New
First 1TB           $0.140    $0.125
Next 49TB         $0.125    $0.110
Next 450TB       $0.110    $0.095
Next 500TB       $0.095    $0.090
Next 4000TB     $0.080    $0.080 (no change)
Over 5000TB     $0.055    $0.055 (no change)

You can find out more by visiting Amazon S3 on the web.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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Not long ago I wrote about the setup for using AVG LiveKive to backup your files to the cloud.  The setup and user interface were very simple and understandable and I was quite impressed by the service and pricing.  At the time of that writing I was backing up my first two computers – a laptop and desktop that both have very large internal hard drives and I was only backing up the “My Documents” folders so I noticed no problems.  That changed when I moved on to the HTPC which has a small internal drive that is only for running the Windows 7 operating system and the built-in Windows Media Center app.

That HTPC has two large 1 TB external drives plugged into it that store all of the TV shows, movies, music, and pictures.  That’s where the problem surfaced.  It seems AVG LiveKive duplicates the data it is backing up to the cloud within a folder on your internal drive.  So it is essentially taking the data from my external drives, backing it up to the cloud, and also storing a file within a folder on the internal drive.

The files show up in a folder under c:\users\”name”\appdata\roaming\avg livekive\ts_external_blocks_pandora_sqliite_database.  After receiving a message on my HTPC that I was low on drive space I found this file by running a utility called WinDirStat which will quickly scan a drive and find what’s taking up space on it.

I searched for information on this problem and found an old forum posting from March of 2011 where a user asked about it and an AVG rep called it a “known issue” that would be fixed in a future update to the software.  He did not specify how far in the future he meant and users are still waiting for that fix.  I next tried contacting AVG via a chat window with a support rep.  A transcript of that conversation can be read below.

This is a transcript of a chat conversation on 1/26/2012 5:15 PM(UTC).
alan joined the conversation.
AVG Chat:Welcome to AVG.
AVG Chat joined the conversation.
AVG Chat:Hello, how may I help you?
alan:LiveKive is creating a file under User-AppData-Roaming that is growing at the same rate as my upload. It’s eating up all of my hard drive space.
alan:Hello?
AVG Chat:What’s the operating system of your computer?
alan:Windows # Ultimate
AVG Chat:Is it ## or ## bit?
alan:It does it on both. I have ##-bit on the desktop and ##-bit on the laptop
AVG Chat:The AVG LiveKive might keep some files locally to make the file operation faster. Sometimes it might temporarily get bigger if larger file is being uploaded. Whenever AVG LiveKive notices that significant disk space can be saved by cleaning the database file, it will do so. Typically this doesn’t happen very often. You can also trigger in manually at the command line if you wish with the “–vacuum” option: Windows Vista/# x##: #. Completely close AVG LiveKive, and be sure that all AVG Live Kive processes have closed correctly. #. Click Start then go to the search box. #. Type in “cmd” on the search box and click on the command prompt icon. #. On the command prompt, type in “C:\Program files\AVG LiveKive\avglivekive.exe” –vacuum #. Press enter to execute the command. Windows Vista/# x##: #. Completely close AVG LiveKive, and be sure that all AVG Live Kive processes have closed correctly. #. Click Start then go to the search box. #. Type in “cmd” on the search box and click on the command prompt icon. #. On the command prompt, type in “C:\Program files (x##)\AVG LiveKive\avglivekive.exe” –vacuum #. Press enter to execute the command.
alan:It got down to # free space on my HTPC. Is there a fix for this?
AVG Chat:Just follow this steps: Windows Vista/# x##: #. Completely close AVG LiveKive, and be sure that all AVG Live Kive processes have closed correctly. #. Click Start then go to the search box. #. Type in “cmd” on the search box and click on the command prompt icon. #. On the command prompt, type in “C:\Program files\AVG LiveKive\avglivekive.exe” –vacuum #. Press enter to execute the command. Windows Vista/# x##: #. Completely close AVG LiveKive, and be sure that all AVG Live Kive processes have closed correctly. #. Click Start then go to the search box. #. Type in “cmd” on the search box and click on the command prompt icon. #. On the command prompt, type in “C:\Program files (x##)\AVG LiveKive\avglivekive.exe” –vacuum #. Press enter to execute the command.
alan:I will have to keep doing this. There should be a fix for the app to prevent this from happening.
alan:According to your forums you promised a fix in March ####
AVG Chat:Currently that’s the fix we can give.
alan:OK…Hopefully the app itself can be fixed to prevent this in the future, Thanks
AVG Chat:Thanks for the feedback.

