Online Backup

[Ken Blake]

I can't remember who it was, but If I remember correctly, one of you
here (at least I think it was here) recommended an online backup
service other that Carbonite. Can you remind me of which service it
was and what about it you find better than Carbonite?

Thanks.

 

[Kirk Bubul]

I can't remember who it was, but If I remember correctly, one of you
here (at least I think it was here) recommended an online backup
service other that Carbonite. Can you remind me of which service it
was and what about it you find better than Carbonite?

I use Mozy Home (Mozy.com). After several months on the 2 GB of
storage for free, I got an offer to get 10% off plus a couple of
months free for getting 24 months of the 25 GB storage for about
$5 per month. Paid the two years in advance.

I'm storing everything I can think of within reason and still
have loads of available space.

 

[Ken Blake]

I use Mozy Home (Mozy.com). After several months on the 2 GB of
storage for free, I got an offer to get 10% off plus a couple of
months free for getting 24 months of the 25 GB storage for about
$5 per month. Paid the two years in advance.

I'm storing everything I can think of within reason and still
have loads of available space.

Thanks, but 25GB is nowhere near enough for me. I need about 500GB.
Carbonite would give me an unlimited amount for about the same $5 a
month. What, if anything, can you tell me that would make me want to
choose Mozy instead?

 

[Kirk Bubul]

Thanks, but 25GB is nowhere near enough for me. I need about 500GB.
Carbonite would give me an unlimited amount for about the same $5 a
month. What, if anything, can you tell me that would make me want to
choose Mozy instead?

I have nothing for you.

 

[pjp]

Thanks, but 25GB is nowhere near enough for me. I need about 500GB.
Carbonite would give me an unlimited amount for about the same $5 a
month. What, if anything, can you tell me that would make me want to
choose Mozy instead?

Just some quick math with very iffy numbers but seems to me it'd not be
much more to buy external hard drive(s) and fill them with backup and
leave it alone till needed. Least then it's instantly retrievable and
not dependant on anyone else.

 

[Ken Blake]

Just some quick math with very iffy numbers but seems to me it'd not be
much more to buy external hard drive(s) and fill them with backup and
leave it alone till needed. Least then it's instantly retrievable and
not dependant on anyone else.

Thanks for your thoughts, but that's not what my question was about.

 

[Asger Joergensen]

Hi pjp

Just some quick math with very iffy numbers but seems to me it'd not be
much more to buy external hard drive(s) and fill them with backup and
leave it alone till needed. Least then it's instantly retrievable and
not dependant on anyone else.

That is a very poor substitute for an online backup. What if your home
burn, what if your home is burgled, what if lightning strikes in the
neighbourhood etc.


Best regards
Asger-P

 

[Wolf K]

Hi pjp


That is a very poor substitute for an online backup. What if your home
burn, what if your home is burgled, what if lightning strikes in the
neighbourhood etc.


Best regards
Asger-P

What if you drop dead tomorrow?

 

[John Williamson]

Thanks, but 25GB is nowhere near enough for me. I need about 500GB.
Carbonite would give me an unlimited amount for about the same $5 a
month. What, if anything, can you tell me that would make me want to
choose Mozy instead?

Have you worked out just how long it's going to take to get 500GB down
your internet connection? For that amount of data, it'd be quicker to
copy it to a USB HD, then put the HD in your bank's secure storage, or
send the HD by courier to the data centre for them to load there.

Going by how long it takes to upload data here, it'd take me about three
months....

 

[Paul in Houston TX]

I can't remember who it was, but If I remember correctly, one of you
here (at least I think it was here) recommended an online backup
service other that Carbonite. Can you remind me of which service it
was and what about it you find better than Carbonite?

Thanks.

This site gives reviews:
http://www.top-10-online-backups.com/best-online-backup/1

The company I work for uses IBM SmartCloud.
That's all I know about it.

 

[Ken Blake]

Have you worked out just how long it's going to take to get 500GB down
your internet connection? For that amount of data, it'd be quicker to
copy it to a USB HD, then put the HD in your bank's secure storage, or
send the HD by courier to the data centre for them to load there.

Three points:

1. I think my earlier estimate of 500GB was wrong. It's more like
150GB.

2. I'm running Carbonite's free trial now. Yes, it will take a long
time to back up even 150GB--maybe two weeks or so. But that's for a
first backup. Subsequent backing up will (I think) be much faster.

