Most dedicated servers are spec'd with 80 to 250GB SATA hard drives. Again, your account will probably get flagged for termination. Of course, the average size of sites is much lower than 833MB, but should your site exceed this threshold, what happens? cloud drive Let's look at this from a different angle. Divide 250GB by 300 accounts. Does your provider's unlimited policy kick in, allowing you to have more of someone else's resources on that server. We've already talked a bit about Dropbox in a previous article, and for good reason -- it's really, really good. But it doesn't build itself into your email account, and for a lot of people that's a problem. None of this seems to be going away. They're still using internal backup software and saving stuff to hard drives, DVDs and even, in some cases, tapes. It's still pretty new to us--like ordering sushi at the Chinese restaurant. Gordon's clients, like my clients (and like my company) are still backing up their files the old-fashioned way. That's because in 2010 small businesses are wary about online services. It's just that, for 50 bucks a year, Rich is adding an extra layer of protection to his clients' backup procedures. Nothing's foolproof, but at least he's got a little more comfort that if a client's internal backup software fails, there'll be a good offsite backup safely stored in the cloud. These issues can cause loss of data stored in your hard drive. Remember that computers are now exposed to various threats and they do experience problems. A good tip from the experts is to backup on a daily basis if important files change every day or weekly if they change every week. So always backup whenever possible depending on how often you use your computer and what you usually do with your PC. Just in case you're wondering, this is not a nostalgic trip down memory lane. Just saving to your hard drive is no longer okay. You might as well start writing notes on sticky pads again. The point we're trying to make is that we've become dependent upon our computers to organize our lives. If you're not doing those tasks online, you're running the risk of losing data, perhaps setting your company's recruiting efforts back several months in the process. In the case of recruiting and applicant tracking, we're often too dependent, at least on standard databases and scheduling. There is a big savings on hard drives and energy use here if we use this right, never mind the wasted downtime of upgrades and moves. There is a green benefit to the cloud as well, fewer computers, better managed means less waste. If we all store our data in the cloud at data farms, which can run at 75% efficiency or better, instead of three different hard drives somewhere in our homes. If they store information locally, then they have to worry about their hard drives. If computers are running out of anything, it is hard drive space. That room that is saved from using the Cloud services can be used for storage of important information (in paper form if necessary). A business should use online storage because it is less prone to accidents. Hard drive space is continually shrinking. Therefore, keeping some of the information in information Clouds makes a lot of sense. The beta Windows Live Sync is the love child of LiveMesh and the original Windows Live Sync. The two previous programs were so similar that they decided to merge the two together this year. Basically Essentials is the shabang for Windows 7 encompassing photo, video, mail, etc into one organized package. Sync can be downloaded alone or within the Windows Essentials package. You don't offer good support, and you find yourself in 3 months telling the 500 FREE hosting clients, and no paid clients that you have, that they need to find another host because you are shutting down. So that's the upside, the bad side is easy. If you're planning on backing up a huge amount of data (a lot of photos or movies for example), you may need to shop around and find the best plan for you. There are also a handful of free cloud storage providers but these generally offer very small amounts of data storage. However, if you're only looking to backup a handful of documents or contact info, perhaps the free cloud storage providers are worth taking a look at. unlimited storage Google drive There are many cloud storage providers, all priced differently though you'll mostly find them priced based on the amount of storage you require. But of course, if you had backed it up online you could use your laptop or a spare PC to quickly gain access to those files. But there are other scenarios that would make having an online backup storage solution handy. Many companies are looking for more and more ways to get their products out to the public! LayerOnline On this site you will be able to search through millions upon millions of files of games, movies, add-ons, cheats, music, movies and everything you want! There are a few factors to consider. Upload speed, many of the free providers limit your upload speed to keep costs down, so it takes a long time for the initial backup. cloud backup can range from free to $20/month.