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I have amassed a lot of data about our family history (papers, photos etc), which I keep in a folder on my computer. This folder is subdivided into 37 sub-folders, some of which also have sub-folders. It amounts to about 1GB of data so far. I would like to share this data with other family members in various parts of the world – safely, given its personal nature. I was going to copy the folders onto a CD and post it, but if a CD got lost, anyone could easily access the data. Options I have considered: 1. Encrypting the data, but I'm not sure how to do this. 2. Using pen drives which I believe can be password protected. But they are a bit expensive. 3. Uploading the data to something like SkyDrive or DropBox. The problem is the limits on the amount of data and folders. Any suggestions or recommendations? David Bogle
This is a tricky one, because there are dozens of different ways to share files and photos, and different families have different levels of interest and computer expertise. You could try a couple of different approaches with one family member before choosing what you think is the most suitable system for all concerned.
I have amassed a lot of data about our family history (papers, photos etc), which I keep in a folder on my computer. This folder is subdivided into 37 sub-folders, some of which also have sub-folders. It amounts to about 1GB of data so far. I would like to share this data with other family members in various parts of the world – safely, given its personal nature. I was going to copy the folders onto a CD and post it, but if a CD got lost, anyone could easily access the data. Options I have considered: 1. Encrypting the data, but I'm not sure how to do this. 2. Using pen drives which I believe can be password protected. But they are a bit expensive. 3. Uploading the data to something like SkyDrive or DropBox. The problem is the limits on the amount of data and folders. Any suggestions or recommendations? David Bogle
This is a tricky one, because there are dozens of different ways to share files and photos, and different families have different levels of interest and computer expertise. You could try a couple of different approaches with one family member before choosing what you think is the most suitable system for all concerned.
A decade or so ago, many of us used Yahoo Groups, which was called eGroups until Yahoo bought it in 2000. It was easy to set up a private family group where people could hold online discussions and share files and photos – just what you want.
A decade or so ago, many of us used Yahoo Groups, which was called eGroups until Yahoo bought it in 2000. It was easy to set up a private family group where people could hold online discussions and share files and photos – just what you want.
Yahoo made changes that upset many regular users (or at least, some vocal users), and I thought it might have disappeared, but it is still going at groups.yahoo.com. However, each group only provides 100MB of free storage, and Yahoo doesn't sell extra space. That means it's not an option for your gigabyte of data, though it could still appeal to other readers.
Yahoo made changes that upset many regular users (or at least, some vocal users), and I thought it might have disappeared, but it is still going at groups.yahoo.com. However, each group only provides 100MB of free storage, and Yahoo doesn't sell extra space. That means it's not an option for your gigabyte of data, though it could still appeal to other readers.
Today, most people would do the same sort of thing by starting a closed user group on Facebook. Conversations within the group cannot be seen by non-members. Facebook provides a free and convenient way to share low-resolution versions of photos, and you can add them to groups, but I'd worry about keeping them private. Further, while you can create documents in Facebook Groups, Facebook is not suitable for file storage.
Today, most people would do the same sort of thing by starting a closed user group on Facebook. Conversations within the group cannot be seen by non-members. Facebook provides a free and convenient way to share low-resolution versions of photos, and you can add them to groups, but I'd worry about keeping them private. Further, while you can create documents in Facebook Groups, Facebook is not suitable for file storage.
Microsoft's SkyDrive is a better alternative because it can handle both document files and original photos, though the main attraction is that it provides 25GB of free space. You can share things with other family members by emailing them a link to an item, which might be a single photo or a whole folder.
Microsoft's SkyDrive is a better alternative because it can handle both document files and original photos, though the main attraction is that it provides 25GB of free space. You can share things with other family members by emailing them a link to an item, which might be a single photo or a whole folder.
SkyDrive lets you limit to sharing to particular names or email addresses. This is secure enough for most people's family photos, which are generally not very interesting to non-family members (unless you're a movie star, or similar), and the price is unbeatable.
