http://www.textdrive.com/mixedgrill

I have always thought I would never go back to a shared account after using a VPS, but this is a very tempting offer.  What do you guys think about this?

Liftime hosting for each of the following…

Textdrive hosting account with a limit of 15 top-level domains.

9 GB strongspace account (secure storage with a web-based front-end.)

A Joyent account which is a web-based collaboration suite. 

For only $499

All of the above would probably come close to being paid for in one year… and then you get a lifetime (as long as the business exists) of service. 

By the way, I am not affiliated with these people, I just think it is a great deal.  I just can’t make up my mind yet.

Tempted for the Joyent / Strongspace stuff alone (the latter I use anyway, the former looks lovely - if not lovely enough to shell out $15 a month for without having any use for the collaboration stuff). I know TextDrive’s had some ups and downs in the last year though, at least on some of their servers, and there’s no refund policy, which makes me somewhat reticent.

I have looked through the forums and I see some complaints.  The community is really great though. 

The $499 is right on the line.  If it were any cheaper I would jump on it.  If it were more expensive I would not be tempted.  Depending on how you look at it, the offer could be a great deal, or horribly expensive. 

The 9GB of storage space from Strongspace is not much, though it is plenty for important backups.  I have an account with Streamload that gives unlimited storage, but I have to pay five dollars a month for up to one gigabyte of downloads per month.  Unfortunately Streamload does not offer sucure transfers.  Strongspace could be more helpful by using it for automatic backups of my important files and hosting files using rsync. 

I think it is a great deal, but I am afraid I will end up abandoning the services because they lose their usefulness to me.  On the other hand, the suite of services coming out of that company look like they could be pretty exciting.  A year or two down the road could bring some big surprises that would make me glad I made the purchase. 

The most appealing factor in this offer is the lifetime ownership.  If I were to cancel all my silly online web accounts and exlusively use Textdrive for a year, I would actually save money. 

Ugh… decisions… decisions.  I am rationalizing here if you couldn’t tell.

It does look interesting. I’m not sure I’d use the joyent stuff at this insttant but down the line maybe.

The hosting package could be improved though.

Is it likely that these “settings” will be improved in months/years to come or will they always be stuck at this level? If they’re gonna increase inline with “inflation” then it becomes a lot more tempting.

The 9GB of storage space from Strongspace is not much, though it is plenty for important backups.  I have an account with Streamload that gives unlimited storage, but I have to pay five dollars a month for up to one gigabyte of downloads per month.  Unfortunately Streamload does not offer sucure transfers.  Strongspace could be more helpful by using it for automatic backups of my important files and hosting files using rsync.

I’ve never been wild about Streamload for pure backup - it’s great for media purposes though.

Decided to take a gamble. I already use Strongspace for online backup, and while Joyent’s still looking very rough around the edges (it’s basically a PIM for a Joyent email address, although accessing IMAP and TxD accounts is apparently coming Real Darn Soon) it’s the kind of service I’ve been looking for for a while, and I’m not scared about switching to Webmin instead of CPanel. Amalgamating a few other services, worst case scenario is basically paying a year up front for a spread of services I pay for month-to-month anyway, with the bonus of free hosting for my less critical sites.

(Certainly be trying a test install before shunting my EE site across though…just to be on the safe side…)

I have been using TextDrive as a ‘VC’ investor for 18 months; signed up for the Joyent thing recently. I don’t use EE much there but have recently installed EE Core without a hiccup. There are EE users; post to the TextDrive forum and ask for more info on that score.

TextDrive is a strange community; not unlike this one (a compliment). They’re very ‘real’ and pretty transparent. The underwear shows alongside the formal evening dress.

I would not (and do not) use my personal account for heavy business use. There is just a tad too much down-time. I wouldn’t hesitate to put a business on their business accounts.

Where they shine:

1. Extremely knowledgeable staff who are generally quite good with detailed support response. They are pushing the envelope of hosting and Web 2.0 services; both a strength and a weakness.

