Looking for an online file storage solution, we have no option for
setting up a server locally on a fixed IP. Needs to be accessible for
upload and download via ftp to users who are provided with username &
password. I can't remember the correct term right now but the facility
whereby you are allowed to download so much data, in exchange for so
much uploaded data, would be useful (although not essential). Need 10
Gigabyte storage capacity, and would like to be able to limit
bandwidth usage on a per-user basis. (maybe this sort of thing could
be accomplished by tools such as .htaccess ??)

As this is for a not-for-profit service - sharing of data between
field engineers - low cost would be an advantage at the expense of
some features. Individual file transfers would be likely to range from
a few kilobytes up to several hundred megabytes.

Could several smaller accounts be used if the data were to be split -
e.g. 10 x 1 gigabyte which could be presented to users as server 1,
data files; server 2, pdf; server 3, programming tools; etc etc. just
a thought if reasonably priced accounts aren't available around the 10
Gig mark.

Looking for the url's of providers who would offer service fitting the
above description.

Please do ask for clarification if you have any questions, I'll be
nearby for an hour or so after time of posting.

A good answer will be suitably acknowledged.

---

Clarification of Question by gan-ga on 03 Mar 2003 13:39 PST

Regarding the name of the service I'd temporarily forgotten in the
question.. I think the term was 'ratio server'.

---

Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 03 Mar 2003 15:10 PST

gan...

At first glance, there seems to be no advantage to smaller accounts,
as they are priced proportionately higher. 1GB is running about $15-20,
and 10GB is around $100. What is your budget for this?

sublime1-ga

---

Clarification of Question by gan-ga on 03 Mar 2003 15:52 PST

Hello Sublime1,

If those are yearly prices that's pretty good. We could conceivably
run with that perhaps via voluntary contribution etc.

If they're monthly, -eek!- We would then have to consider a paid
membership, which might, or might not, prove acceptable to our current
membership.

We have no set budget, this question is aimed more at being an
information gathering excercise - I expect that absolute rock-bottom
(or free, if there were such an animal) pricing, would come with
corresponding rock-bottom quality?

If you are happy to provide an answer not neccessarily tied to a fixed
budget, but more aimed at educating me as to what is available at what
price, that would be great. We'll simply adjust our modus operandii to
suit the reality of the situation.

Hope that gives you the clarification you require, if not I'll still
be sat here for an hour or so before 'hitting the sack'.

Thanks.

---

Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 03 Mar 2003 16:09 PST

gan...

How silly of me not to mention it - those are monthly costs.
The freebies I ran across were 5MB, so you and your pals
could conceivably work up 2000 accounts, but I suspect most
of your files would be bigger than that... : )

And you're right. At that rate, it would be cheaper to set
up an unregistered server with 24/7 connectivity and a fixed
IP address. Can I ask why that's not an option?

I don't know if I'll get to this one tonight, but now that
it's been amply clarified, someone should.

---

Clarification of Question by gan-ga on 03 Mar 2003 16:25 PST

Believe it or not, there are no providers in the UK who are currently
able to supply anything other than 64k dial-up to our area, with a
dynamic IP. Not on a landline anyway. This is likely to change over
the next year or so, but until then we're looking for a stopgap
solution. I guess a smaller account could be used, it would need to be
at least 600 Meg, but this would then involve quite a lot of
administration work by the moderators of our forum - file transfers
would have to be pre-arranged by email I guess or something along
those lines, paging the required files in and out of the transfer
area, and this wouldn't be ideal as the intention would be for any
engineer to be able to access any required file, day or night,
regardless of whether they were able to contact a mod.

Thanks for your attention thus far.

gan...

