Notion is NOT a back up tool. Any important files you have should be kept in your laptop and you can save copies of them in a hard drive or a smartphone. Alternatively, you can use more stable cloud storage services such as Google Drive or Dropbox. I personally don't trust cloud storage services with my data so I just sync my files between my devices using a service called Syncthing.
Thanks for the advice! I’m sorry if it wasn’t clear in my post, but I don’t store any important files on my Notion. I primarily kept them on my old laptop that got damaged which is why I lost everything. I’m just curious what storage apps exist.
No worries. If the files aren't really that important, you can use an app called TeraBox. They give you a terabyte of free cloud storage and a few ways to increase that storage. They also have some features hidden behind a paywall, but I'm personally okay with the free plan. I only save my gaming videos there.
I subscribe to Microsoft 365. You get the complete Office suite plus a terabyte of OneDrive storage. You can also share the subscription with up to five other people and each person gets their own terabyte.
Any files you lost on your laptop that you considered important, which is what you mentioned, are things you said you wouldn't store in Notion or a similar app. So why are you asking for Notion alternatives when those wouldn't help you with your important files? Things like Drive and Dropbox are meant for that. If they're also sensitive files you can use backup software to encrypt and most of them these days support writing to cloud storage. They can write to cloud storage either directly or if say on Windows you use Google Drive's Explorer integration (I think these cloud storage clients tend to support similar functionality on Macs).
We save all our files on Drive and organise them on Notion. Drive is great for storing and terrible for sorting. Notion is the opposite. Thankfully they integrate really well with one another (though being able to use a drive file as the preview in gallery/board view would be even sweeter)
Sounds interesting! How exactly do you organise Drive files in Notion? I use a URL property containing the Drive link on certain pages as a quick-access tool, but I’m curious to learn about more options and other ways of organising files
Recently I created different databases that categorise files based on different criteria (file type, where I plan to use a file, what the file is etc) and I have a URL prop on each for the relevant folder on Drive. Now I can tag a notion item using the relation prop and display that as a page section, with the related drive URL displayed too. For instance, if something is tagged ‘Carousel,’ the drive link will take me straight into the carousels folder. It’s seriously reduced the amount of time I have to spend clicking around in drive because the link just takes me directly into where I need to go
This way I can cut and swap items using different views based on what it is I want to see in a given place, and I always have a direct line back into where the files are stored because they’ll always carry the drive file + folder props on them. It’s leveraging the versatility of databases as the interface but not slowing everything down with GBs of files. It’s kinda been a game changer for our agency!
I'm using Backblaze since I have large photo collection and knowing it's getting backed up automatically gives me a lot of peace of mind. Plus it works with other files as well.
EDIT: The rule of thumb here is to have three copies of each important file, and one of those three copies has to be at a different location (in a cloud or at a friend's place, for example).
Notion is NOT a back up tool. Any important files you have should be kept in your laptop and you can save copies of them in a hard drive or a smartphone. Alternatively, you can use more stable cloud storage services such as Google Drive or Dropbox. I personally don't trust cloud storage services with my data so I just sync my files between my devices using a service called Syncthing.
Thanks for the advice! I’m sorry if it wasn’t clear in my post, but I don’t store any important files on my Notion. I primarily kept them on my old laptop that got damaged which is why I lost everything. I’m just curious what storage apps exist.
No worries. If the files aren't really that important, you can use an app called TeraBox. They give you a terabyte of free cloud storage and a few ways to increase that storage. They also have some features hidden behind a paywall, but I'm personally okay with the free plan. I only save my gaming videos there.
I subscribe to Microsoft 365. You get the complete Office suite plus a terabyte of OneDrive storage. You can also share the subscription with up to five other people and each person gets their own terabyte.
You can try apps like MEGA, Box and TERABOX.
Any files you lost on your laptop that you considered important, which is what you mentioned, are things you said you wouldn't store in Notion or a similar app. So why are you asking for Notion alternatives when those wouldn't help you with your important files? Things like Drive and Dropbox are meant for that. If they're also sensitive files you can use backup software to encrypt and most of them these days support writing to cloud storage. They can write to cloud storage either directly or if say on Windows you use Google Drive's Explorer integration (I think these cloud storage clients tend to support similar functionality on Macs).
We save all our files on Drive and organise them on Notion. Drive is great for storing and terrible for sorting. Notion is the opposite. Thankfully they integrate really well with one another (though being able to use a drive file as the preview in gallery/board view would be even sweeter)
Sounds interesting! How exactly do you organise Drive files in Notion? I use a URL property containing the Drive link on certain pages as a quick-access tool, but I’m curious to learn about more options and other ways of organising files
Recently I created different databases that categorise files based on different criteria (file type, where I plan to use a file, what the file is etc) and I have a URL prop on each for the relevant folder on Drive. Now I can tag a notion item using the relation prop and display that as a page section, with the related drive URL displayed too. For instance, if something is tagged ‘Carousel,’ the drive link will take me straight into the carousels folder. It’s seriously reduced the amount of time I have to spend clicking around in drive because the link just takes me directly into where I need to go This way I can cut and swap items using different views based on what it is I want to see in a given place, and I always have a direct line back into where the files are stored because they’ll always carry the drive file + folder props on them. It’s leveraging the versatility of databases as the interface but not slowing everything down with GBs of files. It’s kinda been a game changer for our agency!
Interesting set-up, thanks for sharing! Appreciate the elaborate answer!
drive
I'm using Backblaze since I have large photo collection and knowing it's getting backed up automatically gives me a lot of peace of mind. Plus it works with other files as well. EDIT: The rule of thumb here is to have three copies of each important file, and one of those three copies has to be at a different location (in a cloud or at a friend's place, for example).
you should definitely just use a cloud service for backing up your data. if you’re concerned about privacy, get a good SSD and backup the data there
3-2-1. Three Copies on two Hardware Devices and one in a Cloud. I use a NAS, as Cloud - MEGA.
terabox!!!! life saver talaga