2. The TxD community (forum) is also very knowledgeable and helpful; not only about TextDrive but about CMS products, Web design, Web 2.0 development, etc.

3. So far, they have kept all their promises, though not always lickety-split relative to timing.

Intuitively, I feel they will be around forever (e.g., the next five to ten years), based on 25 years of watching the industry broadly. I guess the same about EE. After five years or so, who knows?

For me, my first VC deal has now been fully expensed and is giving me ‘free hosting’ each month. Emerging free back-up space solutions may make me regret the Joyent upgrade but I’m actually a bit happier paying something for storage. It gives me the illusion that I will be able to place a claim on the vendor ...

To a questioner: the hosting specs have increased (inflated) over time. The principle has been to keep the deal at a level above entry hosting and below upper levels. The same principle has been enunicated for the Joyent deal. As I say, my experience has been that TextDrive does its best to keep faith with its ‘investors’.

Bottom line: keep your eyes open but highly recommended.

Amalgamating a few other services, worst case scenario is basically paying a year up front for a spread of services I pay for month-to-month anyway, with the bonus of free hosting for my less critical sites.

Good point.

I would not (and do not) use my personal account for heavy business use.

This would be my biggest issue.  I do have a number of business sites.  Currently I am with PowerVPS which is rock solid with much flexibility.  If I were to go with Textdrive I would want to cancel my PowerVPS account.  Otherwise I would have nothing to gain.  I think I might just make the jump and hope the downtime gets better.  With the addition of Joyent and Strongspace, the TxtD crew might have a greater urgency to make hosting more stable.

They are pushing the envelope of hosting and Web 2.0 services; both a strength and a weakness.

This is probably one of the reasons for the downtime.  In contrast, PMHosting uses a Redhat Enterprise solution which provides a stable environment.

I think russlipton describes TxD pretty well up above…

FWIW, I’ve been a TextDrive VCer (lifetimer) since the first round (21 months ago?), and I just upgraded to the mixed grill.

TextDrive isn’t perfect, has had some downtime, but is overall a great service. The people running it do know the web, and do care about it. (They could probably use a communication person though It’s definitely worth the money for your personal sites. You’ll be free and clear in less than a year, and to me that’s a pretty minimal risk to take.

As for EE, I use Core over there, and have had no problems whatsoever…

Well I made the plunge.  I have not heard from one person that has regretted the move.  Now I will just have to cut back on things like food and my schizo meds for a few months.

Well, got my welcome email and I’m busy mirroring my site on the new site to check its performance. Now to wait the aeons for the Joyent and Strongspace mails to come through, I guess

Edit: Oooh, nice directory structure…

Woot!  I just received my welcome letter also.  There is alot of information in that letter.  Textdrive is not your typical webhost.  I am also going to mirror my TXD site.  I am going to configure my DNS service to monitor the site, and switch to the mirror when the site goes down.  I can use Rsync to mirror static sites, but I am not sure of the best way to mirror the database.  I can also rsync my sites to Strongspace to keep a backup.

Well, touch-wood, everything’s going fine here. Nice and fast (although the DNSs are still propogating), and I really like the way it’s all set up behind the scenes. I wouldn’t recommend it if you really, really have no idea of what you’re doing, but it’s all nice and logical behind the scenes.

Going great here as well.  I really dig Webmin.  It is so minimal and does exactly what you need it to do.

I would also say this is not for someone that is new to the tech.  I would be so lost if I didn’t know Webmin.

By the way… I did run into one problem.  You might need to take a look at this post.  Nothing serious.

http://expressionengine.com/forums/viewthread/28711/

(tests on hidden blog)

Seems to run fine here.

(tests on real blog)

Ah. I may have spoken too soon. Still, an extremely quick fix - SecFilterEngine Off in .htaccess sorted it instantly.

Heh… I just mentioned it because I knew you would run into it sooner or later.  Nice to know what the problem is before you run into it.  Might save you the few minutes it would take you to look for a fix.