Most of us have a Gmail account. Gmail has almost become a gold standard in email hosting. You might find yourself using it for everything in your life as well.
But, as everything else that comes free, your Gmail account isn’t always safe or secure. Your accounts may get deactivated or hacked for any reason and then you know how painful the recovery process can be.
This is the scary part.
On top of that, imagine you are using Google Drive to store your documents (like I do). Losing your Gmail account can be devastating for many.
Easy Solution For Emails – Use Email Clients
I know how cool Gmail is when it comes to searching emails (Google’s ability to search things is awesome.) That is why I love using web client when it comes to Gmail.
But, configuring your email client such as Microsoft Outlook or Thunderbird is a great way to create a local backup copy of your emails and contacts, etc.
In cases where your emails were lost or mistakenly deleted, your local copy would help you find it when the time comes. This also comes in handy when you have trouble accessing your Gmail account for any reason.
Easy Solution For Google Drive – Keep Backups
Speaking of your documents and files stored in Google Drive, you can also apply a similar strategy. You could keep a local copy of all the files you are uploading there.
You can also upload them on cloud services like Dropbox so you are able to access those from anywhere.
I would think that backing up Google Drive files into Dropbox is the way to go assuming that the reason for using Google Drive is your intention to access the files from anywhere from any device. Do you agree?
A Perfect (But Expensive) Solution – Cloud Sync Service CloudHQ
I am not affiliated with CloudHQ but I am very impressed with their automatic syncing service of all cloud services.
You can see this video commercial that nicely explains the why and how of using their service.
They do have a 15 day risk-free trial offer you can leverage their service. However, being a premium service, using their service is a yearly expense of at least $100. You can visit their website and explore their pricing and discounts offers.
What I like the most about their service is, not just concerning Gmail. They have the ability to sync multiple cloud services in the background without disrupting anything. That means, you can:
- Backup your Gmail with Dropbox.
- Sync your Google Drive and Dropbox
- Sync your Evernote and Dropbox
- Sync your Evernote and Google Drive
- Backup your Evernote to Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, or SugarSync
…and many other cloud based services.
I have not signed up for their service yet since I have been using manual methods of keeping backup for so long that I find it hard to switch overnight. But, I wanted to share about this service because this goes in my top list of items to consider when I need it.
What Do You Think?
If you do a lot of documentation and file sharing on Google Drive and use your Gmail for everything, do you think a service like CloudHQ is worth investing in?
Do you know any alternate or more cost effective solutions to achieve the same goal?
Please share your thoughts and add value to this discussion. Thank you kindly!
Hi Kumar,
Simply Great Article!!!
Yes i will definitely use these tips & Techniques for backup.
Regards.
Hi Kumar,
I too use Gmail and I never ever thought that I could lose its content. I stopped using Microsoft Outlook a long time back, though it is certainly a great help and good email backup option. Thanks for reminding and suggesting to use it.
I use Google Drive and Dropbox both, but not for the same files. It never occurred to further backup the Google Drive files into Dropbox as I thought Google Drive is secure enough, but you’re right that backups should always be there.
This is the first time I got to know about CloudHQ and seems really useful. As you say, it can save you lot of hassle and your time.
I think if you’re using too much of cloud storage facility and many such services or providers, then CloudSync is definitely worth the investment. But I’m yet to reach that stage, and though I haven’t had any problem with my Gmail storage for more than a decade, I think MS Outlook is good as its backup option.
But have there been any frequent instances and case studies of the cloud services like Google Drive or Dropbox misfiring or failing? I’d surely like to know that.
Thanks for bringing to light another useful feature and an issue that we must not ignore.I shall see you now after a few weeks once I am back – happy holidays from my end. 🙂
Hi Harleena!
Happy holidays to you 🙂 I know you are going to have a lot of well deserved rest!
Speaking of Gmail and Cloud Storage, the problem is not that they go offline or so, the real problem is, imagine if your account gets hacked or Google decides to shut down your account for some reason. It is not likely very often but I am sure it is not impossible. And when it does, doesn’t your drive go with it?
Their customer support isn’t the best in the world either and anyways, who pays much attention to free users?
That is why I thought it is important that we take responsibility for our own stuff.
Regards,
Kumar
Hey Kumar,
I’ve never heard of this service either and I don’t even use Dropbox. I do use Microsoft Outlook though for all of my email accounts. I decided to upgrade to 2010 so I made sure to get Outlook with this one. The only thing I hate about it is the spam. I can’t get it to go to the junk folder no matter what I do so that’s the only downfall of that. But at least I know my emails are safer or should I say in another location.
