CES 2012: Cool New Products for Storing Your Content Online or on Your PC

Would you rather keep your digital photos, Office docs, music downloads, and other content on the Web, on your own devices, or in both places? No matter how you answer this question, new software and hardware technologies aimed at meeting your digital storge needs will get lots of talk (and action) in 2012, starting with this week's CES show in Las Vegas.

Whether you want to access "private" info on your PC directly from your smartphone, back up your hard drive to a Web service, or drag and drop files between your PC and Facebook, new alternatives are now out there.

Backing up your whole PC to the Web

Internet-based service providers are already taking heed that lots of users want to combine Web and local storage in various ways, noted Paul Guerin, Rebit's CEO and founder, in an interview with NotebookReview.com.

Last month, Rebit announced that its back-up software -- traditionally used for easy automated continuous backup from a PC hard drive to an external drive -- now also provides the backup underpinnings in Carbonite's new "hybrid" service for Web (aka "cloud") and PC storage and backup.

Carbonite's new Home Premier data protection suite uses enterprise-inspired Mirror Image technology, meant to allow full system recovery -- not just of personal data, but of your apps, settings, and system files -- from the cloud if your PC hard drive ever fails.

"In 2012, look for integration not just between [cloud and PC storage and backup] but with security software, too," Guerin added, hinting of deal-making in the works with security software vendors around Rebit's flexible API (application programming interface).

Managing personal content from your PC, Facebook, and Flickr all in the same place

Meanwhile, more and more consumers are storing and sharing files in multiple online venues, such as Flickr, Dropbox. Gmail...The list goes on and on. In response, some vendors are cooking up new technologies to help you manage the associated complexities.

At CES, for example, Primadesk will showcase a new app designed to give you integrated control of content stored on your PC and 31 different online services, including Facebook, Flickr, Box, Google+, and Dropbox, to name a few.

Not only can you search for files across any of these services (using a search term such as "blue" or "California," for instance), but you can also drag and drop content across the services, as well as to and from your PC and the Web.

The app also offers automated backup of "previous states" of online content. Theoretically, at least, this means that if you've backed up your Facebook content, you'll be able to access an old message from your PC even if you've already deleted it from your Facebook account.

Accessing "private" PC content from your smartphone

Also at CES, vendors will roll out some innovative new hardware devices for storing your content locally -- and in some cases, for accessing it remotely. For users with privacy concerns, for example, RunCore will introduce Xapear, a new SATA 2.5-inch SSD integrating RFID User access control and Mobile Phone Encryption.

RFID User access control uses the AES128 encryption algorithm to control access permission. The "private space" of the drive can only be recognized and accessed through use of an authorized RFID tag.

Also, from mobile phones, users can also check SSD status or activate the self-erase function of the drive over GSM networks by using a binding SIM card, according to RunCore.

Emerging technologies for storing consumer content will also get talked up in various conference forums. At Parks Associates' Connections Summit, for example, analysts will explore ramifications around "The Personal Cloud and Digital Locker."

At this year's edition of the annual two-day Storage Visions mini-conference at CES, subject matter will incude new technologies for protecting mobile content, archiving personal content on a long-term basis, and producing high resolution digital content online, just for starters.

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