AOL To Offer Free On-Line Back-Up

It’s not so much that the idea is new or innovative, sites like Streamload have been offering free online storage for some time and mobilised last wrote about the fabled GDrive offering from Google back in July. There’s even a Firefox extension called GSpace or GMail Space that lets you use your Gmail email storage allocation as an FTP host.

In April we also reported on a an announcement by Telstra subsidiary Kaz, which offers a fee-based service specifically designed for small business back-up.

The advantage of such a service is that the back-ups are incrementally. Not incrementally changed files, but incrementally changed portions of files. SO if you make a one word change in a PowerPoint presentation, only that change is sent back not the whole file.

With the Streamload service you get 25GB for free with the only limitations that you can only use 1GB of bandwidth a month and file sizes are limited to 25MB.

But with AOL’s planned offering, powered y its existing Xdrive service which it acquired in August last year, users don’t appear to have any limit on the amount of data they can shift on a monthly basis. We may have to wait till the service is launched in September to see whether that holds true.

AOL’s Xdrive not only allows you to store files such as photos, documents, music, videos, and so on and then retrieve them from anywhere with a Web connection, the system can be used to automatically back up important files or folders, or auto-upload any e-mail attachments they receive via major providers.

The free 5 GB storage offering is open to all comers, but you will need an AOL or AIM screenname - a free signup. The service will begin in early September.

“People are accumulating personal digital assets at a fast pace, especially in areas like digital photos and videos,” said John McKinley, president of AOL Digital Services.
“Yet our in-home research shows that few people are taking steps to protect their digital memories from accidental loss or destruction. By offering consumers the combination of 5 GB of free secure online storage and Xdrive’s powerful automated backup and online sharing tools, AOL is giving people a simple, effective and free way to protect their digital memories and have access to them anywhere they go.”

All files stored on the Xdrive service are protected in secure, state-of-the-art data facilities. Users can access their files via a browser at the site, or through special Xdrive software.

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