SkyDrive lets you limit to sharing to particular names or email addresses. This is secure enough for most people's family photos, which are generally not very interesting to non-family members (unless you're a movie star, or similar), and the price is unbeatable.
It also works well for non-expert users because it's integrated with the Microsoft's free desktop email program, Windows Live Mail. This makes it easy for people to upload photos to SkyDrive and email people the links, rather than sending photos as email attachments. You can drag-and-drop files as well.
It also works well for non-expert users because it's integrated with the Microsoft's free desktop email program, Windows Live Mail. This makes it easy for people to upload photos to SkyDrive and email people the links, rather than sending photos as email attachments. You can drag-and-drop files as well.
Geeks and more expert users are more likely to use Dropbox, which has had the odd security glitch but is, I think, secure enough for you. Dropbox makes it very easy to share files and photos. The main drawback is the price. The free Dropbox service provides only 2GB of space, which could be enough for your purposes. However, the next step up is a Pro account with 50GB of storage, which costs $9.99 per month or $99 per year.
Geeks and more expert users are more likely to use Dropbox, which has had the odd security glitch but is, I think, secure enough for you. Dropbox makes it very easy to share files and photos. The main drawback is the price. The free Dropbox service provides only 2GB of space, which could be enough for your purposes. However, the next step up is a Pro account with 50GB of storage, which costs $9.99 per month or $99 per year.
Dropbox allows you to share files on a continuous basis. However, you could distribute the bulk of the files in one go, so everyone has a copy, then share the smaller number of new and updated files on Dropbox or one of the many similar services.
Dropbox allows you to share files on a continuous basis. However, you could distribute the bulk of the files in one go, so everyone has a copy, then share the smaller number of new and updated files on Dropbox or one of the many similar services.
The modern equivalent of sending out a bunch of CDs or DVDs is to upload the files to what we now seem to call "cyberlockers". You compress and password-protect your folders in manageable chunks – around 200MB to 400MB, perhaps – and upload them to a cyberlocker for other family members to download. You just email family members a link to each file and (separately) tell them the password.
The modern equivalent of sending out a bunch of CDs or DVDs is to upload the files to what we now seem to call "cyberlockers". You compress and password-protect your folders in manageable chunks – around 200MB to 400MB, perhaps – and upload them to a cyberlocker for other family members to download. You just email family members a link to each file and (separately) tell them the password.
There are still dozens of free cyberlocker sites available, though a number have stopped working following US actions against Kim Dotcom's Megaupload in New Zealand. (Cyberlockers are often – though not exclusively – used to share copyright music and movie files.) However, you could open a free account at Rapidshare, which no longer has a limit on the size of files you can upload. Files are not stored permanently unless you buy a pro account, in which case, Rapidshare space is "unlimited".
There are still dozens of free cyberlocker sites available, though a number have stopped working following US actions against Kim Dotcom's Megaupload in New Zealand. (Cyberlockers are often – though not exclusively – used to share copyright music and movie files.) However, you could open a free account at Rapidshare, which no longer has a limit on the size of files you can upload. Files are not stored permanently unless you buy a pro account, in which case, Rapidshare space is "unlimited".
MediaFire is a popular alternative, but it no longer allows password-protected files (which were being used to hide unacceptable content), and free users cannot upload any files larger than 200MB. The ban on password protection eliminates it as far as you're concerned – you need passwords to maintain privacy – though you could sign up for a pro account.
MediaFire is a popular alternative, but it no longer allows password-protected files (which were being used to hide unacceptable content), and free users cannot upload any files larger than 200MB. The ban on password protection eliminates it as far as you're concerned – you need passwords to maintain privacy – though you could sign up for a pro account.
Alternative cyberlockers could include Hotfile, Filefactory, Depositfiles, Oron, Uploaded.to, Turbobit, and Filefat, but I've not used any of those myself. You should upload a test file to any cyberlocker you might use and get someone to test the download before uploading the serious stuff.
