1. Online Only Storage
Although BackupBob provides an L: drive, which is synced between all of your computers and available from anywhere online, by default files placed on the L: drive are also stored on your computer’s hard drive, taking up disk space. This is great for documents that you need to access quickly – you can use them from your L: drive just like a normal file, opening them in desktop editing software or dragging and dropping them between other folders on your PC. However photographers have numerous high res RAW files that probably don’t need to be accessed regularly, and that can quickly fill up any size of hard disk.

BackupBob solves this problem easily – you can simply right click on any file or folder on your L: drive and select “Do not keep a copy on this computer” from the BackupBob menu. The file will be stored online only, so it doesn’t take up any space on your disk at all.

Online files are still visible on your L: drive (although greyed out). When you actually want to view the file you can double click on it and it will be downloaded back down to your computer. Alternatively you can select any file or folder and click “Keep a copy on my computer” – the files will be downloaded back to your PC and stored locally again.

2. FTP Access
FTP is a very well recognised and standard method of transferring files between web servers and other PCs. Your BackupBob account comes with free FTP access, letting you easily transfer documents to and from your online storage space from any computer or device. Some manufacturers even provide accessories that let you upload to FTP directly from the camera, meaning your photos don’t even have to touch your computer’s hard drive before they’re securely stored on your BackupBob.

For more information on using BackupBob with FTP, see our FTP configuration page.

3. RAW File Thumbnail Support
When you’ve uploaded thousands of RAW files to your BackupBob online storage space, how can you tell which one is which? Thankfully BackupBob makes it easy through your personal web portal. Log into BackupBob with your username and password, browse to the folder you want to view, and all of your RAW photos are available there, with thumbnails.

BackupBob supports many different image file formats for thumbnails, including Nikon NEF and Canon CR2.

4. JPG File Editing
You’ve got a file you need to share with a client, and you quickly need to touch it up, but you’re not in the office and don’t have access to all of your digital photo software. With your JPGs stored on BackupBob you can quickly tweak and edit photos directly from your web browser, from any computer. Simply select the JPG and chose to edit in FotoFlexer or Picnik:

Both apps provide a wealth of features for the photographer, including:

Rotation – fixed and arbitrary
Cropping and resizing
Exposure, colour balance, temperature, saturation and contrast
Multilayered editing, including opacity controls, for montages
Smart digital effects that add punch to any photo

5. Quick and Easy File Sharing
Sometimes the hardest part of a photography project is sharing the results with your client. Free services look unprofessional and often compress your photos, e-mail is impractical, and sending CDs or DVDs in the post is just far too slow. Thankfully BackupBob makes this easy – once you’ve got a set of photos you’re happy with, simply right click on them and select Share.

You can choose to share your photos publically – in which case anyone visiting your personal subdomain at yourname.BackupBob.com can view your photos – or privately with named individuals. If you want to share privately you can simply provide the client’s e-mail address, and BackupBob will create an account for them, sending login details to them by e-mail. They can log in to a completely free and personalised BackupBob web portal just like yours, and see all of your shared photos instantly, downloading the ones that they want.

Our home computers tend to be filled with family pictures and home movies. This data can be priceless and isn’t something you would want to lose. Below we have included 4 ways cloud storage can help you securely store and share these important files;

Backing up files

Baby photos, wedding images and memorable holiday snaps are some of the most common files stored on family PCs. But did you know a high percentage of HDDs only last 5 years and if they break you could lose a lot of irreplaceable files? BackupBob’s cloud backup automatically saves your files to the cloud and then allows you to download them back to any other PC. This makes sure you never lose your files even if your PC breaks.

Sending files to your family and friends

If you want to share a photo album with a few close friends or send a large file to a family member, BackupBob offers a simple solution. Using the “private share” function you can send a friend a link to a single file on your cloud. Simply login to BackupBob.com, open the file you want to share and select “web sharing”. A secure link will then be sent to your chosen friend’s email account to let them view the file.

 Viewing your files on your tablet

A high percentage of our data is stored on our PCs however most of us spend a considerable amount of time using our phones and tablets. With BackupBob’s Briefcase feature you can store all of your files on the cloud and then access them from any device at any time. You can also stream your video and music files directly to your iPad or Android tablet using our BackupBob apps.

View your files on your TV

Did you know it’s possible to play files saved on BackupBob through your TV? In the past few years there has been an increase in smart TVs, interactive TV boxes (such as Apple TV & Boxee), and game consoles with internet connections. If your device has a web browser please go to www.BackupBob.com and login to your account. You should then be able to stream TV Shows, Films and music to your TV.