I later had two phone conversations with AVG reps, both of whom were located in the Phillipines, but spoke perfect English and were as helpful as they could be, but their hand swere tied by the fact that no fix is actually available.  Both reps emailed me the same instructions, which I have posted below.

Thank you for your  call.

The AVG LiveKive might keep some files locally to make the file operation faster. Sometimes it might temporarily get bigger if larger file is being uploaded.

Whenever AVG LiveKive notices that significant disk space can be saved by cleaning the database file, it will do so. Typically this doesn’t happen very often.  You can also trigger in manually at the command line if you wish with the  ”–vacuum” option:

Windows Vista/7 x64:
1. Completely close AVG LiveKive, and be sure that all AVG Live Kive processes have closed correctly.
2. Click Start then go to the search box.
3. Type in “cmd” on the search box and click on the command prompt icon.
4. On the command prompt, type in “C:\Program files (x86)\AVG LiveKive\avglivekive.exe” –vacuum
5. Press enter to execute the command.

Should you need any further assistance, feel free to contact us.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Best regards,

For the record this may work for some users, but it did not for me, and I tried several times.  After more online searching I found another post, also on the AVG forums, in which some users offer solutions that do work, but really should not be necessary.  Note that early on in this thread another AVG rep chimed in to state that a fix will be coming.  That was on December 27, 2011.

Follow the user suggestions  in this forum posting and remember that you very well may have to uninstall the LiveKive app and then reinstall it after you have deleted the files that AVG has errantly put on your computer.  Perhaps if enough of us complain AVG will finally take notice and fix this ridiculous problem that should never have been a part of the app, and certainly shouldn’t have been neglected for this long.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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Box, formerly known as Box.net, has become a premiere storage location on the web.  There are many places that users can store their files in the cloud, such as SkyDrive and Dropbox, but everyone seems to settle on one particular service depending on need, usage, and  pricing; or simply by sticking with a service because it was the first they heard about.

Box is available for both personal and business use, and it’s surprisingly popular with some very large companies.  In fact, Box claims they are being used by 82% of the Fortunes 500 companies, which is a staggering number, especially since Box seems to get less attention in the tech world than other rival services.  Like many of today’s cloud file storage services, Box has many mobile options and is very easy to set up.

The easiest way to get started in on your computer.  In this case I am using Windows 7 and I will just point my browser to the Box web site.  A personal use Box account is free and includes anywhere from 5 GB up to 50 GB of storage and file size limits from 25 MB to 1 GB, as well as access via a mobile app.  Once you have signed up for an account and received your confirmation email you can log in and get started.

The main interface is pretty basic.  Your files, once you have added some, will be front and center.  The right column has options for uploading and sharing, creating folders, inviting people to collaborate on documents, and more.

First we will need to create a folder, so let’s click either the “Create a new folder” option from the right column, seen above, or click the “New” button and choose “New folder”.  Notice you can also create a web document , Google Doc, or Google Spreadsheet.

Name your new folder and it will appear on the main files area of your user interface.  Now lets add a document to the new folder.  Again there two places you can click – the “Upload and share files” link on the right or “Upload” button above the files area.  You can then browse to a file anywhere on your PC or network, click to hightlight it, then click “Open” and the file will automatically upload to the Box cloud.

You can now email a link to the file to someone or invite others to work on the document with you.  You can right-click the file to get a list of options that includes download it, uploading a newer version, tagging it, deleting it, and more.

The top menu, which by default puts you on “Files” also allows you to add “Contacts”, view your recent “Updates”, handle your “Account”, and, the most important thing in today’s world, get “Apps” – both mobile and others, such as a Google Docs plug-in, Box for Office, Box for iOS, or many more.

