Poll: Are you on the cloud?

[Animorph]

One big problem with my cloud is that my ISP limits my uploads/downloads to 250 GB per month. I had to break my online backup cloud switchover between two months in order to stay below my data limits. Not bad once you set it up (and don't automatically upload a 0.5 GB email file that changes with every new email). But if you had a TB of data or more you'd might have to manage it carefully.

 

[FUEGO]

Less than half but more than email. I back up important non-sensitive financial data to the cloud. I keep a lot of spreadsheets and documents and even ebooks on Google Drive so I can access anywhere (like my phone). I don't have a full back up of my photos and home vids on the cloud, but the most important ones from the last 5 or so years are on facebook (which is "the cloud"), so recoverable. And all photos and vids are backed up in 2 locations at my house.

 

[Walt34]

None right now, but thinking about it especially for photographs. At the moment the only backup is a 2TB external drive and a thumbdrive I keep Quicken backups on in addition to the external.

All the financials would be a pita to rebuild but doable. In our case I doubt it would matter much beyond going a few months back. And besides, what did people do before home computers? We do that too.

 

[RonBoyd]

And besides, what did people do before home computers?

I believe (I've been told) they sat around the fire until the Sun went down and then went inside the cave to sleep.

 

[Lsbcal]

...(snip)...
All the financials would be a pita to rebuild but doable. In our case I doubt it would matter much beyond going a few months back.
....

That's why I keep multiple backups:
1) primary HD on PC
2) backup 1TB HD, removable and stored in safe place
3) copy every month of critical spreadsheets to flashdrive
4) offsite: every 6 months, rework backup drive in safety deposit box with new data

 

[grasshopper]

We got the copy box of 30 years of print photos to look at 3 weeks ago. The box and photos still sit on the table in the Arizona room.

 

[FreeAtLast]

I just use it to sync my calendar and contacts on the iPad and iPhone.

 

[freebird5825]

Am I on the cloud ?

9, perhaps. Let me double-check.

[tick tock tick tock]

What was the question again?

 

[Purron]

Cloud and cloud, what is cloud?

Brain and brain, what is brain? - YouTube

 

[Meadbh]

Here's some important information for the guys to put in the cloud.......

http://www.stickypixels.ie/themanapp#.UJYhgJG9KSN

 

[Nodak]

I'm not yet ready to trust the cloud with my data, so nothing in the cloud.

 

[Sarah in SC]

I'm reaching a point of password fatigue lately and am looking for a solution to keeping up with the passwords without having to carry around an encrypted password list. The latest thing I've been tinkering with is LastPass. Anyone else use it for cloud-based storage of passwords?

Our state Dept of Revenue just revealed that they gave away most everyone's SSNs to some overseas hacker, so I'm pretty sure that there isn't much I can do to make my financial data more vulnerable than they did. I have two different credit monitoring companies checking, and they do seem to work (just applied for the 50k mile bonus American Airlines card and both notified me).

I think Dropbox is really great, but I don't regularly need to access the stuff I have stored there. Perhaps I should think of using it for more than I do now.

I use Picasa web albums for a lot of my pictures, but I also back up to another hard drive at home, which won't help much in fire or theft situation, so I really need to start thinking about either uploading everything to Picasa (and buying storage), or trying another storage site. I do like the way Picasa works with the desktop version, so maybe.

And music, I have not done anything about backing up my music to the cloud. I really need to figure that out.

 

[RonBoyd]

I experimented with LastPass for a couple weeks and found that There was a lot I liked about it. However, it kept crashing my ie9 -- the error message was that it couldn't find a [LastPass].dll. This was particularly irritating when trying to print. The only solution I found was to close IE and start it back up.

Therefore, yesterday, I uninstalled it.

I was, also, using Access Manager, which I really liked, but they seem to have closed down... they did not have access to the passwords. Hmmmm... like LastPass (theoretically?) does.

 

[RonBoyd]

Speaking of Password management software. Has anyone tried RoboForm

 

[MichaelB]

I used Roboform for years. Actually, Roboform 2 Go on a Flashdrive. A very good product, a bit difficult to backup. It cost a one time charge, but when FireFox changed versions they stopped the upward compatibility and required the newer yearly charge version. My drive failed and took my password file to the great data graveyard in the sky, so I am currently considering RoboForm and Last Pass, leaning toward LastPass. More here http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/password-manager-sw-62722.html

Edit to add: I use a desktop and iPad, neither of the two products seem to have the cross platform functionality I need, so I'm still comparing, and looking. Just on the desktop, however, I would stick with RoboForm because I'm familiar with and like the interface.