Alternative cyberlockers could include Hotfile, Filefactory, Depositfiles, Oron, Uploaded.to, Turbobit, and Filefat, but I've not used any of those myself. You should upload a test file to any cyberlocker you might use and get someone to test the download before uploading the serious stuff.
Finally, you could continue to store all the files yourself and let other family members access them remotely. This is another geek thing to do, and could be convenient if you happen to have an old PC that you could use as a FreeNAS server. Alternatively, you could deskill the whole idea by buying a Pogoplug "personal cloud" device for £39.95 (see Charles Arthur's Technophile: Get plugged in with Pogoplug).
Finally, you could continue to store all the files yourself and let other family members access them remotely. This is another geek thing to do, and could be convenient if you happen to have an old PC that you could use as a FreeNAS server. Alternatively, you could deskill the whole idea by buying a Pogoplug "personal cloud" device for £39.95 (see Charles Arthur's Technophile: Get plugged in with Pogoplug).
The usual drawback with this approach is that if you share a 500MB file with 100 friends, the file is uploaded 100 times over your phone line, whereas you'd only upload it once to a cyberlocker. This probably doesn't matter when sharing things within the family. However, it seems to me that uploading files to Dropbox or Rapidshare or a similar online service might well be simpler for all concerned.
The usual drawback with this approach is that if you share a 500MB file with 100 friends, the file is uploaded 100 times over your phone line, whereas you'd only upload it once to a cyberlocker. This probably doesn't matter when sharing things within the family. However, it seems to me that uploading files to Dropbox or Rapidshare or a similar online service might well be simpler for all concerned.
With most of these approaches, you can make your data more secure by adding password protection. I almost always do this by compressing (encoding) individual folders using WinRAR, which has a built-in password system. Officially, I recommend TrueCrypt for maximum security, though I very rarely use it.
With most of these approaches, you can make your data more secure by adding password protection. I almost always do this by compressing (encoding) individual folders using WinRAR, which has a built-in password system. Officially, I recommend TrueCrypt for maximum security, though I very rarely use it.
It may help if you keep compressed or encrypted folders fairly small. If you change a single file in a large folder, you will have to upload the whole archive all over again. Worse, each family member will have to redownload the whole archive.
It may help if you keep compressed or encrypted folders fairly small. If you change a single file in a large folder, you will have to upload the whole archive all over again. Worse, each family member will have to redownload the whole archive.
In every case, you should use a strong password, which means not a dictionary word, at least eight characters long, and containing both letters and numbers. (Ideally, it should also include both upper and lower case letters, and a bit of punctuation always helps.) This doesn't mean the US government couldn't crack it if it didn't care about the cost, but that it would require more effort to crack than anybody would think it was worth.
In every case, you should use a strong password, which means not a dictionary word, at least eight characters long, and containing both letters and numbers. (Ideally, it should also include both upper and lower case letters, and a bit of punctuation always helps.) This doesn't mean the US government couldn't crack it if it didn't care about the cost, but that it would require more effort to crack than anybody would think it was worth.
Your house doesn't need to be as well protected as Fort Knox, and you probably don't need a similar level of security for your family records.
Your house doesn't need to be as well protected as Fort Knox, and you probably don't need a similar level of security for your family records.
Comments
33 comments, displaying first
22 March 2012 2:55PM
If the Pogoplug is now under 40 quid then that's the way I'd go, rather than messing around with an old PC. For a start it only uses about 4 watts of power, so will cost you about a penny a day to leave plugged in, compared to around 25p a day for a 100 watt PC. It'll pay for itself in about four months. Then you just stick your data on an old MP3 player or USB memory stick (you can get 2-4 gig ones for under a tenner), plug that in to the Pogoplug and you're away.
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22 March 2012 3:22PM
You can get a bit more than 2GB free out of Dropbox especially if there are other family members who have not joined so you get a referral bonus.
