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Mozy Stash vs. Dropbox

John Tucker — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:03:32 +0000

I am still working on a new Mozy Stash review, but thought one of the questions everyone is going to wonder is how Mozy Stash compares to Dropbox.

Operating System Support

One of the great things about Dropbox is the ability to install it on Windows, Mac and Linux computers. It makes moving from computer to computer no matter what operating system they are running so. Stash currently only runs on Windows and Mac computers so there is the ability to move from Windows to Mac computers and have your files sync across those different computers. This is not a huge deal for many folks since they may only have Windows and Mac computers but for the Linux fans out there they will want to look at Dropbox over Stash. According to the Stash FAQ there are plans for a Linux version but no timeline when that might be available.

Winner: Dropbox

Free Account and Storage

Both Dropbox and Mozy offer 2GB free accounts so you can try both services out for free to see which one suits you best. The difference between the Dropbox 2GB free account and the Mozy 2GB free account is with Dropbox you can earn extra space by referring others to the service. You can earn as much as 10GB for free from Dropbox, which makes a free Dropbox account fairly useful.

Winner: Dropbox

Paid Storage

If you need more space than you can get with a free account from Dropbox your options for a paid account are actually pretty expensive. Dropbox offers 50GB accounts for $9.99/month and 100GB accounts for $19.99/month. Not exactly cheap.

Stash shares storage from your main Mozy account and the costs for a 50GB account start at $5.99/month and 125GB accounts for $9.99/month. The cost per month drops if you sign up for 1 or 2 year subscriptions.

Winner: Stash

Sign Up and Installation

Things need to be easy to use, there is no doubt about it. The last thing that any computer user of any experience wants is a long and complicated sign up and installation process.

Dropbox has a very simple sign up process, so simple in fact it is almost to easy. Once you sign up it is just a matter of downloading the desktop client and installing it. With the defaults it is pretty simple.

Creating a Mozy account is not to difficult but does require a few extra steps, then after you have created your Mozy account you need to login and download the Stash client to download. It is not a difficult process but not as seamless and easy as Dropbox unfortunately.

Winner: Dropbox

Sharing

Stash does not currently offer sharing, while Dropbox does. Hard to compete on this one at all.

Winner: Dropbox

Number of Computers

Currently Stash has a limit of 5 computers attached to an account, but you can access your Stash files via the web on as many devices as you want.

Dropbox does not have a limit on the number of computers attached to an account that I am aware of or could find information on.

Winner: Dropbox

Encryption

Mozy has a good record of strong encryption with its backup service. Stash is no different. Mozy allows you to use your own encryption key for backup, but at this time Stash uses the default Mozy encryption key. Mozy uses a secure sockets layer (SSL) to transfer files and since Stash cannot use a private encryption key yet files are encrypted using 448-bit Blowfish encryption.

Dropbox does offer encryption but they have had problems in the past. It is common knowledge that Dropbox can view your files if they need to. Dropbox does use a secure sockets layer (SSL) to transfer files and AES-256 bit encryption to store them, but they also hold the encryption key.

Although both services use similar encryption the Stash has the possibility to use a private encryption key, possibly before it comes out of beta.

Winner: Stash

File Sync

Stash is fast, certainly faster than backing up files to Mozy. When copying files to Stash they seemed to appear in the Stash folder on other machines almost instantly. Might be because the computers were all on the same network, but the sync was quick.

Dropbox has always been quick at syncing files and it is a great part of using Dropbox. Stash is just as fast as Dropbox in this category and will be one to watch when it comes out of beta.

Winner: Tie

Mobile Access

Both Dropbox and Mozy offer iOS and Android apps for accessing your files on your mobile or tablet. The Dropbox app is great for accessing your files but it has never been great at uploading files. It has gotten better but there is still no automatic upload of photos or video from your mobile to your Dropbox.