I use a different cloud service to back up my computer and it does that daily so I’m not really worried about all these other programs in all honesty. I guess until something happens to me to question this reasoning then I’m like you. I’m just use to doing what I’ve been doing so I guess I’ll just keep going in this direction for now.
Thanks for introducing this to us though. Sounds like a pretty cool service.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne,
You back up your computer to a cloud service? That is definitely a great idea. What services that? I’ll be curious to know.
Yeah, I am thinking to sign up for a service such as cloud sync after some time in my business grows a little larger and I am using cloud services much more efficiently than I do now.
Thank you for dropping by and sharing your experience I think we are in sync here as well 🙂
Regards,
Kumar
Hi Kumar,
You have posted very informative article. I am also using thunderbird for mailing. But am unaware about this we can do copy our local contacts and take backup after reading your concept am learning about this.
Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Keep it up 🙂
Hi Addison,
I am very glad to know that you found this post informative. Thank you for dropping by and sharing your thoughts.
Thunderbird is awesome and I use it too.
Regards,
Kumar
Hello Kumar,
I do use dropbox and its my primary backup source but I’m not aware of cloudHQ and it seems really cool. Just checked the introductory video and I’m really impressed with its features.
Will make sure to try it out.
Hi Robin,
I use dropbox for backup purposes as well and also to share documents with people I collaborate with.
And yeah, cloudHQ seems like an awesome service.
Thank you for dropping by and have a great day.
Regards,
Kumar
Hi Kumar
I do have a Dropbox account but I save all my important stuff from hard drive into it. But never knew before it can be sync with Gmail and even Evernote can be stored in it. In the beginning we easily use Google without any fear of losing data from it because of being deleted or hacked. But once we established our online presence have developed a great network of friends and clients then we really get worry for its safety and security. In this way Cloud Sync Service CloudHQ is a cool solution even though it is a little costly but as we earn money from online world we need to spend a little for the safety of our online data.
Thanks a lot for sharing this wonderful resource.
Hey Kumar,
although I do have a Gmail account it’s not one that I use often. This is because I prefer to use the emails that is associated with my different blogs. This makes it easier to keep my emails in order. Even so I actually access my Gmail account via my Mac Mail Software.
While I don’t use Google Drive, if it did and there was a chance of me losing important files then I would say CloudHQ would be a pretty good option.
Thank you Peter for dropping by.
I depend on Google and Gmail for a lot of things and I am heavily into Google Drive.
But I see why you are using your blog-based email addresses pay more than Gmail and that is a good thing. But, I direct all my social media activities and notifications to my Gmail just because they are spam filtration is so strong that I do not need to worry about deleting hundreds of unwanted emails every day.
Regards,
Kumar
Hi Kumar,
Thank you for introducing us to CloudHQ. I haven’t heard about it until now. I do have Dropbox, but haven’t used it yet! I use Evernote, and have a Gmail account…actually many Gmail accounts!
This looks like the perfect solution to be organized. I find myself fumbling around trying to find things lately. Seems to me that this service is great and not at all expensive to have everything handled and stored in one place.
I’m going to check this one out!
Thanks for updating me on the “latest and greatest!”
-Donna
Nice article Kumar, Cloud HQ is good but according to me if you use all apple devices like Mac, iPhone or iPad than you can use iCloud. It is best it has ability to sync emails, your images, calendars and all other stuffs which you want to secure. After that it will be available to all your devices. They offer 5 GB free space to all devices on iCloud. I think it is more than enough.
Hi Kumar,
You have posted informative article. Actually am first time visiting on your site. I am very impressed with your these article. You have great knowledge of all these. I am also get lot of experience from your this article. I am very happy to share my thoughts with you.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
I don’t do this, I don’t know about this. This looks good to sync cloud stuff and backup gmail to google drive. I know we should use it but understanding the complete process is not so easy though.
I am a hightail and drop box user, i regularly backup my files in these both cloud storage, but it seems cloudHQ is also another good cloud storage service i will try it out.
Hello Kumar,
I use dropbox just for storing data files and I never knew about CloudHQ before. Nice to see that you have reviewed it on your blog . I will try this cool service because it gives additional features like syncing my Google drive , Gmail and evernote with it. I think it is worth trying .
Best
Munna
Actually I don’t do either. I use Synology Cloud Station and backup everything to my own NAS in much the same way that google drive works. Only I like that the data is stored both locally on the computer and on the NAS.