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22 March 2012 3:48PM
Google Docs surely? - first Gigabyte is free, 20G is $5 a year...
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22 March 2012 3:57PM
WinRAR lets you split archives into chunks of whatever size you state, so if you're using that to compress/encrypt the files, you can break it into pieces that are small enough to send as e-mail attachments, confident that the original file structure will be preserved when the pieces are reassembled, and send them without having to use a hosting service.
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22 March 2012 4:40PM
@loyatemu
Thanks for the suggestion, but I think Google Docs is pretty clunky, and the apps are not as good as the ones in SkyDrive. I really can't see any reason to use a free 1GB site when there's a better option with a free 25GB.
By the way, I see people moving stuff off Google now, partly because of its privacy policy, and partly to avoid having too many eggs in one basket. I've given Google search and Gmail in particular innumerable recommendations over the past decade, but I'm now getting more requests for alternatives to Google.
@b169043
This is true, and is one of the reasons why WinRAR became very popular for sharing large movies in a 7-10 fragments. However, in this case, it's better to have standalone rars to avoid people being forced to download the whole set. (There may be some folders they don't want.) It also avoids them having to learn how to reassemble archives.
In any case, it's a really bad idea to send 1GB via email. The whole trend for the past decade or more has been to avoid lumbering email services with vast amounts of data. Considering the time and energy needed to upload a huge number of chunks then download and reassemble them (and yes, I've done it), hosting services are both faster and easier.
Sidenote: if you're actually going to distribute a file in small chunks via email or Usenet, you should use Par.
Cheers!
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22 March 2012 4:43PM
Thanks! That's a great point about energy use, and I hadn't thought of it ;-)
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22 March 2012 10:09PM
I have found YouSendIt good for sending large files to multiple people. It holds the file and sends a download link to the emails you've specified.
I've found Wuala the best cloud/dropbox for my needs. 2Gb free and more for introductions. It has PC/iPad software that makes it look like another drive on the PC.
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22 March 2012 10:43PM
Thanks for the suggestion, but I think Google Docs is pretty clunky, and the apps are not as good as the ones in SkyDrive. I really can't see any reason to use a free 1GB site when there's a better option with a free 25GB.
It's ease of sharing is pretty good. And the collaboration. Allowing (or not) other users to edit the documents is a benefit. Sign up for a gmail account and the gmail storage gets added to the Google Docs storage. Convert the files on upload to docs format and they're free storage.
By the way, I see people moving stuff off Google now, partly because of its privacy policy, and partly to avoid having too many eggs in one basket. I've given Google search and Gmail in particular innumerable recommendations over the past decade, but I'm now getting more requests for alternatives to Google.
It's still no reason not to recommend docs as a possible solution. And it's privacy policy is a very poor reason not to, because it's most definitely no worse than any of the others.
Alternatively, there is Box. 50Gb of free storage for life if you sign up before 31st March. Or, as always, you could use a combination of lots of these, particularly as backups, spread the eggs around multiple baskets.
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22 March 2012 10:52PM
You could look into using Opera ( www.opera.com ) and investigating Opera Unite which is built into the browser, it lets you share directories on your computer online.
It also offers password protection for your shared files.
The downside is your computer has to be on for people to access it.
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22 March 2012 11:07PM
I hope you are all more successful than the girls in the photo who are sharing "deserts".
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22 March 2012 11:12PM
Another favorite option is File Apartment (http://www.fileapartment.com). Easy to use, no software to download or registration, up to 1 GB, safe, secure, and free customer support.
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22 March 2012 11:49PM
Useful info on Box but I've registered and there is 'only' 5Gb of free storage, not 50Gb - unless I missed something?
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23 March 2012 2:04AM
Apologies. I should have added *from an Android device* for the 50Gb. Still, 5Gb is also plenty for the person above asking the query also and it's more than Dropbox.