3. Putting a backup HD in a bank's secure storage may be fine for
companies, and it may even be fine as an initial step for home users.
But I certainly don't want to do that every day.

 

[Ken Blake]

This site gives reviews:
http://www.top-10-online-backups.com/best-online-backup/1

Thanks, I had already looked at that site. But I was still interested
in reading the views of people here rather than just web reviews.

 

[John Williamson]

Three points:

1. I think my earlier estimate of 500GB was wrong. It's more like
150GB.
Okay.

2. I'm running Carbonite's free trial now. Yes, it will take a long
time to back up even 150GB--maybe two weeks or so. But that's for a
first backup. Subsequent backing up will (I think) be much faster.

Only if you do an incremental backup each time. How paranoid are you,
and can you afford to lose the safety of having a known good copy of a
file that hasn't been corrupted by this week's malware?

3. Putting a backup HD in a bank's secure storage may be fine for
companies, and it may even be fine as an initial step for home users.
But I certainly don't want to do that every day.

Nor would I, my backup strategy relies on the working files on this
machine being with me, while the backups are at home. It satisifies the
rule that it's not backed up unless it's off site, but my version is
reversed.

At work, the MD takes one of a weekly series of tapes home with him
every night, and brings the oldest one back with him in the morning.
They back up at lunchtime and again in the evening just before knocking
off time. Then again, I doubt the company data is more than can be held
on a couple of DVDs.

 

[Ken Blake]

Only if you do an incremental backup each time.

As I understand it, that's the way Carbonite (and I think the other
online backup services, too) works.

How paranoid are you,
and can you afford to lose the safety of having a known good copy of a
file that hasn't been corrupted by this week's malware?

I am extremely careful about what I do and what anti-malware programs
I run. I've been running personal computers since 1987 and have never
been infected with any form of malware.

That's not to say I'm immune form malware, of course. None of us is.
But my risk is considerably lower than the average person's

And I were to use a service like Carbonite (I haven't decided yet) I
wouldn't rely on it completely. I also have several external hds, and
would continue to back up to them periodically (but not every day).

Moreover my most critical data is my Quicken file, and I backup that
up to thumb drives (alternating between two thumb drives) every three
days.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Only if you do an incremental backup each time. How paranoid are you,
and can you afford to lose the safety of having a known good copy of a
file that hasn't been corrupted by this week's malware?

Nor would I, my backup strategy relies on the working files on this
machine being with me, while the backups are at home. It satisifies the
rule that it's not backed up unless it's off site, but my version is
reversed.

At work, the MD takes one of a weekly series of tapes home with him
every night, and brings the oldest one back with him in the morning.
They back up at lunchtime and again in the evening just before knocking
off time. Then again, I doubt the company data is more than can be held
on a couple of DVDs.

I hope what the MD carries is encrypted...

 

[John Williamson]

I hope what the MD carries is encrypted...

I would hope so, too, but it's Not My Problem (c)(tm). We have paid
someone a large amount of money to set up the system, so it's their problem.

 

[...winston]

"John Williamson" wrote in message

I would hope so, too, but it's Not My Problem (c)(tm).
We have paid someone a large amount of money to set up the system,
so it's their problem.

One usually gets what they pay for (or asks).

 

[Sir_George]

Thanks, I had already looked at that site. But I was still interested
in reading the views of people here rather than just web reviews.

My choice is Backblaze. Same price as the competition and when I was
shopping for off-site backups it seemed to be the best; too long ago
for me to remember the exact reason(s).

 

[Philip Herlihy]

....

Moreover my most critical data is my Quicken file, and I backup that
up to thumb drives (alternating between two thumb drives) every three
days.

For small-volume critical files like this, consider using the Dropbox
application. Then you save something to a folder on your PC, and it's
automatically synchronised with Dropbox online, with a version history
built-in.

https://www.dropbox.com/help/11/en

So you just have the Quicken file reside in your dropbox folder, and
quite of lot of what you need is taken care of for you. Personally, I'd
maintain my own version history, probably using Quicken's built-in
backup facility (if I remember correctly!).

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Thanks, but 25GB is nowhere near enough for me. I need about 500GB.
Carbonite would give me an unlimited amount for about the same $5 a
month. What, if anything, can you tell me that would make me want to
choose Mozy instead?

How practical is it to backup 500GB over an Internet connection? I find
backing that much over even an USB connection impractical, let alone an
Internet connection which would be at least 10 times slower.

Yousuf Khan