OwnCloud

OwnCloud is an open source software package that lets you store, access and sync data across the Internet on a server that you control rather than having to rely on Google, Dropbox or any number of other cloud-based services.

OwnCloud’s server software requires PHP5 and MySQL, which means it will run on many web hosting services out there. Lifehacker has a nice walkthrough of the installation process.

OwnCloud appears to be actively updated and has a community that has added a number of apps and plugins that allow it to be used for task management, as a media streaming service, etc.

The one thing that OwnCloud is still missing is file encryption. OwnCloud can be configured to use SSL to encrypt data that is being transferred back and forth between the server and clients, but the files stored within OwnCloud itself are not encrypted. This means if someone hacked your server, they would have access to your files.

Almost all cloud-based systems, including Google Drive and Dropbox, also store your files without encrypting them, but it would be nice to see encryption as an option here. This still leaves something like Spider Oak as the best alternative for cloud-based syncing and storage that also encrypts files.

Before you went all-in on something like OwnCloud, you would also want to ensure you understand your web host provider’s limits and policies on monthly bandwidth very well. For example, this blog is run on a dedicated server and the contract I have with my provider allows me to transfer up to 3 terabytes of data per month. Typically the actual amount of data I use falls somewhere between 25gb to 100gb per month. If I started using something like OwnCloud, that would usage rise dramatically and I’d need to monitor my usage to make sure I don’t that cap and risk being charged extra fees.

Given how companies like Google, Microsoft and Dropbox rarely have their users’ best interests in mind, however, it is good to see that there are open source alternatives that can still route around them if needed.

SpiderOak — Like Dropbox, Except They Don’t Lie to You

I’m not a fan of Dropbox ever since it was clear they had deceived customers. I work on a freelance project where everyone uses Dropbox (after I go them hooked on it), and giving it up for that isn’t really an option. For everything else I was using Dropbox for, however, I long ago removed all of my files off their service.

Instead I’m using SpiderOak. Like Dropbox, SpiderOak is intended as tool to backup files to the cloud and then sync those files with other computers and devices such as smart phones.

What SpiderOak has that Dropbox doesn’t is the option for genuine encryption — my SpiderOak account is set up so that nobody, including SpiderOak employees, can access my files without my password. Dropbox promised users this capability, but it turned out they were not telling the truth and their employees could access user files at any time (or accidentally expose them for a couple hours to the entire Internet as they did earlier this year).

Of course with great power comes great complexity, and this is the major downside to SpiderOak. Dropbox is dead simple to install and use — it took me no time at all to get people who barely understood how to use their computer to install and use Dropbox with no problem. SpiderOak, on the other hand, requires a lot more thinking about what you’re doing.

So in SpiderOak, first you have to create a Backup set (for example, all files in a directory), and then the application backs that up. Then you need to go in and sync the backup, authorizing specific devices and/or specific directories or files. Don’t get me wrong — it is not that SpiderOak is obsessively complex, but rather that it is just not drop dead simple like Dropbox is.

On the other hand, SpiderOak is much cheaper than Dropbox — I’m currently paying $10/month for 100gb of space (and, like Dropbox, there is a free account with a 2gb limit).

The only other thing I’d add is that I think the Dropbox app for Android is crap. the SpiderOak app wasn’t much better until recently, but the latest version does a nice job of letting me pick and choose which files, directories, etc. I want my phone to keep in sync.