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23 March 2012 7:49AM
I would suggest the questioner had mentioned the better solution. If you have family members around the world some may not have the disk space or bandwidth to download that much data. There are many good encryption utilities (like Truecrypt) that are free - so why not copy it onto datasticks or dvds and send them a seperate email with the password?
Far more useful and usable solution!
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23 March 2012 9:03AM
From a security point of view love pogoplug, however I found that it was a tad slow. Dropbox does only give you 2GB but you can get 250mb extra for every person who accepts an invite. The user experience is very good as well. If you are ok with zipping fies and clunkiness minus.com gives you 10 gb. \if you are really paranoid check out retroshare
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23 March 2012 9:06AM
I have a box.net account it's so slow as to be worthless.
"The main drawback is the price. The free Dropbox service provides only 2GB of space, which could be enough for your purposes."
But if they sign up with your invite, then it will increase by 250mb per time, 500mb per time if you have an academic email address - my dropbox account is upto 16gb.
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23 March 2012 10:42AM
The basics of any security question are not the storage capacity or technology but what are you trying to protect and why? If there is a question of protecting against identity fraud, medical, legal or financial detail for living individuals, then the first task should be to separate those out before distributing anything.
Public documents, such as public census records or any birth marriage or death details of the individuals listed have no real need for confidentiality. You might consider that any photos or other documentation of a similar vintage falls into the same category. In practice one strategy to protect collections of old documents is to distribute as widely and freely as possible. Bear in mind the time scales, many old photos have survived on paper having passed though several hands. The best chance of keeping them going in future is to have lots of chances of survival. In a hundred years time even if some individuals have lost or misplaced them, there could be copies lodged with distant relatives that can be accessed..They are not going to change much, no reason not to treat them as a one off bulk transfer, burn to CD without any encryption and post.
For the more sensitive stuff, you have to recognise that there are two fundamentally different ways to share access. One is a distributed password. Save the docs in a password protected collection and distribute the password separately to individuals. Whether you do that with RAR. ZIP, Truecrypt, GNUPG or any other software is largely irrelevant. The weakness is the one off password not the theoretical encryption strength. Someone will write the password down, print the email or tell everyone they know. The more complex the password or phrase, the more likely it is to be written on a post it note and stuck to a pin board - the security paradox that is missed by those insisting on a password with upper/lowercase/numbers. For what it's worth, a winzip password protected file is probably the most widely understood protection and 'good enough' to deter casual browsing. The advantage of putting it on a CD is that you have a distributed backup. a disc is likely to be kept and readable somewhere among your relatives on a longer term basis than any individual company providing a transfer account.
The other method of treating sensitive docs is to control access for individual accounts. This would be the case through something like Google docs, Yahoo groups, Facebook or any of the social media sites. All the participants need an account they have to maintain and you grant them access to shared documents. Down side is that individuals are forced to use your chosen route and control their own security. Not everyone takes the same care with access that you might, they could also download a local copy and spread it around themselves. You can deny access to individuals, but that's really only effective for items you add after removing their account; anything they had access to in the past, they could have copied.
Your choice, and technical considerations depend on the individuals you're distributing to. However, always start by selecting what you are prepared to share and assume that once out of your immediate control the documents could be seen by anyone.
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23 March 2012 10:43AM
There's SpiderOak, it's like Dropbox but built with security in mind- they have a zero knowledge policy which means even their own staff can't access your data. Comes with 2GB free, use code 'WORLDBACKUPDAY' today to get 5GB for free. It also has clients for Windows, Linux, Mac, Android & iOS.
It's not as quick as Dropbox (due to the encryption) and the backup and sync procedure is more complicated. If security is your primary concern then you can't go wrong with this, if speed and ease of use is what you're after this probably isn't for you.
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23 March 2012 10:50AM
If I need to send a lot of files securely, I use a piece of software called DADapp (http://dadapp.com).
Basically I invite my friends via email, and once they've got DADapp on their PC or Mac, they appear in my contact list and it's as easy as dragging and dropping files onto their user name. What I like about it most is that it's completely private and I don't have to upload any of my files to hosting sites, so I don't have to worry about someone else gaining access to my stuff. Anything I share with a fried goes direct from my computer to theirs without having to be hosted anywhere or sent in an email.