 

[ERD50]

I'm reaching a point of password fatigue lately and am looking for a solution....

I'm finally getting my arms around this one. I really prefer KISS solutions.

First step - everything that really isn't critical, I use the same 8 char PW with a mix of upper/lower case and a few numerics. That seems to work for all those sites. That takes care of whole bunches and bunches of them.

I still need to actually straighten out the more critical ones, but there are only a half dozen of those. Unfortunately, some pre-assign a log on name, so instead of being able to remember a single log on w/o writing it down which means I need to have access to both the log on name and the PW. But what I plan to do is write those down on one sheet, and the PW on another. I'll tie some phrase I can remember with the unique PW string, so I don't have the whole thing written down in one place. If you do it right, it won't be that obvious how they tie together, plus you need the 'key' that is not written down.

-ERD50

 

[Lsbcal]

I'd prefer a longer then 8 character password even if the site security is not a big issue. Why not take that 8 character password and add a unique few other characters? For example, on the Early Retirement site it might be =
8 characters + "ear". The last part is something you can guess at if you've mislayed the cheat sheet. At least this gets you to a fairly strong password with 11 characters.

 

[ERD50]

I'd prefer a longer then 8 character password even if the site security is not a big issue. Why not take that 8 character password and add a unique few other characters? For example, on the Early Retirement site it might be =
8 characters + "ear". The last part is something you can guess at if you've mislayed the cheat sheet. At least this gets you to a fairly strong password with 11 characters.

That would probably be a good idea, but I was concerned that some sites might not allow a longer password. I don't know if that is a valid concern, but some of these sites are so stupid that they don't tell you the rules until after you type the PW, so it would take a fair amount of checking to verify. That's also why I avoided symbols - seems some sites don't like some of those.

And I use that scheme for sites I don't really care so much that anyone would break into to. What would anyone gain by cracking my PW for the news sites or hobby forums that I log into? And I don't use any form of that PW for sensitive sites.

-ERD50

 

[Sirka]

No cloud for me. External and flash drives are cheap and they fit in the safe deposit box to store data off site. I also keep trust and will documents there. Clouds can go 'puff' so I think local bank is better.

 

[steelyman]

I've been putting recipes in Evernote, as recommended here (thanks!!), but apart from that my feet and data are on the ground.

 

[Sirka]

passwords in the cloud

I'm reaching a point of password fatigue lately and am looking for a solution to keeping up with the passwords without having to carry around an encrypted password list. The latest thing I've been tinkering with is LastPass. Anyone else use it for cloud-based storage of passwords?

I use LastPass (stores my encrypted passwords in the cloud) and portable version of Keepass, that fits on flash drive/sdcard.
I like LastPass but can't trust it 100%. It forgets some website and I have to use Keepass to set it up, again.
Keepass is the best IMHO and it's free. You can get it here: Downloads - KeePass

 

[palomalou]

I/we have a couple of music purchases on the cloud. I'd need to know a lot more than I do about security to be happy doing anything remotely sensitive. Although, if I ever get around to getting an iPhone, won't I have to have stuff in the cloud?

 

[Lsbcal]

That would probably be a good idea, but I was concerned that some sites might not allow a longer password. I don't know if that is a valid concern, but some of these sites are so stupid that they don't tell you the rules until after you type the PW, so it would take a fair amount of checking to verify. That's also why I avoided symbols - seems some sites don't like some of those.

And I use that scheme for sites I don't really care so much that anyone would break into to. What would anyone gain by cracking my PW for the news sites or hobby forums that I log into? And I don't use any form of that PW for sensitive sites.

-ERD50

My least favorite login is the Schwab one. Last I looked they only allowed 8 characters. That's really dumb for a financial site.

Almost all other sites I've seen have allowed an 11 character password (with just alphanumeric characters). Except for maybe Vanguard which only lets you do 10 characters.

 

[Animorph]

I use Keepass with the file saved on Dropbox. That way it's instantly updated between my two computers and my Android phone. I have to use the older 1.x version though to use it on the phone.