The emergence of online storage and a growing maturity as a market, means that you can now choose from at least half a dozen companies who offer varying amounts of storage at various prices with a plethora of different features. There remains a degree of cynicism however, from those of us who prefer to have our data backed up closer to home and perhaps don't trust these evil storage fiends, so I'll begin by talking up one storage provider that has set the pace in oh so many ways.

My first encounter with this kind of storage was Gmail and will be this blog's main focus.They kicked off with the offer of a whole gigabyte of storage and have continued to add to that size ever since. Currently offering around 2.8 gigs to anyone who feels the need to simply sign up for it, Gmail is proof that backing up your most crucial data need not cost you a fortune and can be done simply through a browser-based email account.

Backing up data is a one thing that we are all terrible at. Come on. Let's just establish that right now. The worse offenders are the innocent and the ignorant. Those people who believe that computers and hard drives last forvever! Even TVs don't last forever. Basic livingroom furniture wears out eventually, so what the hell do they....

Apologies. I used to run a small PC repair store so I know what I'm talking about. These innocents would suffer a hardware failure and waltz on in to my store asking me to help them. How common is a damaged hard drive in laptop PC? Let me tell you. Very common. So here is our innocent. I have to break the news to them that their hard drive is gone. So is their data. Gone forever.

Tears. Tantrems.

"You've lost your data honey"

Wedding photos... entire music collections... home movies of the kiddies...
If your HDD goes, it's all gone.

"Number one rule; back up your data if want to keep it"

And very few people ever do. Like a computer is a box to put stuff in.

With a Gmail account you can upload your photos, docs and any other things that you simply cannot live without. Done. No more tears.

Gmail is free. It may not always be free in the future but right now it's perfect for those of us who just want to backup smaller, office type files or photos or perhaps the mp3s you know you couldn't live without.

For larger more comprehensive storage needs you may want to find an online storage facility that suits you.

What about external HDDs? USB flash memory sticks? CDs or DVDs?
While these all qualify as media that you can use to back up your stuff, unfortnately they can all die too. USB sticks are great until you sit on them, an external hard drive is simply a hard drive in a case and one good whack'll put it to bed forever. CDs and DVDs can easily get scratched or go missing.

Your house may burn down to the ground but your data need not be lost.

This is where online storage is king. It is the future. No doubt in my mind. Soon we'll all have our own online storage accounts, Gmail is simply the beginning, and for most us, a good start.

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