Cloud backup

[Ilya]

Since today is the World Backup Day, I decided to try some cloud backup solutions. Looking at Carbonite, CrashPlan and BlackBlaze as possible options. All of these offer reasonably priced unlimited plans. I am going to start with a 30-day evaluation of CrashPlanPro. Installing it now.

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[navychop]

Trusting soul, aren't you?

 

[mike123abc]

I use Jungledisk which uses amazon's cloud to do the backup. They are not unlimited, but they transfer at full connection speed.

 

[Ilya]

Trusting soul, aren't you?

I think it's no less safe than connecting your computer to the Internet in general.

 

[StevenD]

I have used a CrashPlan Central unlimited plan for over a year now. I dont put anything up on their servers that I would consider "sensitive". Its mainly backups of music, photos, etc. I have another computer with the CrashPlan agent installed on it at a friends house. I back up my "sensitive" documents to that computer.

 

[TheForce]

internet transfer of huge quantities of data is too slow. I'd be here for weeks and my connect upload is 5Mbs. I have 5 computers plus several TB's of data.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

internet transfer of huge quantities of data is too slow. I'd be here for weeks and my connect upload is 5Mbs. I have 5 computers plus several TB's of data.

It is definitely an issue. I was using Spider Oak to do a large backup, and wow -- takes forever. And I did it at work, where there is probably a 50MB or higher upload.

 

[TheForce]

For critical data backup I now use a Lan connected 3Tb drive that comes with the mfg Seagate backup software. It works well and does the backups behind the scenes every night. I don't know it is running until I get the popup that tells me the backup is complete. One thing I don't have with this is off site backup. That is the risk I am willing to take. BTW- I have over 45 TB of data storage here in archives, mostly video from 18 years of TV production that is only on non-backed up hard drives. There will come a day when I can safely toss that. As recently as February I was called upon to recover a show I did 7 years ago and put it back on the air.

 

[TheForce]

It is definitely an issue. I was using Spider Oak to do a large backup, and wow -- takes forever. And I did it at work, where there is probably a 50MB or higher upload.

For me that would be a recipe for neglect.

 

[mike123abc]

internet transfer of huge quantities of data is too slow. I'd be here for weeks and my connect upload is 5Mbs. I have 5 computers plus several TB's of data.

24/7 transfer adds up... 5Mbit is 2 gigabytes+/hour, 336 GB/week. It might take a month, but do you really have that much actual data that you need backed up?

The unlimited backup sites limit your usage by throttling the upload speed, so that it would take a year to get a TB up. I use jungle disk since it takes it at full speed. I only have about 200GB to backup, and only around 1-2 GB changes a week. Once the initial transfer took place (a few days) it does its backup in less than an hour a day, which I run every night.

 

[Ilya]

CrashPlan and some other cloud backup service providers offer seed backup.
Basically they send you an external USB disk, you do your initial backup to the disk and send it back to them.
After that all subsequent backups are just incremental ones.

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[digiblur]

Been using crashplan for a while too. I like how efficient it is! Not to mention the ability to backup to friends and family.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

CrashPlan and some other cloud backup service providers offer seed backup.
Basically they send you an external USB disk, you do your initial backup to the disk and send it back to them.
After that all subsequent backups are just incremental ones.

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Now that makes good sense! Need to check that out. What does crashPlan cost?

 

[Ilya]

They have various plans ranging from free "backup to your friend" service all the way to enterprise plans.
Home unlimited cloud plans for one computer are $3-5 a month depending on whether you go month-to-month or prepay 1-4 years.
Family unlimited plans (up to 10 computers) are $6-12 a month. The Seed Backup and Restore to Your Door services are rather expensive though: $125-165, depending on the shipment choice. But might be worth it if you need a quick turnaround.
Business "Pro" plans are about twice more expensive, but offer some additional features and per-user security.

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