Ask HN: Which file storage service would you recommend for the long term?

Another vote for Arq if what the OP wants is backup. This lets you pick and switch storage providers. I don't think you should plan on staying with any provider for more than 2-3 years, the landscape changes too fast. Arq lets you be independent.

> My goal is to ... lose none of my files

Duplicates. Perhaps two or three online services, plus local disk array at home. Check data integrity every year...

Every decade you will have to swap service or two, as companies evolve.

Based on your criteria, it sounds like you could use physical hard drives to backup to, rather than a service. You should store your files onto an external hard drive and keep the external hard drives in a safe place.

The best way to plan for 50 years is to continually have a 1, 5 and 10 year plan.

Your 50 year requirement is the real tough problem here. I would have a hard time recommending any of the types of services your are referring to for more than a year at a time. To achieve anything beyond that you need to look for a service that is VERY standards based and portable.

You do not mention a need for "backup/restore" or "version history. So lets treat sync & cloud access separately from backup & versioning.

File Sync and Cloud Access

I think any thing that syncs local files to the cloud will do as long as you don't rely on special features of a specific service. This sort of means that iCloud and S3 are out of the running since neither of them is a cross-platform file directory syncing system.

You could keep copies on one or more systems that you control and using the service to provide sync and cloud access. Then if you decided that the service that you are currently use no longer meets your needs, or is out of business, you could easily switch to a different syncing/cloud service.

Today I would say that Dropbox is the best solution. Personally, I am beginning to replace Dropbox with BitTorrent Sync and keeping a close eye on syncthing.net. Although, BT Sync doesn't have a web interface, I consider that a plus for privacy, and BT Sync's mobile apps and built in sharing features replace most of what I need from Dropbox's web interface.

Backup/Versioning

This is where it gets really tricky looking out 50 years. I simply can not recommend thinking out that long term. I think you can look out 10 years at a time, and then make choices for the next 10 years.

Something like rdiff-backup with would last at least 10 years, but it doesn't have the easy to access interface. (last I check the radio-backup web interfaces where not very good).

Personally, I use a combination of diff-backup and Crashplan pointed at local and remote storage. CrashPlan gives me remote access via the web and apps, and a professionally managed data store. (I feel that while I don't trust others with protecting my data, I don't trust myself 100% either). I also use Arq (with now has a Windows client, and provide an open source code for doing a restore) and backup to a remote site.

https://www.crashplan.com

https://www.arqbackup.com

http://www.nongnu.org/rdiff-backup

https://syncthing.net

https://www.getsync.com

The format Arq uses is open and documented, so that you can restore without having Arq if necessary:

https://www.arqbackup.com/s3_data_format.txt

And there are tools to help:

http://sreitshamer.github.io/arq_restore/