Online File Storage
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- You'll no longer resort to cramming all your useful files onto a number of floppy disks or a CD-ROM
- Make your files accessible from any machine
It's 5 p.m. on your last day in your new office and you've realised, in a panic, that success in your new job depends on the two years worth of project notes, code, photography, articles and business correspondence that you have accumulated in your present job. It amounts to 2 gigabytes of data, or enough to fill nearly 3 CDs or 2 x 1GB memory sticks.
Given the resources, you would burn it onto a CD and take it with you; things being as they are in your office it would look too suspicious and you just don't have time to be sneaky. Your soon-to-be ex-workmates are virtually dragging you out of the office to get pissed. Do you just forget about grabbing your files and hope that you'll be able to remember the details? Perhaps you'll have to rely on a colleague's good will to forward your stuff to you?
Well, fortunately, it's possible to store large amounts of data on the Internet and it costs nothing. Rather than calling in favours or lingering suspiciously near the one and only CD burner in your department here are 2 ways of getting your stuff off your work computer and dumping them somewhere you can later access them. All you'll need is a web browser and ideally, a fast Internet connection:
1. Email everything to your Personal Mailbox
If you've got a personal email account with Yahoo, Google or Hotmail, you've got a lifeline. At the time of writing, Yahoo email gives you 1GB of space as standard (2GB if you upgrade to Mail Plus), Google (or Gmail) gives you approximately 2855 MB of space (or almost 3 gigabytes) and Hotmail (now also known as Windows Live Hotmail) allows for 2GB.
2. Use an Online Storage Facility
Online space is becoming cheaper and cheaper and there are now lots of companies vying for you to use their storage facilities. Three of the free services include:
Box.net (1GB free, paid packages start at £7.95 for 5BG)