The Mozy app allows you to access not only your Stash files but also all of the files in your Mozy backup. Not to mention the app offers automatic uploads of photos and video from your mobile or tablet to your Stash account. This is similar to how SugarSync and even Google+ will upload files automatically for you.

Winner: Stash

Web Access

Mozy has had a web interface for recovering files from their backup service for many years. Stash is just another part of that web interface. It is functional and works.

The Dropbox web admin is an intergral part of Dropbox. You can do almost as much in the Dropbox web interface and you can with the application on your desktop including uploading files. Dropbox’s web interface just offers more at this point. Perhaps in the future Stash will be able to give the web interface more features.

Winner: Dropbox

And the Winner Is?

Dropbox

Overall Dropbox is still the leader in online storage and file syncronization compared to Stash. Stash shows potential, and it is an excellent offering coming from Mozy. It is perfect for existing Mozy users but is perhaps lacking in some of the features that make Dropbox so popular in the file storage and syncing area, particular sharing. For syncing Stash certainly comes in at a better price than Dropbox and automatic mobile upload is a nice feature that Dropbox is still not offering. If you are looking for backup and sync the new Mozy Stash and MozyHome does make a nice combination.

If you are just wanting to sync files between computers, use Linux or want sharing Stash is probably not for you. Dropbox is a leader in online storage and sync for a reason, it works well across all the operating systems. It is easy, fast and convenient.

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Dropbox Version 2 for Android Released

John Tucker — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:20:33 +0000

I posted the other day that there was a preview of the new Dropbox app for Android available. Dropbox version 2 for Android is now available in the Android market so you can install the final version of the app now.

I have been using the preview version for a few days now and it has improved over the first version. I particularly like the new bulk upload feature, but I think I mentioned that in my previous post.

If you use Dropbox on your Android powered smartphone or tablet be sure to check out this new version.

You can install the Dropbox version 2 for Android from the Android Market.

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New Dropbox App for Android Preview Released

John Tucker — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:40:59 +0000

If you use Dropbox on your Android smartphone or tablet and are a Dropbox user you might want to take a look at the latest release of the Dropbox Android app. It is not released in the Android Market yet so you will need to be able to install apps from other sources, but if you want to give it a try you can grab the app and install it from here.

This new version has been optimized for Ice Cream Sandwich but so far running it on Gingerbread seems to run fine for me. Here is a list of the new features from the forum post:

Favorites: quick offline access to files
Bulk upload photos and videos
Rename files and folders
Single-tap access to all file and folder actions
Improved gallery view
Upload from and export to local storage
Numerous bug fixes and stability improvements

I downloaded it and installed it on my smartphone with Gingerbread installed and it seems to work fine. I have not tested everything out (thought I would come write about it and play later) but I like the new bulk upload feature. Something that was really missing in the Dropbox app previously.

If you give it a try leave a comment of what you think about it.

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Dropbox’s Roadmap Sounds Like Bitcasa

John Tucker — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 18:23:30 +0000

When you think about Dropbox your first thought is probably that special folder on your computer where you save things that you want to have access too on all your devices. While this might be a great advancement for many of us it is actually a pretty limited feature. You only get access to the data you have added to Dropbox. Forget to add something to the Dropbox folder and you are out of luck.

This video from the GigaOm RoadMap conference Drew Houston talks about the future of Dropbox and how this folder concept is just the beginning of Dropbox and where it is going as a company.

It sounds to me like he is actually talking about another company that is starting to make waves, Bitcasa. While I have not actually had the chance to try Bitcasa yet the model sounds very similar. Check out this great video from Robert Scoble when he interviewed and got a demo of Bitcasa from CEO Tony Gauda.

There is no doubt that Dropbox is a leader in the online storage industry. They have helped to revolutionize how people save and access there data on multiple devices. They have done such a good job that other companies have moved into the file access and sync space. Companies like Mozy created mobile apps and soon will have online sync available as well. SugarSync started out with a similar service. These services are all limited though and storage with Dropbox is expensive. Imagine trying to store all of your data in Dropbox? It would cost a small fortune per month. Bitcasa aims to do exactly that for only $10.00/month and moves away from the model of having your data on your desktop or laptop but moves everything to the cloud.

