Moving personal files to the cloud

[I Shrugged]

Due to travel, I want to move a lot of personal notes, lab results, etc to the cloud. A big part of the need is medical info, articles, etc. I mention that in case their is a nice medical records app already.

I've tried Evernote and while it seemed to do what I needed, over time I became disenchanted. Maybe if I upgraded to the paid version.

I kinda want to avoid the data lords such as Google and Apple, but at the same time I realize they are the most likely to stick around. I don't mind paying. In fact, I'd probably feel better about paying. I lost a bunch of photos one time on a free site.

I won't use the cloud for all of my plans to take over the world.
But it would be nice if I felt good enough about it to put financial data there. Not account numbers and passwords. Just notes and reports. Although as I write it, this seems like a bad idea.

I have a free iCloud account, easily upgraded. I use a Windows PC, iPad, and laptop.
My kids' employers use Google Docs. I get the impression that is the safe, corporate answer.

I'm looking for an easy to implement solution.

Ideas?

[Mark Leavy]

I use dropbox for business and personal stuff. It's pretty easy to setup. I just mirror a few directories from my laptop - anything I don't want to lose. It's also cheap, encrypted and serves as a poor man's version control. I can go back and look at previous versions of documents that have been edited.

One the boards I'm on also keeps all of our board meeting records in a shared dropbox folder.

I'm sure it is all hackable if someone really tried, so take this for what it's worth.

I also use the apple and google services where convenient (google sheets and apple photo storage).

[Cortopassi]

I use Google for everything. I live with the fact they might be looking at everything, and it doesn't really matter to me.

If they came out one day and told everyone you need to pay $15 a month to keep your docs, sheets, photos, etc. i think we'd all be stuck and they'd make a gazillion dollars a year.

[WiseOne]

If you have enough data, Dropbox has a feature that makes it very much worth your while: smartsync.

All your files & directories are represented on your laptop, but that data itself are only downloaded on demand. New files are stored on your laptop initially, and data are automatically cleared off to make space when you need it.

It makes it possible to have a laptop with, say, a 128 Gb drive and still seamlessly interact with the terabyte of data you have stashed away in the cloud. Pretty sweet, and frankly a necessity given the trend toward shrinking laptop hard drive sizes, which effectively forces you to use cloud services.

[dualstow]

I use Google for everything. I live with the fact they might be looking at everything, and it doesn't really matter to me.
...

I don’t worry about that aspect of it, either. However, when my dad’s phone number was stolen, the thief used it to get into his google account and effectively locked him out- including all his gmail and spreadsheets. We tried to get Google to restore it, but they never lifted a finger.

I hope you back up.

[Mountaineer]

iCloud. For some crazy reason I trust Apple more than Google. I’ve tried (limited success) to rid myself of all things Google. Dropbox would be my second choice.

[Cortopassi]

I use Google for everything. I live with the fact they might be looking at everything, and it doesn't really matter to me.
...

I don’t worry about that aspect of it, either. However, when my dad’s phone number was stolen, the thief used it to get into his google account and effectively locked him out- including all his gmail and spreadsheets. We tried to get Google to restore it, but they never lifted a finger.

I hope you back up.

Three backups. Which reminds me, I don't think I've run any since Covid.

[yankees60]

I absolutely live on dropbox for several reasons. One is using multiple computers it always gives me access to my files at whatever computer I'm using. Two is backup. I my source files that I work on are generally files that in the dropbox folder so that every time they get saved they are being backed up in dropbox. And, on the topic of backups I'm also backing up all my files several times a day to four other hard drives.

Vinny

[t-bear52]

If security is top priority, I use Keeper password manager. You can upload files encrypted to store. Does a lot more than passwords. I like and trust it. I use it for things I need most secure. Otherwise iCloud or Dropbox.

[Xan]

Definitely if security is important, do your own encryption before uploading anywhere.