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back to article Online storage start-up pitches 'USB stick on the internet'

Livedrive.com is offering small businesses a simpler way to create online back-ups of their files and data. Although there are several similar services from companies like BT, Microsoft and HP, Livedrive reckons it offers an easier way for users to create secure copies of files which they can access from anywhere. Andrew …

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  1. Xander
    Unhappy

    "prosumers"

    Oh what fresh hell is this?

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  2. phill
    Thumb Down

    FAIL

    windows 32 bit only = FAIL

    itll only work on about 1 in 3 of the machines i use regulary

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  3. Sir Runcible Spoon
    Boffin

    I know it's Beta

    but I can't even upload a file over the http connection. Won't be able to test the software version until I'm not behind the company firewall.

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  4. thesniper

    Identical to Dropbox then?

    https://www.getdropbox.com/home

    Which already has Windows, Mac, even Linux (ubuntu) support...

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Ah yes, but...

    I was in a position to see a preview of this last March. Unfortunately back then, Mr Michael was still under the impression that you could run an operation of this size from a server under a desk, the same way he started Fasthosts.

    Hopefully he's seen fit to spend a bit more cash (which he was very reluctant to do back then) and buy some bandwidth/servers/storage etc!

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  6. fifi

    Linux version?

    ...any idea when?

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  7. Ash
    Thumb Down

    New story category!

    Regvertisment.

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Alfresco?

    Sounds suspiciously similar to me.

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  9. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Very Useful

    Ideal for local authorities and government departments. Now you won't have to be lucky to find a "lost" stick in a carpark, you can access them all remotely.

    Mines the one with the password printed on the back

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  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    interesting

    Really it's a nicer packaging of software like:

    http://www.webdrive.com/products/webdrive/index.html or http://www.expandrive.com/sftpdrive

    Just including the cost of the sftp space as well as well as some web server software to present the files nicely online.

    Having used both of the above pieces of software I guess I would be very happy if this offered improved performance and compatibility with various apps. (e.g. I know the different products use different methods of transfer & caching which can achieve vastly different performance when say using a drive as a place to store and edit documents compared to something like storing your music library - due to the size of the data transfered).

    As I already own my own servers, I think what I would be interested in would be the drive software itself (if it is that much better) as i'd rather store my own data.

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  11. James Wright

    Go checkout dropbox, works great on mac/win/linux

    I use it all the time, keeps about 6 of my systems in sync, and everything under 2gb is free!

    http://www.getdropbox.com

    James.

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  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I see...

    ...FastHosts founder?

    Sounds like just the guy to entrust my valuable/sensitive backups to...

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  13. Kane
    Stop

    Eh?

    Prosumers?

    I assume that this is a contraction of Professional and Consumer.

    Shouldn't this belong in the list of Net neologisms? It sounds Hairollocks enough....

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/12/worst_neologism_poll/

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  14. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Too many hidden costs

    And what's the expected cost?

    Fair enough you should not always get something for nothing but not publishing a cost for a subscription service is just dirty tricks.

    > During the beta you may try Livedrive without charge.

    But in the Terms of Service:

    > 30 day trial

    > Customers opening their first Livedrive account are entitled to use the initial 30 days as a trial basis and will not be charged for this period. Customers wishing to discontinue after the trial period must give notice as above.

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  15. Christian Arndt
    Paris Hilton

    Use JungleDisk...

    A number of apps like this have existed for ages, I personally use JungleDisk which is based on amazon's S3 storage system, that way the data is secure and stored with Amazon (less likely to go tits up) but Jungledisk provides the interface and software (including backup) and a drive letter concept... if jungledisk goes then i can still get at the data using any other s3 app... sounds like a better solution to me... plus the prices per gig are a lot lower... the pound sliding isnt helping tho...

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  16. Fab De Marco

    Any copyright issues with windows LiveDrive

    OK so LiveDrive was the code name and it is now Widows Live SkyDrive but still, MS are always up for a legal ruck!

    Seems interesting, I wonder whats the costs are and what country the servers are in. the DPA only applies to data stored in the UK. So if these servers are stored under the counter of a sex shop in Hamburg and you are storing other peoples names and addresses there then you in trouble.

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  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Xander

    Xander,

    A prosumer is a consumer with an attitude problem: he won't buy anything if it isn't good enough for a pofessional.

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  18. john oates

    costs

    hello,

    They've not set firm prices yet but it should be about £30 a year, we've been told - prices will be set with the official launch in January.

    cheers

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  19. caffeine addict

    Prosumer

    Oh shut up your whinging all of you. It's hardly new sales bollocks... ElReg was using it back in 2006...

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/14/rim_os_rewrite_challenge/

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  20. Simon Orr
    Thumb Down

    I used something like this

    something like 8 years ago when Dial-up was all the rage. I seem to recall it was called "X:\" or similar. All in all, not really a ground-breaking story...

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  21. Tim99 Silver badge
    Stop

    Save a few quid

    How about a remote server and something like:-

    rsync -avhe ssh --delete /home/user/dir/ user@remote.host.com:dir/

    Unless you insist on Windows everywhere...

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  22. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Prosumer

    Prosumer is not a new word, lots of camera are marketed as this.

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  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Tim99

    Even with Windows at the client, you can install cwRsync and do it that way....

