>>51417434
Yes. This doesn't break a moral code of any kind until storage becomes scarce.

>>51417434
wouldn't do it. although you may not be aware of it your work likely has a acceptable use of company equipment policy which forbids this sort of activity. doing that just gives the company leverage to fire you if they EVER become so inclined

Using company equipment for personal purposes can be something your boss frowns upon. It depends on your boss. You could probably just ask him if you're on good terms with him.

Uploading your entire computer to a business server doesn't mean they now own your data. It should work out well.

>>51417737
wouldn't even do this. even if you are on good terms with a company, simplest thing to do is just stick to the rules. i knew a guy who routinely streamed sporting events at his work place. his boss was OK with this as it didn't affect his work. but when things got tight, and a round of lay-offs came around, the guy wasn't layed off but was instead fired for breaking company IT policy. turns out it's cheaper to straight up fire a guy than lay him off (no severance, no penalty tax paid to government for adding load to unemployment benefits system since the guy can't collect for being fired, etc)

>>51417434
As long as your data is:
1) encrypted
2) not pirated
3) not licensed software

if all these three are fine then just ask if you can, your boss and it department can decide.

>>51418517
forgot to mention;
4) legal

>>51418517
>can I use company hardware for personal use
That's what we bought it for my lad!

A few people are talking about encrypting your data and shit. That's all true, but completely missing the point you asked about - ethics.

If you're storing any backups that are not encrypted, imagine what would happen if someone stole your backups while you were out of the house (or in this case, not at work). There, enough said.

The ethical question is more interesting anyway: in principle, using work resources for personal shit is unethical. That's fairly simple, but we don't live by principle (even autistic people who claim to don't really). The reality, as others have pointed to, is that if it's not really scarce (which you point out) then it's probably not a big deal.

I would only keep in mind the following:
1) Your boss has an obligation to make sure company resources aren't getting misused. Giving him a formal message (even/especially an email) asking for permission to misuse the computers for backups puts him in the position of HAVING to tell you no because it's on the record now, and can be scrutinized 10 years later. Maybe you can get "informal" permission, but I wouldn't really even bother - just get a *general* sense for whether your manager would be okay with it and act accordingly.

2) You may not know it now, but someday down the road your company's tech needs might suddenly explode. It won't be your fault per se, but if the resources get depleted tech support will audit what's going on and - in the process of finding out that they need to scale up - they'll find some employee using company resources for personal shit. It's this kind of totally benign use suddenly showing up under a microscope that could get you in trouble, so if you're going to do it, keep an eye on resources and whatnot.

The same issue as above could happen if there's malware or something. Even if you didn't introduce the malware, sudden heightened scrutiny will reveal your backups, and you'll get thrown onto the chopping block along with whoever was actually "guilty".

>>51418577
I don't feel like typing shit up but this guy has some good reasoning

don't put that shit on your boss

>>51417434
No absolutely not.
There's a 99% chance your company has rules in place that forbid storing personal data on their servers, and if they don't I wouldn't want to store my personal stuff on the servers of my employer.

Besides if you really have a job you should be able to buy a good back-up device yourself.

Just find a job that pays enough to buy your own NAS. It's cheap.

>>51417434
>trusting your IT departement
Loads of hacks are inside hacks.
Your safer if you encrypt it on a hdd and just plug it in if you need to backup.