Please note:
BackupBob file streaming is not supported by all TV web browsers and will require flash or html 5 to function.

Many people do not know that they can access BackupBob through their TV and stream their movies directly from the cloud. Please follow these simple steps to access your files from your television:

Accessing the internet from your TV

A recent survey found that 83% of people can connect to the internet through their TV but only 16% do. You can access the web through an internet enabled TV or via one of the following options:

• A new games console
• A compatible Blu-ray player
• By connecting your computer to your TV via HDMI

Watching films on your TV via BackupBob

Simply go to www.BackupBob.com on your TV browser

• Log into your account
• Find the file you want to watch
• Click play
• You will now be able to sit back and relax while you watch a film stored on BackupBob from your sofa.

Note: BackupBob may not be supported by all internet TV products and will require a browser supporting Flash or HTML 5.

Other ways to use BackupBob on your TV

Accessing BackupBob on your TV gives you several useful features including:

• Showing your Photos to your family & friends on your TV
• Playing your Music through your TVs speakers
• Accessing your PowerPoint presentation through your TV

Backing up files

Baby photos, wedding images and memorable holiday snaps are some of the most common files stored on family PCs. But did you know a high percentage of HDDs only last 5 years and if they break you could lose a lot of irreplaceable files? BackupBob’s cloud backup automatically saves your files to the cloud and then allows you to download them back to any other PC. This makes sure you never lose your files even if your PC breaks.

Sending files to your family and friends

If you want to share a photo album with a few close friends or send a large file to a family member, BackupBob offers a simple solution. Using the “private share” function you can send a friend a link to a single file on your cloud. Simply login to BackupBob.com, open the file you want to share and select “web sharing”. A secure link will then be sent to your chosen friend’s email account to let them view the file.

Viewing your files on your tablet

A high percentage of our data is stored on our PCs however most of us spend a considerable amount of time using our phones and tablets. With BackupBob Pro you can store all of your files on the cloud and then access them from any device at any time. You can also stream your video and music files directly to your iPad or Android tablet using our BackupBob apps.

View your files on your TV

Did you know it’s possible to play files saved on BackupBob through your TV? In the past few years there has been an increase in smart TVs, interactive TV boxes (such as Apple TV & Boxee), and game consoles with internet connections. If your device has a web browser please go to www.BackupBob.com and login to your account. You should then be able to stream TV Shows, Films and music to your TV.

Please note: BackupBob file streaming is not supported by all TV web browsers and will require flash or html 5 to function.

What is Backup?

Backup automatically stores all of your files online. When you install the BackupBob desktop software it asks you which folders you would like to backup. The software then creates a mirror of those folders on our servers in the cloud. If you create a new file in one of those folders, BackupBob will automatically upload the file to the cloud. If you edit a file, BackupBob will replace the old file with the new one. If you delete a file on your computer, BackupBob will remove it from the cloud.

If you accidentally remove a file from your computer you can review your deleted files on the BackupBob cloud and download the file back to your computer – this will only work up to 30 days after the file has been deleted.

If your computer breaks or needs to be restored you can download all of your important documents back to your PC or Mac. Simply install the BackupBob Restore program and click the download button.

Backup basically stops you from losing your files if your computer has a virus or a mechanical failure. This is a simple service which is perfect for people who want things to happen automatically.

What is Sync?

Sync allows you to access and edit your files anywhere at any time. Simply upload your chosen files to the cloud drive and then access them from any device with an internet connection. This allows you to work on files from multiple computers and stops you from carrying hard drives or USB keys with you.

Sync also allows users to share files with their friends or colleagues via a built in web sharing function. Simply select which files you want your friends to have access to and place them in the web sharing folder. You can select if you want the files to be visible to a specific friend or available for everyone to view and download.

Sync is simply a way to access and edit your files securely on the cloud. You can edit your files easily from a range of devices and share data with other people.

What is the difference between Backup and Sync?

Backup keeps a copy of all of the files that are on your computer in the cloud.  It’s very easy to use and install and you don’t have to change the way you work.  Your files are just in the cloud, and you can view them on the web or from your phone, and restore them back to your computer at any time.  However if you want to access these files from another computer you have to log into the web portal to view them – they don’t sync between your computers.