Box is one of the most popular and fully-featured cloud programs in the world today.  As you can see from the above tutorial it’s very simple to setup and use and it brings the cloud to the average user.  Next time we will look at accessing that cloud from an Android device.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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There are a lot of services out there that want to collect your money for keeping your files safe via backup to the cloud.  Many of them are less than sure things and there’s no guarantee they will still be in business when you need to collect on your stored files, and that could be potentially disastrous.  The best recommendation is to stick with the big names that are likely here to stay and don’t look for the too-good-to-be-true deals that are out there.  With that in mind, there a few names to look at for cloud backup, like Amazon S3, Carbonite, and AVG LiveKive.

AVG is famous for their anti-virus product, which resides on many user’s computers.  They have have both free and paid versions of it and both are solid choices for any home user.  They also recently released a cloud backup service called LiveKive, which comes in three tiers, depending on what your needs are.  You can get 5 GB for free, 25 GB for $49.99 per year, 50 GB for $59.99, or unlimited for $79.99.  You can get a 30 day free trial to see if you like the service.

With the Unlimited version, which we’ll be using in this example, you can install the service on multiple PC’s.  Once you have purchased AVG LiveKive you will receive an email with a voucher that you will need to activate and also a link to install LiveKive on each computer.  After you have downloaded and installed the app you can begin the setup process.  First you will need enter your newly created account information – an email address and password.

Now enter a name for the device you are currently setting up.  In this case I am using my production notebook which, on our home network, is identified as “Laptop-1″.  Perhaps not all of you are as original with your device names as I am, don’t be jealous….

At this point it can take up to a minute to generate the cryptographic keys for your device.  This will ensure that your files, while being transferred and also while on the AVG servers, will remain private.  Once it’s done you can click the “Finish” button.

You will be greeted with the AVG LiveKive interface.  From here you can control your entire backup and restore process.  Initially you will land on the “Backup” tab which gives you basic options for Desktop, Documents, Movies, Music, and Pictures.  You can click any or all of the check boxes to backup these files.

If none of these quite fit your backup needs then click the “Advanced” tab at the top right of the screen.  This is where you can get serious about this whole process.  You will be presented with a Windows Explorer-like interface that lets you drill down through folders and sub-folders to find exactly what files you want backed up.

Now you can check the status of your backup by clicking on the “Status” tab.  I am currently on a wireless connection so this could take a while.  Depending on how many files you have, and their sizes, your backup process could take minutes or hours.  There are other tabs within the “Status” to tell you where you are at.  For instance, click “Queue” to see what files are left to upload.

There is a “View / Restore” tab that will show you all of the files and folders that are stored on AVG LiveKive.  It works just like Windows Explorer, with a collapsible folder tree.  There is also a group of icons that allow you to download files, remove or rename files and folders, view changes, and more.  You can also use the built-in Download Manager.

The “Share” tab lets users share files like documents and pictures that are stored in your cloud backup with friends, family, and colleagues.  Sharing is secure so that users you invite can’t alter or delete the files they are invited to share and they can’t access your other files.

Finally there is a “Sync” tab which will allow you to use AVG LiveKive to keep files in sync across multiple computers.  To get started click the “New” button and name your sync, then begin choosing files and devices.

Once you are set up you can close the AVG LiveKive app, even if your cloud backup is still running.  The app will remain active in your system tray.  You can right-click it to access all of it’s functionality.

AVG LiveKive is a fully-functional and affordable cloud backup solution for home users.  With the $79.99 annual fee for unlimited cloud storage it means you can easily backup all of the files on all of the devices in your home, keeping them safe in case of a hard drive failure or a bigger disaster.  In the brief time I have been using it in our home I’ve found it to be simple to use and a great deal for the price and storage capacity. With AVG being an established company you can feel secure knowing that your precious photos and other files will be there if the worst happens.

You can try out AVG LiveKive for your home cloud backup solution free for 30 days by visiting the AVG LiveKive web site.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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These days every home has multiple computers and the need to share files in a way that previously was the domain of business users.  All operating systems – Windows, Mac, and Linux – come with built-in sharing options.  They aren’t all that difficult to set-up and they work pretty well, but they aren’t always the best solution for every user.  Thankfully there are other solutions, and even free ones, that you can use.

