SpiderOak is an online storage, backup and synchronization service. It provides an easy, secure and consolidated free online backup, sync, sharing, access and storage solution for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora & openSUSE). Although, it has many paid packages, you can get a free starter package – free lifetime 2GB online storage space. It provides its own client application to access the files but you can also access the files you have stored online using a web browser.
The SpiderOak Online backup has the following notable features :
- You can access all your data in one de-duplicated location
- It is configurable with multi-platform synchronization
- It preserves all historical versions & deleted files
- You can share folders instantly in web ShareRooms with RSS
- You can retrieve files from any internet-connected device
- It provides support for file encryption
- You can get 2 GB of storage space for Free
You can visit https://spideroak.com/ to download the SpiderOak software. The download is available for Windows, Mac and various editions of Linux. When you visit this webpage, it automatically detects your operating system and shows you the relevant download. Just click on the big green Download button to start downloading the software.
After installing the SpiderOak software, it pops-up a Setup window where you can signup for a new account or sign-in using an existing account. Follow the on-screen directions to sign-up for a new account. You need only an email address to signup for a new SpiderOak account. After signup, you are given 2 GB of free online storage. At the end of the setup process your cryptographic keys are generated and then the SpiderOak client window is shown.
You can choose which folders you want to backup in the Backup section. To have more control on selecting folders, you can click on the Advanced button. After you have made the selection, you can start the backup process by clicking on the green Backup button.
By default all the selected folders are continuosly monitored and new files in them are automatically backed up to the SpiderOak servers. The synchronization process is run at the same time as the backing up is done by default. But you can choose a specific time to make the backup and synchronize. You can do so by clicking on the Preferences link on top in the main SpiderOak client window. Then you can select the Schedule tab to choose the time and frequency for backup and synchronization.
You can share a file or folder stored on the SpiderOak servers too. To do this first you have generate a Share ID. The Share ID can be generated from the Share tab in the main client window. After that, you need to create a Room. This can be done by clicking on the New button as shown.
Follow the onscreen instructions and choose a folder you would like to share. In the end, you would be given a sharing URL. You can give this URL to your friends or family members to access the files inside this folder. If you type this URL in the web browser, you would be shown a list of files as shown.
The Sync feature is good as it automatically synchronizes the folders on the SpiderOak servers and the local hard disk. The folders to be synced may be present across any number of devices connected to the Internet. Just like the Share, you have to create a Sync before you can synchronize the files. To create a Sync, just click on the Sync tab in the main client window. Then click on the New and follow the on-screen instructions. You would have to specifiy which two or more folders are to be synced. This is a great way to sync the contents of two (or more) folder stored on two (or more) different computers or devices.
The SpiderOak online backup is accessible from all the Internet connected devices whether the SpiderOak client is installed or not. So now you can backup ans sync all your files regularly and automatically on this 2 GB of free online backup space from anywhere – home, office, a friends place, from your mobile phone etc. SpiderOak is a headache free, productive solution for those people who have a good qualty Internet connection, who understand the necessity of making regular backups and who want to access their data from various locations in the world.