Sync is your own personal cloud storage space, and appears like a new drive on all of your computers.  You can use the drive just like any other disk drive.  Files you save to that drive are synced between all of your computers – and in a similar way to Backup you can access them from the web or your mobile devices. Sync makes it easy to work from anywhere on the same files – without emailing yourself or carrying around a USB stick.  Sync also lets you share files with friends and family with one click.

How can I get Sync and Backup?

Backup is available on the BackupBob website here: http://www.backupbob.com/us_en/BobDrive.aspx

Sync is available on the BackupBob website here: http://www.backupbob.com/us_en/BobDriveSync.aspx

BobDrive Pro gives you both Sync and Backup products in one package. This will automatically backup all of your files on the cloud and will allow you to place files in a Sync to view or edit from other devices. You can download BobDrive Pro here: http://www.backupbob.com/us_en/BobDrivePro.aspx

How does BackupBob work?

BackupBob automatically uploads content to the cloud while you work. The software mirrors your computer and makes an exact copy of your files online. If you modify a file on your desktop the software will automatically replace the old version in the cloud. If you delete an unneeded document, BackupBob will delete the file on the cloud. If you accidentally delete a file from your computer you can go to the cloud and restore it (this option is available up to 30 days after the file has been deleted).

How do I restore my files?

If your computer breaks you can place all your files onto a new computer. Our desktop program BackupBob Restore is available on Windows and Mac and can be downloaded for free here.

Simply install the program, select the files you want to place back on your computer and click the restore button. All of your important files will now be back on your device.

1. Simple, secure backups
Cloud storage services make secure backups very simple – with BackupBob’s unlimited storage space and Desktop Sync Software, you can simply right click on any folder on a PC or server and select “Add to BackupBob”. The folder is then monitored constantly and any new documents or changed documents are backed up off-site on BackupBob’s secure servers. It’s a completely effortless process – no need to rely on staff to regularly rotate backup tapes or take them home.

If you need to restore a file later for any reason, you can just log into BackupBob’s web portal, find the file and click on download – there’s no need to battle through backup tapes to find the correct file in an incremental sequence.

2. Infinite archiving of data
Businesses can collect massive amounts of data – much of it remains unused and ends up being deleted. However every business has situations where this old data suddenly becomes essential, long after it has been removed. With cloud storage you can now keep your archived data for as long as you want – whether its log files, RAW multimedia or analytics and reporting data, just uploading it to your BackupBob unlimited storage space lets you keep it and forget it until you really need it.

BackupBob’s Desktop Sync software makes it very easy to get this archive data online without taking up any hard drive space, but BackupBob even has unlimited FTP access which lets you upload your files from any server anywhere.

3. Easy access collaboration on the move
Shared network drives and VPN connections are great for a mobile workforce up to an extent, but they’re far from perfect. They’re highly technical to set up and configure, they often rely on a network connection to work correctly, and they require local storage infrastructure to keep them going. BackupBob makes this process really easy – one single BackupBob Pro account can be shared across unlimited PCs, and the files you put on your BackupBob are synchronised between every computer. As well as being stored online, all of the files are cached locally on every PC too, so your team can view and edit the documents even when they’re not online. The files are then updated as soon as connectivity is restored.

Even more importantly, documents can be accessed from literally anywhere. BackupBob provides a web portal so mobile workers can log in using a web browser even if they don’t have BackupBob installed. The documents can be downloaded from the web portal, or even viewed and edited directly from the browser using BackupBob’s built in web applications. BackupBob has a dedicated web portal for mobile devices too, letting you access all of your files on your phone.

4. Version history
Have you ever changed a file and then realised that you want to go back to the previous version? With BackupBob you can. BackupBob keeps every version of each document that you work on, so that if you ever want to revert to a historical copy (or even just review an old version) you can with one click.

5. Simple sharing with third parties
If you work with large files you’ll know that sharing those files with clients, suppliers or partners can be very tricky. BackupBob makes this process so easy – any file or folder on your online storage space can be shared with one click. You can share the file publically so that anyone in the world can access it, or you can share privately by providing the e-mail address of the person you want to share with. That person is set up with their own completely free BackupBob account that they can use to securely access the files you’ve shared with them. No more do you have to worry about manually uploading your documents to your own FTP space, or posting CDs, DVDs and memory sticks to clients.

Some of our users have multiple BobDrive accounts, one home account and one business account for example. The BackupBob control panel makes it easy to switch between different accounts. To access the BackupBob control panel right-click on the BackupBob icon on your taskbar and select settings. Within the BackupBob control panel select the account tab and then click on Manage Users. This gives you the option to add extra user accounts and then switch easily between them.

