related: Online back-ups, File Sync and Cloud Storage

[Lina]

This came from Jenny:

Jenny wrote: "I'm looking forward to your tutorials, CaroB. I'm still a bit perplexed about is backing up to a site such as dropbox. It was mentioned when I posted my questions, but I'm not entirely sure how to do that. LOL."

I wasn't thinking of including back-up info in the calibre tutorials initially, simply because there are SO MANY options. But hopefully this little bit here will give you enough to choose your own path...

I personally use Mozy, but here is a good article with a comparison table that compares Dropbox Vs Sugarsync Vs Mozy, which I tend to think are the top three contenders for cloud storage.

[Lina]

I have tried Dropbox and found it slowed down my whole computer, which sucked. I had to move my files around to put them all in the one Dropbox folder, which sucked as I'm a bit OCD about my filing system on my computer. I was able to increase my free account storage size, by recommending friends to join, which was cool. And I could share files with friends relatively easily, which was also cool. But the slow computer sucked enough to make me leave that service.

With Mozy, I get super-fast back-ups because it waits until my computer has been idle for ten minutes, so it doesn't use the hard-drive while I am, meaning no slow computer. Love this.
I get to manually choose the folders that I want Mozy to back-up without having to move anything around on my computer. Cool.
I get a lot more control to set up the Mozy syncing exactly as I want it. Also cool.
It has a high-encryption rate for my data, which makes me feel better about having my files online. Very cool.
I get to access all my files from my Android phone, and can download books from anywhere I am, and start reading from the Aldiko app on my phone. Coolness of cool.
I can't increase my free storage. Sucks.
But the 50G yearly price is the cheapest of the three. Cool.
I can't file share. Sucks. I'm resigned to just emailing files to friends as I need. I'm trying to be cool with that, lol!

I have never tried Sugarsync personally but I hear good things.
There are MANY MORE software options out there for cloud staorage/backups. I just limited to the three most popular options...

This isn't a recommend. This is just a demonstration of why I made the decision I made. Your priorities will be different and so you need to choose the right product for YOU!

[Lina]

As far as I understand, whichever software you choose, you will need to download the software onto your computer.

For Dropbox, follow Steps 1 to 4 as per instructions here on this Dear Author blog post.

For Sugarsync, here are some tutorial videos provided by Sugarsync.

For Mozy, tutorials here


This will make a lot more sense, if you know which folder your calibre library is kept in.

[Lina]

Does this help?

[AerinLuvs]

This discussion is over 2 years old so there are a lot of cloud storage options nowadays. Most cloud systems can back up to your hard drive with their installable .exe program (which can slow down your computer for a short time while it does that) but you have the option of turning the backing up/syncing OFF.

Before it was difficult for me to put all my ebooks in one place and have it easily accessible between the tablet, phone, and computer but the cloud storage systems make it easier to do. Now Smashwords also has a link to immediately put a newly purchased book right into your Dropbox. Saves a lot of time!

[Lisa Kay, Moderator]

Thanks for letting us know, AnniLuvs. CaroB used to keep us up-to-date on Calibre, but she returned to the workforce full-time and is not longer a Mod of our group. We miss her terribly.

[Lauren]

Another option is to put your Calibre library in Dropbox (or any other cloud storage service). This will keep it up to date across computers (if you have Calibre on my than one). I've also noticed that when I download a book from Amazon (through the download and transfer option), I can open it directly into Calibre.

[Lisa Kay, Moderator]

GTK, Lauren.