Are you using an online file storage website for backups or sharing files?
There are a lot of options, from ADrive to ZDrive (and every letter drive in between I suspect). I've tried Streamload, Mozy, and a number of others I can't remember. Do a Google search for "free online storage" and you get 250,000+ results!
It was the number of others I can't remember that got me thinking...
I wonder how many files have been orphan'ed on the Internet by users who signed up for accounts, uploaded files, and then forgotten they have files at that site?
It isn't just file storage sites, what about Flickr, Google Docs, or collaboration sites like Horde. Paraphrasing Carl Sagan, there are billions and billions of files sitting on the Internet.
I wonder how many are orphans?
And how many might have been indexed by a search engine? Can you imagine having backed up your files, which might include a file with credit card numbers, and then Google gets ahold of that file during its crawl of the web?
There's another dark side to the various online storage sites? Are they backed up? Do they have a viable business plan? Will they be in business next year?
While I was trying to decide what files I might have left unused on sites, I ran into this message on the MediaMax site I was using for backups for a little while:
MediaMax / The Linkup is closing
We regret to inform you that we will be closing The Linkup service on Friday, August 8 at 5:00 pm PDT.The Linkup is no longer accepting any uploads or new accounts, and no further charges will be made to your credit card. After August 8, your account will not be accessible, all your personal information will be deleted (username, billing information, history, etc), and your files will be deleted. Please download any files that are in your account that you wish to keep before Friday, August 8 at 5:00 pm PDT.
It makes me wonder what could happen to files...