Bad things happen to good people.

Despite their sizes, laptops get nicked, dropped or misplaced all the time, and research says that out of the 2 million laptops that get stolen every year, only 2% are ever recovered. The main issue for most is not that they have lost their hardware; it’s the toil that goes into amassing the contents that really gets to them (and all of us for that matter). Assignments, proposals, song compilations, family pictures – all gone in the blink of an eye.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Technology can now afford to help you keep your important documents and files through a cloud system. The concept behind this is that an off-site data storage facility auto-synchronizes and backs-up your files for you via a remote server. This way, even if you lose your machine, you can still access your files through another. These also work great as a file-sharing tool for extremely large files.

After the jump, check out the best of online data backup and synchronization tools.

Recommended Reading: 20+ Data Backup & Synchronization Tools For Hard Drives

Top 5 Tools

Dropbox

Dropbox is a popular online storage application which keeps your data anywhere and allows you to share them easily to friends, colleagues and family who also have a Dropbox account. Just invite them to get them started on their own Dropbox account.

Download and install Dropbox to your computer. You will find a Dropbox folder in your computer. Drag any data into the Dropbox folder, and your data will be uploaded automatically to the Dropbox server. It offers 2GB of free space.

Features | Pricing | Sign Up

Box

Box allows you to store and share your important data with confidence. It supports 99.9% up-time guarantee, SSL encryption, redundant storage, configurable permissions, and more.

Features | Pricing | Sign Up

Comodo Backup

Comodo Backup offers 5GB free online storage space for you to backup your files. You can easily access the files from anywhere, and sync between computers.

Features | Pricing | Sign Up

CrashPlan

CrashPlan lets you backup your important data and folders to multiple destinations automatically without costing you anything. It easily backs up your data to computers over a network or on the Internet.

Features | Pricing | Sign Up

Memopal

Memopal offers 3GB free online storage to backup your important data on cloud. Just download Memopal and install it on your computer. Memopal will automatically synchronize selected folders and file it with a remote archive.

Features | Pricing | Sign Up

More Tools

Mozy

Mozy offers 2GB free online storage for you to backup your photos, music, and other files on the Internet with additional features like encryption, automatic or scheduled backup, block-level incremental backup, bandwidth throttling and mobile access.

Features | Pricing | Sign Up

BuddyBackup

BuddyBackup is a free online backup tool which allows you to back up your data over the Internet into your buddies’ computers. It encrypts your data before sending them to make sure your buddies can’t read your files. When you need to retrieve them, just restore the files from your buddies’ computers.

Features | Free | Sign Up

ADrive

ADrive offers its users up to 50GB of free cloud storage and backup for all file types for the personal Basic plan. You can also store, backup, share, and edit your documents online.

Features | Pricing | Sign Up

Duplicati

Duplicati is a free backup system on remote file servers with built-in scheduler and data encryption features. It also supports syncing which updates the new version or modified files to the server with minimum bandwidth and storage space usage.

Features | Free | Download

Syncplicity

Syncplicity backs up and syncs your important data with all your computers and mobile devices on cloud. The Syncplicity personal edition offers 2GB free storage and instant file backup for up to two computers.

Features | Pricing | Sign Up

SugarSync

Want to access all your data anytime, anywhere from any device? SugarSync can help you. SugarSync offers a personal cloud storage system which supports file sync and online backup for all your devices.

Features | Pricing | Sign Up

SkyDrive

SkyDrive offers 7GB free password-protected online storage, with a limit of 2GB on individual files via SkyDrive desktop app.

Features | Free | Sign Up

CloudMe

CloudMe features a free cloud-based storage of up to 3GB with a desktop-like remote management interface. With CloudMe, you can access, upload and share your files from anywhere, even your phone.

Features | Pricing | Sign Up

iDrive

iDrive offers 5 GB free online storage to backup information from an unlimited number of computers into a single account.

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MyPC Backup

MyPC Backup provides online backup features which syncs all your important data across computers and devices, supports file- and folder-sharing among your friends and file security protection system.

Features | Pricing | Sign Up

OpenDrive

OpenDrive provides 5 GB free cloud storage for personal accounts with limitation of max 100 MB file size, and 1 GB bandwidth usage per day, but with unlimited computers access and more.

Features | Pricing | Sign Up

CX.Com

Store, share and access your online backup data anytime and anywhere with CX.com. CX.com offers 10GB of free online storage with a range of unique features.

Features | Pricing | Sign Up

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