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Like the off-site file storage facilities of our paper-based past, online backup and storage services are emerging as an essential prevention against lost computer files or system failures.

Fee-based online backup services such as @Backup and Atrieva have been around for some time. Recently, however, a new crop of services--many announced in the last two weeks--offer limited amounts of free storage and full file accessibility via the Web.

On Monday, i-drive announced its i-drive.com services. The company offers file sharing, storage, and accessibility--emphasizing the collaborative and accessible nature of Internet-housed files. After a quick sign-up, i-drive allots you 25MB of storage in its Internet folders. The Dropbox folder receives files transferred from other sources, Filo stores uploaded files from the desktop, and the Web folder houses clipped Web pages for future use.

Trade, Share Files for Free

Arguably a simplified backup, i-drive's sync tool synchronizes desktop files with those in its Web folders so the most recent copy is saved in both places. The service's mission is portability, says Jeff Bonforte, chief executive officer. The i-drive service was "never intended to be a huge backup system; it's intended to let you be wherever you want to be," Bonforte says, calling the service "the Hotmail of files." Students and others who need to share and access files from any browser are target customers. To that end, i-drive will launch in certain universities this fall.

But i-drive is certainly not the only free Web-storage service. Just last week, SpaceForFree began offering 20MB of free online storage, and SwapDrive launched a service providing 25MB of free storage. Likewise, Yahoo! has added Yahoo! Briefcase--25MB of free storage and file-sharing for Yahoo! users. Web storage services are becoming as ubiquitous and competitive as e-mail and Web calendars. Still, users may found some files harder to transfer than others. One user of Yahoo! Briefcase had trouble moving digital camera files.