To add a new account to your computer select Add User and then enter the email address and password of the account you wish to add.

Once you have entered the email address and password for the account you wish to add, your computer will then log into that account and you will be able to access all your files associated with that account. All backups will also backup to the new account you have logged into.

Switching back to your original account is even simpler. Once again select manage users in the BackupBob control panel. Then this time click on the account you wish to switch to and select switch users. You computer will now log back into your original account and you will be able to access all the files associated with the account, backup and upload files to it.

And that’s all you need to know to switch quickly between multiple BackupBob accounts – making it even easier to manage and access all of your files no matter which BobDrive account they are stored with.

A password manager is a piece of software that securely stores all of your passwords in one place. This means that you can access your passwords at any time, and it allows you to use more complicated passwords that are unique to each service you access – one password for your email, one password for Facebook, and one password for your online banking for example. Many password managers will automatically generate long and complicated passwords for you, which are extremely difficult to crack. As long as your password manager stays secure then all of your passwords stay safe – if one of the services that you use is hacked, then only that service is compromised and all of the other accounts you have elsewhere are still safe.

Password managers are not for everybody – some security experts point out that you’re putting all of your eggs in one basket and that if your password manager is hacked then suddenly everything is opened up. And it is possible to break into any password manager using brute force or by installing spyware on your computer to monitor your keystrokes. But most experts agree that it is more secure to manage your passwords this way than use weak keys or share the same password between many services – your one password file is far less likely to be targeted by a hacker than the entire user list at Gawker for example.

A very popular and easy to use password manager is the open source KeePass Password Safe for Windows. Not only is this software free, it’s extremely lightweight – you can even run the entire program from a memory stick. And with its sister project KeePassX providing compatibility with Mac and Linux PCs, and versions available for the iPhone/iPad and Android devices, it’s completely portable – so you can use it to access your passwords almost anywhere you go. KeePass uses powerful AES encryption to encrypt your passwords into a simple file – called a KDB file – which you can keep anywhere.

The only challenge with KeePass is keeping your password file up to date on all of your devices, and that’s where your BobDrive Sync comes in! Simply save the KDB file onto your network drive and it’s synced between all of your computers – meaning that you can access the same password database wherever you are – even on your iPhone:

You can even put Portable KeePass onto your BobDrive so that you can run KeePass from any computer you’re using, even if it’s not yours – just make sure you trust the PC you’re running it on.

So with BackupBob and KeePass together you can make your online life far more secure without sacrificing the convenience of being able to access all of your services wherever you go. Maybe you have an alternative solution, or you use a different password manager. If so, let us know in the comments below!

XBMC is a very powerful digital media player that lets you set up your own home entertainment system on your Windows, Mac or Linux PC. Even better, as an open source project it’s completely free – and if you’re technically inclined – totally customisable. It’s also very nice to look at and pretty slick – even if you’re using a remote or just a mouse to get around.

To get started with your media streaming, you need a BobDrive Sync or BobDrive Pro account (Backup only accounts won’t work) and you need to download and install XBMC – this link will get you started, and the installation is very easy. Once it’s running, you just need to add BackupBob as a source for videos.

Guide:

Step 1 – from the videos menu, select Add Source.

Step 2 – from the Add Source screen, select Browse:

Step 3 – You’re now in the Browser and will see a whole list of options. Select Add Network Location from the bottom of the list (you’ll need to scroll down).

Step 4 – You now need to tell XBMC how to connect to BackupBob. Select FTP server from the Protocol list, enter the server address as ftp.bobdrive.com, and put in your BackupBob username and password, then press OK

Step 5 – you’re back in the Browser. Find ftp://ftp.bobdrive.com/ in the list – I found that it was added to the top of the list, so had to scroll up to find it

Step 6 – You’ll find yourself now browsing your BackupBob account. Browse to the folder that contains your videos and click on OK

Step 7 – you’re back on the Add Source screen with the BackupBob account selected. Give your connection a friendly name (eg. BackupBob Videos) and click OK

That’s it! BackupBob will now appear as a source in XBMC and you can browse for videos straight from within the application. Depending on the speed of your connection, there may be a delay between selecting a video and the video starting to play as it buffers, but on the tests we ran in the office it seemed to work pretty well on all but the highest HD-quality videos. You can even add BackupBob as a source for music too – but watch out – XBMC does insist on indexing your music by its ID3 tag when you first view it, so initially adding the music to XBMC can take a while over FTP!