I have to wonder if Dropbox has been watching what Bitcasa has been doing and has them on their list for acquisition? What do you think, is Bitcasa a possible purchase for Dropbox? Or will we see more of a showdown in online storage coming in 2012?Similar Posts:

Review Dropbox

John Tucker — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:21:11 +0000

I get a lot, and I do mean A LOT of people leaving comments here on the Dropbox Review looking to increase their free Dropbox space by leaving their Dropbox Referral code. It got so bad at one point that I considered closing comments down on the Dropbox review to stop it.

I was telling my business partner Lee Robertson about this problem a little while ago and he came up with an idea. He created a new website called Review Dropbox that does one thing, help refer people to Dropbox by collecting user reviews and allowing them to add their referral link. The Dropbox referral link is then added to a lottery and one referral code is chosen at random to send new users to Dropbox.

To help with the Dropbox referral lottery the links to Dropbox from OnlineBackupDeals.com are now using the Review Dropbox referral lottery! Users that click a link to Dropbox from OnlineBackupDeals.com will randomly use a referral code from Review Dropbox. OnlineBackupDeals.com has referred thousands of people to Dropbox since we started. If you want to get in on this referral lottery go and leave a short review of Dropbox and your referral link to get in on the lottery early.

Want to sign up for Dropbox and get in on the fun. Just click the Dropbox link and signup!Similar Posts:

Dropbox Funding, API and Forbes

John Tucker — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 21:31:34 +0000

Cover of Forbes - Click for complete article.

Dropbox is in the news again this last week with several new announcements. From raising more funding, a new API for mobile and web apps and a front page cover article on the upcoming Forbes magazine.

While I don’t think most readers here care to much about how much money a company has raised, it is important to know that Dropbox has raised a recent round of funding of $250 million dollars and have a $4 billion dollar valuation. It might not directly influence your day to day use of the service, it does mean that Dropbox is a real company that you can hopefully trust to keep your data with. Considering some of the companies that pop up in the online backup and storage space this is good know that Dropbox will be around for a little while.

Dropbox also released and update to their mobile and web API. If you are not a programmer you might not care to much. I bet you do use their API regularly if you use their iPhone/iPad or Android apps. Not to mention if you use one of this methods to backup your WordPress blog to Dropbox you use the Dropbox API. If you are a developer you might want to check out the official Dropbox Blog for more information on the changes to API.

Forbes has also written an article on Dropbox that will be the on the cover November 7, 2011. It is a great article and if you are interested in Dropbox you should have a read. It mentions that Dropbox was once offered $800 million by Apple that they turned down. Some other interesting notes from the article:

Dropbox has 50 million users.
96% of the users are non-paying.
There is a new signup to Dropbox every second.
Every day 325 million files are saved to Dropbox.

They also have a great video to go along with the article. Check it out if you have the time.

While I like Dropbox I am curious to see what the next year brings. Besides the fact that iCloud recently launched and is a competitor to Dropbox there is also rumor the Google GDrive is coming soon. Plus Google+ can already upload and sync your photos and video from your mobile device to Google servers.

Add to that the new startup Bitcasa which promises to become your online hard drive and appears be able to blow the doors off of Dropbox.

That is what is coming, don’t forget that Dropbox already has their hands full with competition from SugarSync and SpiderOak. SugarSync appears to have a lead in mobile access and storage offering users the ability to sync data from their mobile devices to their SugarSync account. SpiderOak on the other hand is certainly more security conscious and makes sure users data is encrypted. I can’t see SpiderOak having any problems like Dropbox did when they had a lapse in their password authentication.

