AdamSmith Posted March 4, 2012 Posted March 4, 2012 As I reported in the laptop-vs-desktop thread, I let my laptop get stolen recently. That was the insult, but the injury was because I had grown lax in my data backup discipline. Now, a local backup device -- say, an Apple Time Machine -- would have been nifty. Except that was stolen too. Arghh. Putting aside questions of who I am foolish enough to let in my door, it occurred that my visitors would have had a hard time making off with Amazon's servers. So... Does anyone have experience or knowledge of the various hosted backup services out there? Mozy, iCloud, Dropbox, etc.? If this has been covered previously, just point me there. Many thanks. Quote
Members JKane Posted March 4, 2012 Members Posted March 4, 2012 The problem with most cloud based storage (esp. the ones you mentioned) is that most are for files. Now I'm sure you'd love to have the latest copy of all your documents back, and they are great for that. Also for accessing them anywhere. I love Dropbox for this (especially on my phone now!) and MS is building something nifty into Windows8 to seamlessly put everything out there, if you want. But we're usually talking 5-10 GB here. You can pay for more, sure, but it's just not designed to hold a 100+ GB backup of the entire OS on your computer. There are starting to be services from backup providers and people like Carbonite, but they are fairly expensive and as your data grows they can charge you more and more, theoretically locking you in for the rest of your life! And there is the question of accessibility after an incident. How and how quickly do your get your backup back to restore the operation of your repaired/replaced computer? Some of the simpler/free-er services are trying to expand, but they even struggle to hold 20-30GB of your music collection, and none would hold my 2TB or so of collected TV and other downloads, nor would I be eager to put them on such a service given that some may be of questionable legality and either being reported by one of these services or seeing them delete my data on a whim aren't experiences I'm eager to have. --and keep the above in mind for your porn collection too! Do you have the 2257 or whatever documentation that every guy in every video is legal? And a receipt for every clip or pic you've stored? Would you even want a third party having access to such? What if a state the server is in passes an asinine law? These are just some of the reasons a home NAS-like device such as a Synology or Qnap are better, in my view. Quote
Members JKane Posted March 4, 2012 Members Posted March 4, 2012 As I reported in the laptop-vs-desktop thread, I let my laptop get stolen recently. That was the insult, but the injury was because I had grown lax in my data backup discipline. Now, a local backup device -- say, an Apple Time Machine -- would have been nifty. Except that was stolen too. Arghh. I'm sorry to hear what happened to you, by the way! There are a couple of ways to deal with these devices' desirability to thieves. Pretty much all of them have a Kensington (laptop) lock port--including things like Airports, Time Machines, external drives. They're not *great* security, and (despite the name) it's not that practical to lock your laptop up all the time, but it's great for stuff that shouldn't ever move, to at least slow the thief down or make it 'not worth it'. Another path is to use an external backup drive and put it in a safe, but it's very easy to fall behind on such backups. Also, many people don't realize, it takes a *very* specialized safe to secure *data devices* against fire or water damage. And if the safe isn't huge you should also consider some way to keep *it* from walking out the door! There are also these, and these, but again, at the very minimum they need to be Kensington locked. Quote
AdamSmith Posted March 4, 2012 Author Posted March 4, 2012 JK, thanks for that perspective. For now at least, business and personal data files from MS Office apps are my main interest. That, plus as you note removing my backup device/media from environmental risks of fire, sprinkler system, etc. You, or anyone, have recs among the competing services? Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted March 4, 2012 Posted March 4, 2012 I'm not a fan of cloud based backup. I'm never certain what security is on the other end regardless of what they may tell you. I have my Apple backup system but if it's stolen that would be problematic for me. But I just don't like cloud based storage. Quote
AdamSmith Posted March 4, 2012 Author Posted March 4, 2012 Know what you mean, EXPAT. Whole idea gave me the willies, UNTIL I got going on Salesforce.com. Whole viability of their business rests on their proposition of (1) no data loss, ever, and (2) bank-level account contents security against breach by others. Reasonably priced too. In 8 years I have not had one single solitary glitch from them. When I think of the blood, sweat and tears my former company poured into maintaining our ACT contact databases on our local server... Free at last, free at last! Now I want similar for all my data. Quote
