Online storage made simple

Back in the dot-com heyday, I reviewed five online file-storage services for an article on a Web site that long ago crumbled into pixel dust. Two years later, only one of those companies was still in business. Most people, it turned out, weren’t willing to pay for the privilege of saving files to a distant server.

Fast-forward to 2005, and take a look at Box.net. This new online service, barely a month old, is trying to revive the online-storage business. I was skeptical at first, but after a few days of using the service I think they might have what it takes to stick around.

The idea behind the service is simple: For $2.99 a month ($24.99 a year), you get your own online Box. Log on with your user name and password, and you can upload or download as many files as you want, to a maximum of 1 gigabyte of online storage.

To upload one or two files, click a Browse button. For mass uploads, you can run a simple Java applet that lets you drag files onto a window.

The interface is surprisingly fast, simple to use, and doesn’t try to do too much.

Click to enlarge image.

You can create folders and subfolders to stay organized. A navigation bar along the top lets you move through folders. Links on the left let you filter to show only documents, photos, or music files. If you click on a photo, it opens in a properly sized window, and you can then use arrow keys for an impromptu slide show.

There are other photo-sharing services out there, many of them free. This one is different because it lets you save all types of files and doesn’t try to push photo printing services on you.

I found it easy to create a shared file folder with a few clicks. Want to see my vacation photos from Italy? You’ll find them here.

I’ve been a longtime customer of Xdrive, which offers a more full-featured service with 5GB of storage. In exchange for more bells and whistles, you get a larger bill – $9.95 a month or $99.50 a year. If you simply want room to back up some files on a remote server and your budget is tight, Box.net is a better deal.

I do have a couple of minor criticisms. It’s more difficult than it should be to organize saved files. Once they’re uploaded, you have to work with each file or folder separately.You can’t easily move or delete a group of files. And security is a question mark. A company spokesman tells me the site will have complete SSL functionality in a week or two, and the company plans to release a desktop software that will incorporate on-the-fly encryption and Secure File Transfer Protocol. Until that time, I recommend that you avoid storing or backing up sensitive files unless you first encrypt them locally.

A lot of ideas from the dot-com era were good, just poorly executed and too early. If Box.net can keep its service simple and cheap, it has a good chance to succeed.

Full disclosure: Box.net is an advertiser on this site.