Also, what's really good is that I can just make a load of files available to a contact, and they can select the ones that they want to download from me, so I don't need to sit around waiting for files to upload before sending them things that they might not necessarily want.
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23 March 2012 10:57AM
Has anyone mentioned Sugarsync yet. It's great for this kind of thing and you don't have to move your files into a drop box type thing if you don't want. You get 5gb free as well as 500mb per referral.
The best part is being able to select a folder and have it sync to the same location on a different computer so you can backup %APPDATA% folders easily between machines.
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23 March 2012 11:16AM
I'm not saying Google Docs is unusable or bad -- I use it myself, and have recommended it before -- I'm just pointing out that SkyDrive is better. It's particularly better in giving you 25GB of free storage.
Convert the files on upload to docs format and they're free storage.
Unfortunately, in my experience, Google Docs' conversion process is mediocre for all but the simplest files. I no longer use it, except for illustrative purposes (to show how bad it is). Considering its age, I don't see any excuse for this. There are other sites that do a much better job, such as Zamzar.
it's privacy policy is a very poor reason not to, because it's most definitely no worse than any of the others.
I didn't say this. I pointed out that lots of people are upset about Google's privacy policy (you can Google it!) and that some people are asking me to suggest alternatives to Google. This article makes the case, even if you don't agree with it: http://gizmodo.com/5895010/the-case-against-google
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23 March 2012 11:23AM
He says: "I would like to share this data with other family members in various parts of the world – safely, given its personal nature. "
Once he shares the data with other people (even relatives) he has lost control of it. He will have to give passwords or access keys and then it is effectively "out in the wild". This sounds like a "privacy" issue rather than a "security" issue - I know they are related but they are not the same - so why the obsession with encryption etc.
Geeky solution. Get some web hosting (less than £3 per month) and create a protected directory to host the private stuff. He could also install Wordpress (free) and have a family blog.
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23 March 2012 2:18PM
Geeky solution. Get some web hosting (less than £3 per month) and create a protected directory to host the private stuff.
Why go down the route of paying to host? You can achieve the same if not better results using the likes of SpiderOak (as in my previous comment) with its share rooms, or the public folders in Dropbox (that you can still control access to) or the equivalent features in SugarSync or SkyDrive etc.
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23 March 2012 5:38PM
I mostly use Google Docs myself and I find the sharing functionality is pretty good, although I see Jack's points about the clunkiness of some aspects of GDocs, and the file conversion is still crap.
I also use DropBox and TrueCrypt in combination to provide seriously encrypted syncing. Here's an example of how to do this.
One thing to bear in mind is that DropBox only ever "sees" your big encrypted file, not the contents inside it. So the initial upload is really slow e.g. if you create a 500MB TrueCrypt volume, although subsequent updates seem to run faster. Also, DropBox only recognises that you need to upload changes to the TrueCrypt volume after you've closed the volume i.e. it's not syncing while you're actually using the volume.
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23 March 2012 6:29PM
Depending on which family member wants what of the data the simplest way to distribute it might be to use any Point-to-Point IM that supports file transfers (like Skype, Trillian etc.).
Sometimes the best solution is the simplest.
Yours Ivan
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25 March 2012 2:17PM
That would be a bit gritty for my taste
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26 March 2012 12:05AM
Personally, I think the web interface for Skydrive is far worse than Google docs. And the fact that you have to use the web interface on an Android phone just makes it worse.
I didn't say this. I pointed out that lots of people are upset about Google's privacy policy (you can Google it!) and that some people are asking me to suggest alternatives to Google.
The question to ask is why are they upset about it? What is it that their policy in particular does that other integrated services don't. For example. Using Windows Live id. Or an Apple id. Why aren't people worried about their privacy policies. What is it that makes Googles different. Or is it primarily because Google is changing. And fundamentally, people don't like change. Regardless of whether or not the policy is simpler to understand.