Guest FourAces Posted March 5, 2012 Posted March 5, 2012 I cannot recommend Carbonite enough, http://www.carbonite.com/lp/media/kim-komando.aspx?cm_mmc=display:radio-_-usa:con:none-_-kim-_-banner:relax About $60 a year unlimited back up and you can use their iPhone or iPad app to access items as needed. I understand what JK is talking about. But do you really have any programs that you cannot replace by the OEM disk that came with your laptop? For me its the pictures, documents, videos and other files that are what I want to protect. Anyway good luck Adam I'm sorry to hear about your loss. Quote
Members OneFinger Posted March 5, 2012 Members Posted March 5, 2012 I use Carbonite for my backup storage. Very happy with them and the cost. I just received an e-mail from them that they are expanding their services. Appears that they're now offering an additional service of providing a mirror image of your entire hard drive. I assume that means the ability to restore all programs and systems. I'd look into that option. Quote
Guest FourAces Posted March 5, 2012 Posted March 5, 2012 I use Carbonite for my backup storage. Very happy with them and the cost. I just received an e-mail from them that they are expanding their services. Appears that they're now offering an additional service of providing a mirror image of your entire hard drive. I assume that means the ability to restore all programs and systems. I'd look into that option. Yes that is correct. I did not know they are now offering that as well. Just another option as you say for Adam and whoever else might need that type of service. And as you note I have not had any problems using them either. Quote
TotallyOz Posted March 5, 2012 Posted March 5, 2012 So sorry about the loss! Did you check the location of the computer via the Find My Computer online offered by Apple? I love Icloud and have a 100G file. I use this for all documents, photos, files, etc. I then only download stuff I can buy from the Apple App Store or things I can easily download. So, if I lost my laptop and my Time Machine I would simply use my Icloud to reinstall all my info, my App store would download all my programs and my Dropbox would then put all my files back to my computer. Quote
Members MsGuy Posted March 5, 2012 Members Posted March 5, 2012 I love watching geeks talk tech stuff. It's hot, kinda like tech porn. Quote
TotallyOz Posted March 5, 2012 Posted March 5, 2012 I love watching geeks talk tech stuff. It's hot, kinda like tech porn. Quote
Guest hitoallusa Posted March 5, 2012 Posted March 5, 2012 Ha I know now MsGuy's fetish [q uote name=MsGuy' timestamp='1330923233' post='54034] I love watching geeks talk tech stuff. It's hot, kinda like tech porn. Quote
AdamSmith Posted March 5, 2012 Author Posted March 5, 2012 OZ, thanks much. I will research it, but one thing: why the need for both iCloud and Dropbox together? Quote
Guest FourAces Posted March 5, 2012 Posted March 5, 2012 OZ, thanks much. I will research it, but one thing: why the need for both iCloud and Dropbox together? I believe because with Dropbox you can save programs where with iCloud its simply files like most other Cloud base backup services. But I am wrong I'm certain someone will correct this. Quote
TotallyOz Posted March 5, 2012 Posted March 5, 2012 Well Adam, this is just my opinion. I like both of them but ICloud is easier to use and much much faster. They use Amazon's cloud service. For some reason, syncing with IDisk was always the slowest thing on earth. When Dropbox came and it had no file size limitations, I feel in love. I do a lot of video editing with work. This means I have the need for lots of big files. Last week, I had a guy that needed to get me 7 files that were over 4G each. I simply created a shared folder for him, he dropped them in it, I got them and downloaded to my computer. It saved him having to make the DVD's and mail them to me. I also like that I can use all the dropbox files on any of my computers. IDisk was a good feature, it is just that someone else really took that idea and make it wonderful. I am not sure why Apple has not done that yet. Quote
Members JKane Posted March 5, 2012 Members Posted March 5, 2012 I'm also a big fan of Dropbox, and the way it locally caches files instead of it being always accessed from the web is pretty cool (on computer clients, not phone Dropbox clients). Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted March 5, 2012 Posted March 5, 2012 I am still not hitting the upload button on any cloud based storage of personal stuff. I just don't trust the security and who may or may not be viewing my files. As far as I'm concerned when you agree to cloud based storage you agree to have your stuff in the cyberworld forever. I am just not trusting I guess. Quote
Members lookin Posted March 5, 2012 Members Posted March 5, 2012 I'm with you, EXPAT. If you watched the STUXNET piece on 60 Minutes last night, it's clear that there are a whole lot of smart folks out there prowling the 'cloud' almost at will. It's not a question of whether any of my internet stuff gets seen by the world, but when. What comfort I feel comes from having so little to hide. Quote
