Cloud Backup

[PSPHax0r9]

So what do you guys think of all the current "cloud" or online backups solutions? Are they worth it, do you have one, if so, which?

I've been looking into them extensively for the past week because I'll be buying my new laptop soon and I'll be going off to college and I'll definitely want a good backup solution.

So far I've looked into many different options and the best online backup solutions for the price seem to be Backblaze, Mozy, Carbonite, and Amazon S3. Mozy, Carbonite, and Backblaze all offer unlimited, secure storage for about 50 bucks a year, while S3 has a bit more complicated pricing plan that favors lower storage amounts and a smaller number of transfers per month. I think that right now I'm favoring Carbonite because their Mac client is better than Mozy and Backblaze's restoration options just seem annoying - you have to restore files from their web client, at which point they zip your files and email you a link. Their other restore options include DVDs ($89 extra) and an external HDD wit your data (+ $190).

There are also many more options out there with better or different options, so what do you guys think?

 

[FrozenIpaq]

I'm personally against online backups, but maybe that's because I have large files and sensitive information - and I hate to download things, I want them instantly I would vouch for Amazon S3 though I've heard great things about it and it's a solid company that won't be going down anytime soon I don't think

 

[Seth]

I'm personally against online backups, but maybe that's because I have large files and sensitive information - and I hate to download things, I want them instantly I would vouch for Amazon S3 though I've heard great things about it and it's a solid company that won't be going down anytime soon I don't think

1+ for Amazon S3...

Might I add what kind of backing up your doing? For small simple things like docs, A gmail account or a flash drive works great for a extra backup. I always have 3 total copys. One on my local desktop where I type the doc,one on a flash drive, and one on a gmail account. Then at the end of the term I just burn it to a cd for safe keeping,just incase I might need the doc again for another class or something. Then I also make a .rar and put it on my box.net account.

 

[Hardrive]

What you may want to consider is just doing the backups yourself. If you have an old PC lying around, pop a big hard drive on it and your favorite Linux distro. Leave it on and at home when you go to college, and you've got yourself free offsite storage.

That's what I plan on doing.

 

[Tommi]

What you may want to consider is just doing the backups yourself. If you have an old PC lying around, pop a big hard drive on it and your favorite Linux distro. Leave it on and at home when you go to college, and you've got yourself free offsite storage.

That's what I plan on doing.

Kinda the same here, except I use LogMeIn.

 

[Zero]

1+ for Amazon S3...

Might I add what kind of backing up your doing? For small simple things like docs, A gmail account or a flash drive works great for a extra backup. I always have 3 total copys. One on my local desktop where I type the doc,one on a flash drive, and one on a gmail account. Then at the end of the term I just burn it to a cd for safe keeping,just incase I might need the doc again for another class or something. Then I also make a .rar and put it on my box.net account.

I do a similar thing for my documents, but I use dropbox over box.net. It's really helpful as a backup and also lessens the reliance on my USB stick all the time. With Dropbox, I just have a folder and any changes to that are synced back to the server, and each of my desktops keeps an offline up-to-date copy. For my larger files, I use a portable HDD.

What be cool for cloud backups is a system to back up all your preferences and settings. There are some that already exist, like Steam and Firefox, but a global service to sync your settings for a wide variety of software applications would be immensley useful.

PS: Dropbox is free, and you get 2GB storage. More info here

 

[LocutusEstBorg]

I haven't any experience with online backups because connections here are too slow (256/512 KBits at best) for backups to be of any practical use.

Just RAID 1 or 5 and forget about it. Hardware failures are the only thing you really need backup against.

If you have databases/servers then backing them up to other media/HDDs manually is hardly a problem.

Just maintain basic computing safety and you needn't worry about software failures.

 

[Zero]

Also, as another note, while online solutions may be useful, you will definatley want another form of hard backup, like incase the website is down and you really need that document. It's always good practice to have multiple backup mediums.

By the way, who's been screwing around with the tags for this thread?

 

[twelve]

PSPHax0r and Vanden have. All cleared up now.