This article makes the case, even if you don't agree with it: http://gizmodo.com/5895010/the-case-against-google
He makes some good points and requires alot more time than I have now to reply fully. One thing that struck me though, was, whilst making the point that Google is now moving away from search as the core product (and for some reason this is 'Evil'), the points he makes actually point towards the exact opposite. To do that though, and with the shifts in the web sands, and in particular closed and proprietary OSs and apps, they are having to build their own products to enable better search.
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26 March 2012 4:54PM
I have been using Pando for some time with out any problems sharing files and film's with family and friends.The service lets you send and receive large files and folders, up to 1GB, with your existing email address. Pando uses the most secure implementation of the latest encryption technologies - 256-bit encryption keys of the AES, to ensure your files are secure while in transit.
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26 March 2012 11:27PM
Looks promising but I can see a few problems: recipients are obliged to join Pando, password-protection not allowed for free users, and your packages expire after 7 days. Also, it works via P2P file sharing, which not everyone will like.
I've not tried it, but I can't quite see why it's better than using either SkyDrive or Rapidshare....
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27 March 2012 11:24PM
Or you could create a gmail (or other) account and send the files to it in a series of emails describing their content. Then just pass the account name and password to the rels. That way they don't have to do anything except go and look if they want to. Any comments they may have could be sent to that email address, or they could create draft messages in the account and leave them there.
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29 March 2012 8:49AM
Encryption – use Truecrypt. It’s excellent, free, and easy to use - see slowtrack’s link above.
Install Truecrypt, get confident with it (you’ll later wonder why you worried at all), and then later use the portable version if you need. You can create the file container anywhere you like on your PC (ie no need to use Dropbox if you don’t want to.)
Also make sure that you make a backup copy of the volume header (button ‘Volume Tools’ – see http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/?s=main-program-window)
Reid
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3 April 2012 9:18AM
I'd use Dropbox - its easy and quick.
Just upload the docs you already have, then tell your family to copy them to their own drives - you can then remove them and just add new files as and when you need to.
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5 April 2012 1:16PM
You can or could get a bit more space on Dropbox by recommending it etc.
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David Bogle wants to share family history files with relatives overseas, while also keeping them private
I have amassed a lot of data about our family history (papers, photos etc), which I keep in a folder on my computer. This folder is subdivided into 37 sub-folders, some of which also have sub-folders. It amounts to about 1GB of data so far. I would like to share this data with other family members in various parts of the world – safely, given its personal nature. I was going to copy the folders onto a CD and post it, but if a CD got lost, anyone could easily access the data. Options I have considered: 1. Encrypting the data, but I'm not sure how to do this. 2. Using pen drives which I believe can be password protected. But they are a bit expensive. 3. Uploading the data to something like SkyDrive or DropBox. The problem is the limits on the amount of data and folders. Any suggestions or recommendations? David Bogle
This is a tricky one, because there are dozens of different ways to share files and photos, and different families have different levels of interest and computer expertise. You could try a couple of different approaches with one family member before choosing what you think is the most suitable system for all concerned.
A decade or so ago, many of us used Yahoo Groups, which was called eGroups until Yahoo bought it in 2000. It was easy to set up a private family group where people could hold online discussions and share files and photos – just what you want.
Yahoo made changes that upset many regular users (or at least, some vocal users), and I thought it might have disappeared, but it is still going at groups.yahoo.com. However, each group only provides 100MB of free storage, and Yahoo doesn't sell extra space. That means it's not an option for your gigabyte of data, though it could still appeal to other readers.
Today, most people would do the same sort of thing by starting a closed user group on Facebook. Conversations within the group cannot be seen by non-members. Facebook provides a free and convenient way to share low-resolution versions of photos, and you can add them to groups, but I'd worry about keeping them private. Further, while you can create documents in Facebook Groups, Facebook is not suitable for file storage.
