Protecting non-public folders?

[CallMeZoot]

Hi,

My hosting plan includes a great deal of storage space, and I would like to use my some of it as a backup location for:

-old emails
-contact lists/address books
-other crucial personal data

(I would like to access these files remotely if possible).

Is there a way to protect my "backup" folder from:

-Hackers
-Bots/spiders/indexers/etc. (I don't want my old emails showing up on google!)
-Anybody who might accidentally stumble upon the folder.

My first step will be to give the "backup" folder a long and unguessable name, but I realize that this won't protect me against much.

Any tips? I'm familiar with HTML and CSS, but I know very little about scripting/programming in othe languages.

Thanks,
chris.

[KDLA]

Simply put: Best thing to do, to keep things private, is not to put them online. Instead, put these things on a CD-RW.

The web is not intended as a storage area. It's for publishing, only.

KDLA

[ray326]

If you want to utilize that space you can make sure you have no online links to that folder or any of its content individually and that the folder in which it's place does not allow indexing. Additionally you can protect it and everything in it and under it with Basic Authentication.