What do you think is Dropbox in for a rough year ahead?
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How to Backup Your WordPress Blog to Dropbox

John Tucker — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:50:02 +0000

Backing up your desktop is one thing but for many of us that use WordPress we need to keep regular backups of our WordPress database and files in the unfortunate case our WordPress website is hacked, our web host crashes or we somehow delete everything. One tool that many of us use everyday is Dropbox and with a plugin or two it is possible to make sure our WordPress website is backed up regularly to your Dropbox account.

A couple requirements that you will need. Obviously a website powered by WordPress. While it is possible to backup a website powered by other content management systems to Dropbox I am only going to talk about WordPress. Second, you need a Dropbox account. If you don’t have a Dropbox account you can sign up for one at here.

WP-DB-Backup and Send To Dropbox

WP-DB-Backup is one of the most popular WordPress database backup tools available in the WordPress Plugin Directory. It can set to automatically run hourly, twice daily, daily or weekly and email you a copy of your WordPress database. Instead of filling your inbox with copies of your WordPress database though you can send your WordPress database to a custom email address using Send To Dropbox and your WordPress database will be save to your Dropbox account automatically.

This is a great way to make sure your WordPress database is backed up and available via Dropbox. Many people already use the WP-DB-Backup or a similar plugin that can email the database so it requires very little setup except for authorizing Send to Dropbox to access your Dropbox account and getting your custom Send to Dropbox email address. Unfortunately this will only protect your WordPress database and your images and theme files are not backed up.

WP Time Machine

This plugin makes it easy to backup both your database and files to Dropbox. Simply install the plugin and activate it. You will need to provide it with your Dropbox login and password. You can also set some options on how it stores your backup in your Dropbox, like what folder. Scheduling is not as nice however and you will want to be familiar with cron to have this plugin run your backups at regular intervals.

WordPress Backup to Dropbox

This plugin was just updated to offer you the option of transferring both your files and the database or just the database. It hooks up easily to your Dropbox account and offers decent scheduling. Depending on your web host you can run into problems with it not actually transferring your files to your Dropbox account which is annoying. On the couple of hosts I have tried it on I had roughly a 50% success rate. Shared hosts tend to have more problems with this plugin, but give it a try.

BackWPup

This plugin appears to do it all and can backup to Dropbox as well as a number of other online storage services like Amazon S3 and SugarSync. It offers scheduling and multiple backup jobs so you can schedule a database backup and a file backup separately. You could even schedule multiple backups to multiple services and even email the backup to you. I had no problem running the plugin but if you have a large blog you might want to break your backup up to no do everything at once to conserve your web hosting memory.

EZPZ One Click Backup

Despite the use of some Comic Sans font this plugin worked well when I tried it. Backing up to Dropbox is not built in to the free version of the plugin but is an extension you can add to the plugin. They charge $2.95 for the extension but do give you a trial to test if it will work for you. You can schedule your backup and and the plugin seemed to work with no problems. If only they had no Comic Sans font.

BackupBuddy

I could not actually try this WordPress plugin out since it is a paid service but according to the videos on their website it looks pretty impressive. They just added Dropbox backup support and also support Amazon S3, FTP, and Rackspace Cloud. Pricing starts at $75 for two websites.

Below is the video from their website on how to backup.

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Dropbox vs. GDrive

John Tucker — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:38:47 +0000

Dropbox with 25 million plus users could soon have another serious contender in the online storage industry and what a competitor, Google. It appears that the mysterious Google GDrive could soon be a reality and it will be offering many of the same functions as Dropbox.

	Dropbox	GDrive *
Operating System	Windows, Mac & Linux	Windows, Mac & Linux
Mobile Access	Yes	Yes
Web Access	Yes	Yes
Web Editing	No	Yes – Depends on file type.
Free Storage	2GB	1GB
Extra Storage	50GB for $99.00/year 100GB for $199.00/year	20GB for $5.00/year 80GB for $20.00/year

* Note: All of the Google GDrive items are currently speculation and should not be taken as complete until Google formally announces GDrive.