One such syncing solution is Syncing.net.  They are a Microsoft “Gold Certified” partner, which means they “provide you with the highest levels of technical expertise, strategic thinking, and hands-on skills”.  At least, that’s what Microsoft says.

Once you have downloaded and installed the app, you can fire it up for the first time.  You will first be asked if you already have an account.  If you do then enter your user name (email) and password.

If you don’t already have an account you will prompted to create one.  Enter your name, email address, and password and click Next.  You will need to use the same account for all of your computers.  You are limited to 5 computers.

If you’re account registration is successful you will receive a confirmation message.  The message will open a browser window to Syncing.net. There isn’t actually anything to do here, so you can close the window and proceed with setting up the files and folder you want to sync.

Now choose a folder that you want to sync.  You can choose a folder, choose the location, or create a new folder.  This is the folder you will use for all of your syncing.  All files and sub-folders within it will be synced as well.  Choose your option and click Next.

The files and folders will appear in the main interface of the application.  From there you can view the details of files and folders and set individual sharing permissions on them.  Click Next to begin syncing files.

Now you can begin syncing files and folders in real time.  Other recipients, who you can grant access to, will receive an email whenever a file or folder is added to the Sync Folder.  Syncing.net is a free service that you can install by visiting the Syncing.net website.  There is a 3 GB limit per month.  Now there’s no excuse not keep all of your files in sync on every computer.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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Automatic backup is a part of many mobile operating systems from Android to iOS and going way back to Windows Mobile, which used Microsoft MyPhone.  Ironically Microsoft didn’t include a backup solution for their new flagship mobile operating system, Windows Phone.  However, word surfaced today that they plan to rectify that situation by implementing a new automatic backup system for Windows Phone.

WMPowerUser found a job listing for a Software Engineer to join Redmond’s Windows Phone Backup, Migrate and Restore team.  It sounds suspiciously like the Apple iCloud and Google Android cloud backup that allows the phone to be backed up automatically each night while most users sleep.

“Come join the Windows Phone Backup, Migrate, and Restore team. Our goal is to ensure that no matter if someone loses their phone, drops their phone in a lake, buys a new windows phone, or just has their toddler wipe their phone by entering the wrong PIN over and over, a user can quickly and seamlessly get their phone back to a good state. The features we are producing will be new for the next version of Windows Phone and will help ensure Microsoft stays ahead of the competition when it comes to disaster recovery.”

The post makes it pretty obvious what Microsoft are looking for.  It also means that this feature won’t be coming any time particularly soon, since they haven’t yet hired anyone to run it.  Still, it’s a step in the right direction, albeit a bit late.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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Syncdocs is bringing Dropbox-like functionality to your desktop and your Google Docs.  SyncDocs allows users to automatically have the latest versions of all of their Google Docs documents available locally on any computer they choose.  That’s handy for those times when you are out of WiFi range, but still need to get a bit of work done.  We had previously looked at Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office, but it proved to be a hassle with long-term use and Syncdocs provides better functionality.

There are multiple ways to use Syncdocs.  You can keep your My Documents folder synced with Google Docs, create a backup of your Google Docs cloud storage, or make Google Docs the default editor for your local documents.  No matter what you choose, it’s all pretty simple to set up and get started using.  Once you have downloaded Syndocs you can begin the installation process.

When Syncdocs launches for the first time you will need to enter your Google Docs user name and password (this should be the same across all Google applications) and agree to the terms of service.

You will now need to choose a folder where you want your synchronized documents stored.  There are also some settings you can choose from (don’t worry you can change these later if you need to).  Choose if you want to automatically convert new Office files to Google Docs format, make Google Docs your default office suite, or make Google Docs your default PDF reader.

Syncdocs will now launch in your system tray and immediately begin to sync files.  You can double-click the icon to access your sync folder or right-click it to get a context menu of options , including telling you how much of your allotted free space is being used.

There is a free version of Syncdocs, which has a limited number of files that can be synced and also a paid version, which costs $19.95 per year.  You can combine the paid service with a Google Docs storage plan for 20, 80, or 200 GB of Docs storage per month.  To download a copy you can visit the Syncdocs website.  This is is the simplest way so  far that we have found to Sync Google Docs.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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