My Own Cloud

[Nick]

Does anyone have experience of running their own cloud? I've found Dropbox so useful I've set up my own, and just wondered if anyone else has done this? It looks really good!

[slagthemoff]

I have now

http://www.computermedics.co.uk/owncloud

PM if you want a userID to have nose around.

[Nick]

I'm still part way there - I have over 1T of Documents & 1.5T of Photos & videos, so the whole thing is taking a long time. I have come across an error and I am yet to discover whether this is a bug in Own Cloud, or a result of my trying to update the Cloud folders from 2 different computers simultaneously.

I am really hoping that this works for me as it will give me automatic backup for my NAS.

[LisaOrme]

I think we have a half way house! I wanted somewhere for clients to upload docs and vice versa but thought drop box etc too amateurish. So we signed up to Sharefile and I love it. Its company branded, there will be a login in via my website, easy to use, bank level encryption, UK based server for UK businesses and above all the support and staff are amazing.

[Nick]

I'm not sure why you think Dropbox amateurish, I know of 3 firms (including 2 IT businesses) who have moved their whole business onto Dropbox. It costs £000s depending on the number of employees, but I can see that if you are very IT reliant it is the only way to go, and very cost effective. I hear that there are security concerns over Dropbox - it's not something that worries me unduly, but I can see that it would be paramount for yourself.

I really don't like the principle of placing my data (and hence my business) in the hands of another company. Even with OwnCloud I rely on my Website Host, but what I very much like, is the idea that there are 2 copies of everything - one on my website, and one on my own storage.

In fact I happen to know of an Estate Agent who had a problem with the supplier of their total agency software, they were blackmailed, and over a barrel. The had no choice but to either pay up & smile, or delete their whole business & start again. Actually they made the brave move of starting again.

[LisaOrme]

Well in comparison Dropbox looks amateurish compared to Sharefile being a user of both; I use DB for personal stuff and SF for business.

We are using SF just to mutually access documents between us and clients (and letting agents) so anything in there is already on our own system/server/cloud service and backed up so we have no concerns about losing anything even if it all went down tomorrow or indeed being blackmailed.

I think we likely use SF different to what your original post started out as being meant for.

[Nick]

Lisa,

I'm not sure I understand or agree about Dropbox looking amateurish. I can't be sure about you think, but I believe that you are seeing the trend in modern s/w & website design to make everything ultra simple. No Help, Options, Preferences - just works.

[Nick]

Turning Techie .... I have mapped my NAS (I have 3 mapped folders, keeping pictures, data, and music in separate folders so that I can point particular apps at a folder - e.g. Photo Gallery doesn't index my music, and Media Player doesn't index my Photos). I've just noticed that all major operating systems allow for mounting a users ownCloud via WebDAV, a HTTP extension. I don't think I will be doing that, as my objective is to have a second (backup) version of my data, which is also available anywhere. But for someone whose principle objective was to access their data anywhere that would be a fabulous feature.

[Nick]

OK - well it was too good to be true - my host has started bitching that "Unlimited" storage means 50,000 files and I have exceeded that. I'm not happy about the idea that I have exceeded "unlimited" but I see their point. Is there an alternative solution?