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  24. Pierre

    Prosumer

    "The service is aimed at prosumers and the small business market" ... "availability everywhere"

    Read " we target home users with an attitude". Still they don't have a MacOS version ready yet. Nor have they a 64 bits version.

    Marginally more luser-friendly than ftp while presumably hugely more expensive, expect security holes (I'd like to know more about the protocol and the encryption...). Actually, forget the home users, it's clearly aimed at the gov!

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  25. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    re: Any copyright issues with windows LiveDrive

    No copyright issues as Andrew Michael bought the domain before Microsoft could get their mitts on it, and refused to sell it to them. Microsoft then rebadged their version.

    To be honest, I think he would have been better taking Microsoft's offer for the domain name. He'll make more money.

    And to answer question about where servers are, they are in the UK. And if he hasn't managed to stump up for datacentre space yet, then my previous post was entirely true....they are in a small rack in his offices in Paddington. I've seen 'em! All working not-so-beautifully over a way-to-small bandwidth pipe.

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  26. VampyreWolf

    old bag of tricks

    X drive got me through high school computer science.

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  27. TimM

    JungleDisk

    Low one off fee for the software, and the rest is Amazon S3 storage costs (so all hosting done by Amazon, in their "cloud"), paid direct to Amazon, not JungleDisk.

    Has a "drive letter", encryption, and all that.

    Windows, Mac, Linux, and even a portable USB key version. And there's the download/decrypt source available free and forever (in case company goes TU).

    For average home users, the costs are peanuts. I have around a gig stored and transfer maybe that per month and pay something like $0.50 a month, often less. Coupled with a Nationwide card for no-fees foreign card transactions, it's a billy bargain (though they do EU hosting now in UK prices, but we get slightly more ripped off with UK pricing).

    For businesses, like everything with S3, pricing scales up.

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  28. Warren Hill
    Thumb Down

    @kane

    Prosumer ... very Apple talk, trying to get hips with the kids.

    This is not really news and this product will not succeed given its Windows only bias and thumbdrive dependence.

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  29. jon

    Prosumers?

    'Prosumers' , ye gods somebody slap his speech writer with a kipper

    anyhow I hope he does well, Fasthosts was never quite the same after he left.

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  30. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ewedrive?

    Who remembers ewedrive? A UK startup in 2007, from some of the same smart people who brought you Metronet (till Plusnet made the bosses an offer they couldn't refuse). It ceased to exist a few months ago.

    Well if the people that built Metronet couldn't make client-independent standards-based web storage work, what chance does Mr Fasthosts have?

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  31. David Wilkinson

    very excited ... when I see the prices

    I already use note take software that stores everything locally and syncs with an online database. I can access it from my PC or my thumb drive online or offline and also via the web. Its free unless you exceed a monthly data upload allowance, then you can't upload more until the next month.

    But my notes are almost entirely text so I never reach the limit.

    I'd love to have similar functionality with files instead of notes. Not sure how much I'd pay for it though.

    Thumb drives are pretty small and cheap. So really the service would only benefit me by automatically protecting my files from loss.

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  32. Christopher Martin
    Unhappy

    What?

    Aside from an encrypted storage format, in what way is this any different from using Nautilus to do an SSH mount to my web host? How does it in any way resemble a USB stick? And why is this entire article a press release without any biting commentary? Or is the whole article a big joke that just went over my head? What the hell is going on here?

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  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    MS Live Mesh

    Sounds very like Microsoft Live Mesh (www.mesh.com) which is essentially just a shiny repackaging of WebDAV, Windows Briefcase and Remote Desktop as far as I can tell. Having said that, despite Live Mesh being a Microsoft beta it is does seem to work well in a Windows-only environment.

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  34. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Not bad at all

    Whatever you might think of Michael's intentions, LiveDrive seems to work pretty well and is damn quick! Better than Humyo which I've used in the past but dropped as it's too slow to sync. I also like the embedded viewers and editors in the web portal. All in all, a good effort from a British firm taking on Mr Gates and Mr Page/Brin ;-)

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  35. Francis Fish
    Happy

    Prosumer - Producer & Consumer

    In partnership, producer shares some of the profit back. It's from Multilevel Marketing - predictably there's a very boring book that explains the idea over and over again too.

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  36. Jamie Hylton
    Thumb Down

    Not interested until...

    ... the ISPs make my upload speed the same as my 10Mb download speed....

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  37. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    "Integrity check running... and running... and running...

    Ok, I gave it a try today and transferred a few gigs over, then back onto my hd. Suddenly the connection hung. I went into the admin panel and discovered the "integrity check" button (kinda makes you nervous to see an "integrity check" button for a remote walled-garden storage that stores your precious data donit?) - and bingo, the pop up informs me "Your Livedrive did not shutdown correctly, please wait while we perform an integrity check..." hmmm, I never shut anything down, it just suddenly hung up on me... well, that was 45 minutes ago, and still integrity checking away here - halfway through... 500megs of data is still sitting on the Livedrive, yikes..

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  38. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    @Fab De Marco

    Why is this service only being targeted at Widows (see 'Widows Live SkyDrive')? That seems very short sighted to me, but then again, maybe Black widows have an advantage on the Web.

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