Microsoft's SkyDrive is a better alternative because it can handle both document files and original photos, though the main attraction is that it provides 25GB of free space. You can share things with other family members by emailing them a link to an item, which might be a single photo or a whole folder.
SkyDrive lets you limit to sharing to particular names or email addresses. This is secure enough for most people's family photos, which are generally not very interesting to non-family members (unless you're a movie star, or similar), and the price is unbeatable.
It also works well for non-expert users because it's integrated with the Microsoft's free desktop email program, Windows Live Mail. This makes it easy for people to upload photos to SkyDrive and email people the links, rather than sending photos as email attachments. You can drag-and-drop files as well.
Geeks and more expert users are more likely to use Dropbox, which has had the odd security glitch but is, I think, secure enough for you. Dropbox makes it very easy to share files and photos. The main drawback is the price. The free Dropbox service provides only 2GB of space, which could be enough for your purposes. However, the next step up is a Pro account with 50GB of storage, which costs $9.99 per month or $99 per year.
Dropbox allows you to share files on a continuous basis. However, you could distribute the bulk of the files in one go, so everyone has a copy, then share the smaller number of new and updated files on Dropbox or one of the many similar services.
The modern equivalent of sending out a bunch of CDs or DVDs is to upload the files to what we now seem to call "cyberlockers". You compress and password-protect your folders in manageable chunks – around 200MB to 400MB, perhaps – and upload them to a cyberlocker for other family members to download. You just email family members a link to each file and (separately) tell them the password.
There are still dozens of free cyberlocker sites available, though a number have stopped working following US actions against Kim Dotcom's Megaupload in New Zealand. (Cyberlockers are often – though not exclusively – used to share copyright music and movie files.) However, you could open a free account at Rapidshare, which no longer has a limit on the size of files you can upload. Files are not stored permanently unless you buy a pro account, in which case, Rapidshare space is "unlimited".
MediaFire is a popular alternative, but it no longer allows password-protected files (which were being used to hide unacceptable content), and free users cannot upload any files larger than 200MB. The ban on password protection eliminates it as far as you're concerned – you need passwords to maintain privacy – though you could sign up for a pro account.
Alternative cyberlockers could include Hotfile, Filefactory, Depositfiles, Oron, Uploaded.to, Turbobit, and Filefat, but I've not used any of those myself. You should upload a test file to any cyberlocker you might use and get someone to test the download before uploading the serious stuff.
Finally, you could continue to store all the files yourself and let other family members access them remotely. This is another geek thing to do, and could be convenient if you happen to have an old PC that you could use as a FreeNAS server. Alternatively, you could deskill the whole idea by buying a Pogoplug "personal cloud" device for £39.95 (see Charles Arthur's Technophile: Get plugged in with Pogoplug).
The usual drawback with this approach is that if you share a 500MB file with 100 friends, the file is uploaded 100 times over your phone line, whereas you'd only upload it once to a cyberlocker. This probably doesn't matter when sharing things within the family. However, it seems to me that uploading files to Dropbox or Rapidshare or a similar online service might well be simpler for all concerned.
With most of these approaches, you can make your data more secure by adding password protection. I almost always do this by compressing (encoding) individual folders using WinRAR, which has a built-in password system. Officially, I recommend TrueCrypt for maximum security, though I very rarely use it.
It may help if you keep compressed or encrypted folders fairly small. If you change a single file in a large folder, you will have to upload the whole archive all over again. Worse, each family member will have to redownload the whole archive.
In every case, you should use a strong password, which means not a dictionary word, at least eight characters long, and containing both letters and numbers. (Ideally, it should also include both upper and lower case letters, and a bit of punctuation always helps.) This doesn't mean the US government couldn't crack it if it didn't care about the cost, but that it would require more effort to crack than anybody would think it was worth.
Your house doesn't need to be as well protected as Fort Knox, and you probably don't need a similar level of security for your family records.
