Don’t use a web hosting server/space to backup hard drive data?

Quite recently, a friend of mine asked me whether he could buy an online web hosting space and backup all his hard drive data on to it. In his opinion, this was the cheapest way to backup all his hard drive data since the monthly costs of most of the web hosts are in the range of $3.95 to $7.95. In addition to this, most of these web hosts provide unlimited storage and bandwidth transfer along with heavy discounts on the base hosting prices.

My conversation with this friend of mine made me realize that it’s not only him, there might be many other people out there who shall be thinking on the same lines– use a web hosting space to store and backup personal data. And with the help of FTP (File Transfer Protocol), it would be quite easy too to manage the stored data.

However, hold on if you too are planning to do the same. Storing your personal data on to a web hosting space  runs you into a huge risk of losing it! The terms and conditions of all the web hosts prohibit the use of hosting space as data storage and backup drive. Even if a user does so, the web host reserves the right to delete all the user’s personal data and/or terminate your account without any prior intimation.

This is what the Terms and Conditions of two of the major web hosting companies clearly specify:

Bluehost :

Backup Storage. Bluehost.com offers its Services to host web sites, not to store data. Using an account as an online storage space for archiving electronic files is prohibited and will result in termination of hosting services without prior notice.

Dreamhost :

Personal Backups. With the exception of DreamHost Dedicated Server products, the customer agrees to make use of DreamHost Web Hosting servers primarily for the purpose of hosting a website, and associated email functions. Data uploaded must be primarily for this purpose. DreamHost Web Hosting servers are not intended as a data backup or archiving service.

So, I suggest you to never to store your personal data on to your web hosting space. You can try any of the following amazing data backup services to store your personal/hard drive data:

• Mozy
• Carbonite
• Amazon S3