Netlockers.com profiles sites which provide storage, backup,
bookmarking, and collaboration. Storage sites are listed here:
http://www.netlockers.com/storage/


Hotdrive.com offers the following pricing structure, as noted
on a page at Netlocker.com:

---------------------------------

Benefits:
* File Storage FREE 5MB E-mail files from account
* Group administration
* Easy setup
* Comprehensive help

Costs:
$1.99/mo 50MB
$2.99/mo 100MB
$3.99/mo 200MB
$7.99/mo 500MB
$14.99/mo 1GB
$29.99/mo 2GB
$59.99/mo 5GB
$99.99/mo 10GB

Site link:
http://www.hotdrive.com/

Source:
http://www.netlockers.com/storage/hotdrive/

---------------------------------

Xdrive.com offers the following:

Benefits:
* Fast load times
* Peer to peer folder sharing
* Universal file sharing
* Seamless compatibility with the latest Web and wireless technology
* Desktop application allows easy transfer of folders and files
* Secure access through Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology
* Tech support

Costs:
Standard     $4.95/mo   75MB
Enhanced     $9.90/mo  150MB
Professional $25.95/mo 500MB
Multimedia   $49.95/mo 1GB

Site link:
http://www.xdrive.com/index.jsp

Source:
http://www.netlockers.com/storage/xdrive/

---------------------------------

iBackup.com offers the following:

Benefits:
* E-mail files directly to account.
* WebDAV and Web Folders support.
* CD Burning: Follow easy instructions on creating a CD for
  $19.95 per CD (shipping included).
* Scheduled backups using IBackup for Windows.
* Wireless access on Palm PDAs and Windows CE or any WAP-enabled device.
* Subaccounts in the 500MB or above plans allow for shared access.

Costs:
Plan 1 $3.00/month or $30.00/year  50MB
Plan 2 $5.00/month or $54.00/year 100MB
Plan 3 (1 subaccount) $10.00/month or $108.00/year 500MB
Plan 4 (3 subaccounts) $20.00/month or $216.00/year 1GB
Plan 5 (5 subaccounts) $30.00/month or $324.00/year 2GB
Plan 6 (3 subaccounts) $60.00/month or $648.00/year 5GB
Plan 7 (5 subaccounts) $100.00/month or $1080.00/year 10GB
Plan 8 (5 subaccounts) $200.00/month or $2160.00/year 20GB

Site link:
http://www.ibackup.com/

Source:
http://www.netlockers.com/storage/ibackup/

---------------------------------

Yahoo Briefcases offer the following:

Benefits:
* Save Yahoo! Mail attachments directly to Yahoo! Briefcase
* Per-user and age restriction access settings
* Integration with Yahoo! Photos, Profiles, Personals,
  Classifieds and other Yahoo! sites
* Send files as links in e-mail
* Yahoo! Drive Client to access directly from desktop

Costs:
Standard                          FREE  30MB
Premium Storage $2.95/mo or $24.95/year 50MB
                $4.95/mo or $34.95/year 100MB
[So 800MB would be $280/yearly, if your guys can come up
with the equivalent of $23.33/month all at once.]

Site link:
http://briefcase.yahoo.com/

Source:
http://www.netlockers.com/storage/yahoo/

---------------------------------

My Docs Online offers the following:

Benefits:
* Access files from any Web-enabled PC or "wirelessly" from phone,
  PDA or pager.
* View files and e-mail attachments directly on wireless devices
  (currently MS Word, WordPerfect, RTF, Adobe PDF, and URLs).
* Send files and documents as e-mail file attachments from wireless
  devices.
* Remotely Print contracts, proposals, price lists and other
  important business documents from wireless phone or PDA while
  at customer sites or remote offices.

Costs:
  $9.95/qtr  50MB
  $14.95/qtr 100MB
  $21.95/qtr 200MB
  $29.95/qtr 300MB
  $109.95/qtr 1GB
[Not bad for a gigabyte, plus all the features!]

Site link:
http://www.mydocsonline.com/

Source:
http://www.netlockers.com/storage/mydocsonline/

---------------------------------

@Backup offers the following:

Benefits:
* File versioning (up to 90 updates).
* Scheduled backups.
* Full Windows® integration.
* "Backup Neighborhood" icon installed on desktop.