If Google GDrive uses the current Google storage pricing this could be a serious issue for Dropbox and all syncing services like SugarSync and SpiderOak. The Google GDrive could possibly offer a type of virtual drive for Android mobile devices as well that will allow you to access and even edit your files on your Android phone. This would be similar to what the Google Docs app already does.

This is all speculation at the moment, but if Google GDrive was to launch with this pricing structure would you leave Dropbox (or your favorite syncing app) for Google GDrive?

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Personal Cloud Servers

John Tucker — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:23:39 +0000

Dropbox has had a few problems lately with upsetting users with a couple terms of service changes and then they had that problem with allowing people access without a password. These problems have made a lot of Dropbox users to start looking at alternatives to using Dropbox. Another option that many people are looking at is making their own personal cloud servers.

This post is a little off the normal topics I write about here because a personal cloud server, is really nothing more than providing secure access to your desktop or laptop computer from a remote location. There are a few advantages to using software and services that allow you to access your own files remotely. You don’t have to worry about uploading your data to some third party server somewhere. All the data is stored directly on your desktop or laptop computer.

If you are looking at turning your desktop computer or laptop in your own personal cloud server here are a few options for you that I have been trying out lately.

HomePipe – This software and service is free but is limited in function. The free version only gets you so many accesses per month. By upgrading you get unlimited access. It is not very expensive, only $23.99 per year and they have mobile apps for Apple iPhone, iPad, iPad2, iPod, Google Android and Windows Phone 7 so you can access and download your files from your smartphone or tablet. It is a pretty nice service actually. You also have web access and you can access and stream files using your web browser. Software is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

PogoPlug – They offer a hardware device that turns your computer into your own personal cloud as well as a software solution that you can install on Windows, Mac and Linux computers. The software is free but does have some limits. For example the free version will not stream music and videos to your mobile. The cost to upgrade to PogoPlug Premium is only $29.00 and it is a one time purchase at this time, not a subscription. Not terrible expensive. PogoPlug works well when I tried it and I was able to access all of the files on the computer I installed it on. They offer mobile apps for iPhone, iPad and Android similar to HomePipe.

Tonido – Tonido is a freeware solution and is pretty impressive so far. It is available for Windows, Mac and Linux and offers mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry. You get web access and can manage and download your files over the web using another computer or using one of the mobile apps. Using the Android app I was able to stream music and download files. Overall if is a great way to create your own personal cloud server. The fact that it offers many of the same features as HomePipe and PogoPlug without the limits of a paid version make it more attractive.

There are a couple of downsides to running your own personal cloud software to access your files. You do need to keep your computer running all the time to access your files. If you turn off your computer your files will no longer be available for remote access. There is also to problem of your computer crashing or needing to be restarted. If your computer goes down for what ever reason your files will not be available. Bandwidth can also be a problem. Most home high speed Internet connections are fast downloading but not extremely fast uploading so access away from your home network will be limited by how fast your home upload speed is.

If you are going to run your own personal cloud server to access your files it is even more important that you have a good backup plan. For just backup there are some excellent services like Backblaze and CrashPlan. Both offer unlimited backup plans and focus on just backup. By running your own personal cloud server you do not have to worry about your backup provider having mobile apps for access to your files.

If you are running your own personal cloud server what is your favorite software?Similar Posts:

Dropbox Authentication Bug

John Tucker — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 04:52:54 +0000

TechCrunch has an interesting post about a recent Dropbox security issue that made it possible for people to login to any Dropbox account with only an email address and no password! This issue existed for roughly four hours, from 1:54 PM PDT and was fixed at 5:46 PM PDT. The Dropbox blog has a short, brief post about the incident.

This latest incident is another great reason to look at using a Dropbox alternative, such as SpiderOak. If you are using Dropbox you might want to remember to not keep sensitive information in your Dropbox folder. Similar Posts: