lzim

Just annoyed.

So years ago I started putting together a list of the best cloud storage services out there, for free, because I'd run across Baidu's cloud service while trying to download something from Google.

Rather, I searched for something using Google Search and eventually was pointed to Baidu. Some call Baidu the Chinese Google but where there are similarities both companies and their offerings are clearly distinct.

It sucks because I had found ways to search Baidu's Cloud service for files but searching that way is very tedious. Instead you can just use torrents to find shared documents and easily download them through your own account... or just stream them through a mobile, web or desktop client. These days there are better streaming options like Hola.. but Hola is so spotty at times that it isn't worth the hassle. Basically dealing with the swarm isn't worth it while Baidu's users, being that there are so many of them, someone is probably sharing what you want and Baidu will let you download it as if it was in your own Google Drive. Or stream it.

Frankly put, Baidu has some better products and services but Google's offerings thanks to a uniform ecosystem and having them all rooted in Android and your google+ profile, are arguably easier to use because they are designed for literally everyone to use them for free.

I'm still shocked that virtually no one realizes just exactly what they have access to when using Android on WiFi.

The process of discovering exactly what Baidu was and why they are useful was a bit tedious because Baidu and related and like service do come off as horrendous malware. And given all the gov't propaganda against Chinese online services and Baidu's own software web browser/web security pack-in software actually being called out as malware.. they aren't helping themselves. And literally are doing nothing to encourage foreign use of their services. Only in passing is Baidu ever even mentioned if even favorably in western tech press.

With the recent sunsetting of Picasa it occurred to me that the project that fundamentally proved to me that the only 2 useful products are Baidu and not Baidu.. aka Google Drive.. and Google Photos.. Picasa really isn't part of Google.

It sucks because Web and local Picasa while very distinct from everything else Material Design and Android.. it worked and rivaled just about everything else out there for dealing with photos. It works fine with managing videos.. but it never seemed neat.

It didn't belong and stuck out like a sore thumb. I say it sucks though because I never really used Picasa due to it being a frigging hassle, it was ridiculously slow AND it wasn't fundamentally linked to all of those other Google services. It had to go.. but I got there too late and just couldn't do it. I'm glad it is dead but I really miss the extra stuff it offered. I don't miss it trying to do so much shit on my end that Photos keeps on Google's side and out of sight.

Baidu is similar.. but only because I can't get into the rest of their core services because they aren't offered in English and I haven't really bothered to figure them out.

Same shit as with Google.. a trove of other probably very capable and wonderful tools... but unless you learn the Chinese or their functions by trial and error.. you probably are better off with something familiar like Google's, or MSFT's or AMZN's cloud storage services.

So I figured ok. I'll live by Google's silly ass rules because they must have some grand scheme for our data and someone thought their cloud with these very wide corners they've mapped out for storing and accessing that data makes sense for Joe Bob McAverage user. Everything that Google offers is overkill for Joe.

I mean if he ever really realized that everything gets backed up by Google if formatted to fit in their guidelines, for free and so easily.. and is then super easy to access and search.. his entire digital life might just change.

Baidu's guidelines are similarly easy to live with.. 2TB or more if you can figure out how to pay them pennies a day, nothing over 4GBs can be uploaded and generally access bandwidth for upload and download is enough to stream video without much buffering. A remarkable feat since you're sharing with China.

Google's guidelines are just nebulous because they've managed so far to allow everyone unlimited photo backups. And virtually unlimited music backups since the guidelines are for a # of songs and not a set storage by GB or TB limit.

Photo backup includes video.. so anything on Android or Windows or MAC.. I think Linux is supported by autobackup.. that falls under 2GB and is up to 1080p.. in 'for best results' an MP4 container.. will get backed up. Free.

Which is better?

Baidu's 4GB limit, not uniquely searchable by your own account(s) but everyone's, which you can make even easier by searching by an exact torrent name.. or Google.. which is searchable by Google's methods.. but only your stuff and only the 2GB 1080p or less stuff?

You can search your autobackups and Google Photos albums for a criteria like 'Dog' and it'll try to show you anything you have uploaded to your profile that it thinks has a dog in it. Nebulous. Often actually very wrong so I don't really bother searching my autobackups.

Like I'm impressed that it found the photos I uploaded this winter when I searched 'snow'.. but I'm not impressed with pictures of bubble baths... or lakes because the water is reflecting the white sky of an overcast day.

Trying to tag only the photos with snow out of hundreds of thousands or millions of photos using Picasa would have been a lifelong nightmare.

So I figured.. I've been going this long with both.. 4TB across 2 Baidu accounts which at a time was 10TB because they had a free VIP thing. I could just purge my Baidu accounts of anything that Google's cloud storage guidelines already covers.

I mean that's fricking easy right?! delete all the little things you could upload to Google for free... or rather things Google's services will automagically back up.. and use the arguably better service from Baidu to upload bigger files (also automagic if you set up their mobile and desktop clients to do backups)..

Except for the part of trying to sort out what to delete from 2 2TB accounts that's under that 2GB Google limit. That's all my pictures since I started this project.. music, videos.. It took forever to delete blocks and blocks of data to clear it out when the VIP trial ended.. but that was easy.. just delete all the blurays.. XD

But to be serious.. to abide by a philosophy of efficiently using the 4 or 5 accounts.. Google for anything under 2GB and Baidu for everything else up to 4GB.. AND purging those accounts of small shit.. could take months.

AND it sucks because I have to actually live by those rules. And in practical terms no sane human being really needs unlimited storage unless it can be searched and it needs to be searched for and retrieved often.

It makes Baidu's service look even better because so much of that stored content is seemingly common or shared.

1.. anything that can only be found in a Google acceptable format goes up to Google's cloud but I have to download it first.

This is only even applicable for situations where I it easier to call that file up using Google's search versus a webservices own dedicated customer facing webpage structure and search. I've found that those visible pages aren't the whole story but that's something else.

As it had become habit to just download and let automagic processes do their things.. I got stuck with a few bloated cloud accounts in a quick hurry.

2.. leave everything else up to 4GB up to Baidu

The only sensible option really because I don't necessarily want to keep certain files on my computer or phone. Letting me offload hundreds of gigabytes of data that I have access to for free and most importantly legally.. as in these days I think by volume I actually have more legally sources files across those accounts.. the ones I really don't want to download again in full because I'd have to pay to do so OR as I've found out over the years.. webservices do close and do put content out of circulation so you're SOL if you think a particular website will host your data forever.

While not exactly fear mongering.. I'm less afraid of Baidu or Google shuttering their free cloud services than am I a copyright holder shutting down a website making it impossible to find a legal copy of a video. Or originally I think it might have been a song or album.

And again.. 4GB is a fair bit of bandwidth to download if all you need are key parts of a video or to just watch a video once now and then.

and 3.. everything above 4GB sits locally on a NAS.

I mean short of finding another big cloud service that can host a 50 gig bluray rip that I can stream... I'd have to act like a normal person and PAY for Netflix or someshit. NOPE!

I'd sooner pay Baidu 8 cents a day and have a 20GB limit and several other good features.. I'd still be saving money after paying for lessons to learn enough Chinese to use them.

I don't think that area between 4GB and 20GB for 1080p or better videos really matters that much.. but it hit home when Google put the kibosh on 2GB+ automagic backups that its local or 720p backups.

Why are you trying to run my damned life Google!

This limitation is having another major effect in that I can't buy a 4K set if nothing I can download in that format will automagically upload.

Its is almost tragic because YouTube supports 4K.

I could in theory start broadcasting content on YouTube in better formats too.. except the day to day shit I work on is limited.

I haven't even seen the point in upgrading my computer since I started this 'project' because there's literally no more need to.. this 1080p sweet spot is dandy when my budget only really supports free services. Google's services. What I can't get from them I've learned to find elsewhere. Thanks to the purging my Baidu account is almost perfect as a middle man for torrents in that I'm downloading or streaming from Baidu.. not the swarm.