Costs:
30-day Trial  FREE   50MB
Plan 1 $49.95/year   50MB
Plan 2 $99.00/year  100MB
Plan 3 $149.00/year 200MB
Plan 4 $199.00/year 300MB
Plan 5 $249.00/year 400MB
Plan 6 $299.00/year 500MB
Plan 7 $595.00/year 1GB
Plan 8 $995.00/year 2GB
[This site seems more suitable for backup purposes.]

Site link:
http://www.backup.com/

Source:
http://www.netlockers.com/storage/backup/

---------------------------------

CentricFiles.com offers:

Benefits:
* FREE  5MB   No software to load
* Unlimited bandwidth
* Daily backups
* Secure data transfer
* Automated cleanup
* Temporary users
* Easy self administration

Costs:
$10/mo or $100/year 50MB
$15/mo or $160/year 100MB
$25/mo or $270/year 250MB
$50/mo or $540/year 500MB
$100/mo or $1100/year 1GB
$250/mo or $2700/year 3GB

Site link:
http://www.centricfiles.com [not currently working]

Source:
http://www.netlockers.com/storage/centricfiles/

---------------------------------

Those are the sites profiled by NetLocker.com, however,
there are 41 additional sites on the profile page, here:
http://www.netlockers.com/storage/

Some of them seem to have very good potential, but one
has to dig a bit for the pricing. These seem among the best:

---------------------------------

1disk.com

"With 1 Disk.com, You Get:

* Drive-letter access under Windows that provides these
  advanced features:
  - Fast access to your files-no slow FTPs or downloads
  - The ability to stream music and video files quickly and
    directly from your 1Disk.com account
  - A file-management system that tells you what files are
    in your 1Disk.com account even when you are not connected
    to the Internet
  - The ability to share actual files-not copies-directly with
    other remote users

* Other advanced features include:
  - 24-hour, 7-days-a-week access to your files from any Internet
    connection
  - Security options to ensure safe and private use of your files
  - Access your files using any computer with a Web browser and
    an Internet connection
  - Convenient Java applet for file management from non-Windows
    computers
  - Basic HTML file management interface for non-Java browsers"
http://www.1disk.com/storage.asp

They have business accounts up to 1GB at $19.95 per month,
per 100MB used, so a full 1GB would run $199.50/month.
They have personal accounts up to 500MB at $0.50 per month
per 10MB used, so a full 500MB would run $25/month.
And they have a 30-day free trial.

---------------------------------

StoragePoint.com won Microsoft .NET Best Award for online backup:

Online Protected Storage

          Quarterly           Annually

**200 MB    $24                 $79
**1 GB      $75                $235
5 GB        $300               $910
10 GB       $495             $1,390
25 GB       $995             $2,690

"**Corporate/group accounts start with a minimum of one gigabyte
 (GB) and include access for an unlimited  number of users and/or
 workstations plus secure collaboration. Corporate/group accounts
 also include a secure administrative web site for management
 reports and quota controls and have the option of being
 custom-branded into your web site. Personal memberships start
 with a minimum of 200 MB."
http://www.storagepoint.com/pricing.stm

---------------------------------

That should provide you some perspective on what's out there.
As I said, there are 41 sites listed on the NetLockers storage
profile page, above, but they seem to have fairly similar pricing.

They also have links on the that page to non-web-based alternatives:

* GoToMyPC
http://www.gotomypc.com/

* LoudPC
http://www.loudpc.com/index.htm

* pcAnywhere
http://www.symantec.com/pcanywhere/Consumer/

Additionally, there were hits returned from my Google search,
detailed and linked below, which I never got around to, since
NetLocker turned out to be so informative.


Please don't hesitate to ask for any clarifications which will
assist you in benefitting from this answer.

sublime1-ga


Searches done, via Google:

"online file OR data storage" 10GB
://www.google.com/search?q=%22online+file+OR+data+storage%22+10GB

Couldn't give anything other than a 5 for that thanks sublime1,
precisely the type of info I was hoping you'd come back with, and
formatted so as to be immediately digestible. Thanks very much, now
we'll have a conflab amongst ourselves as to what's the best way
forward :)

would it be possible at all to state a ball park figure? It would help
to rule out services priced beyond your budget.

gan...

Thanks very much for the great tip! Made my day.