online backup solution

[khatley]

Do any of you use sugarsync or looked into any other online backup solution? I am thinking about giving it a try instead of investing in my own raid solution.

[canoflan]

Are you a pro? If so, I wouldn't dare do this. Frankly, I don't care what people say about security, my client's files are worth more than trusting to cyberspace.

I use external hard drives only.

Just my preference.
Pat

[khatley]

No not a pro...yet! ...just looking at options. I will always keep local copies but one more solution and certainly one that does it on the fly without intervention is intriguing to me. I have been monitoring the beta release of this software for some time.

[canoflan]

Originally Posted by khatley

No not a pro...yet! ...just looking at options. I will always keep local copies but one more solution and certainly one that does it on the fly without intervention is intriguing to me. I have been monitoring the beta release of this software for some time.

Yeah, I understand. I have a software that came with my external drives that incrementally backups modified and added files only each week (or on demand if I want). I don't even really realize it anymore and I have it all right there if I need it without having to depend on the internet.
Pat

[bpjones]

One of the biggest problems with this idea (when put into practical use) will be the tiny outbound internet connections that most of us have at home. My Comcast connection is limited to 768k (I think), which is quite puny compared to the download speeds (which are the ones actually advertised.) When I consider that my average jpg averages 4MB, the upload times grow incredibly long. I don't even want to imagine what it would take to start including my PSD files!

[auswipe]

I believe that products like Acronis True Image home will support keeping backups online via FTP. And for the truly paranoid (and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that), you can keep the images in a TrueCrypt archive and then make initial and differential backups of the TrueCrypt archive online.

If anybody did get ahold of your backups (which can also be encrypted as well) there is nary a chance that they will crack the TrueCrypt archive if you've taken precaution to use a strong password (and TrueCrypt will test for password strength when you select one).

It's not as automagic as some would like but it would certainly work. Another plus is that you wouldn't be paying for specialized storage only. My 1&1 Business account with 200 gigs of files space online runs about $8 per month. That's not too bad.

I am one of the lucky ones with a FiOS 15 Mbit synchronous home account. I am able to push up to my 1&1 account at 10 - 12 Mbit/s which isn't too shabby.

[khatley]

that gives me another idea, maybe if I just look for a good storage solution that allows ssh, maybe just some web storage company or something, I could batch something up and have it run every night. I have fios 15 meg connection as well so bandwithe is not an issue.

[khatley]

just found 50gig for $5 a month...anyone else have any other solutions...I am thinking 200gig for $5 a month would be better!

[bpjones]

Here's an option you might want to check out - Amazon s3. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=16427261) Basically, you pay for only what you use.

My FTP client on my mac (Transmit) can ftp files to s3. I haven't used these guys before, but I have confidence in their brand.

Pricing

Pay only for what you use. There is no minimum fee. Estimate your monthly bill using the AWS Simple Monthly Calculator.

We charge less where our costs are less, thus some prices vary across geographic regions and are based on the location of the bucket.

United States

Storage
$0.15 per GB-Month of storage used

Data Transfer
$0.10 per GB - all data transfer in
$0.18 per GB - first 10 TB / month data transfer out
$0.16 per GB - next 40 TB / month data transfer out
$0.13 per GB - data transfer out / month over 50 TB

Requests
$0.01 per 1,000 PUT or LIST requests
$0.01 per 10,000 GET and all other requests*
* No charge for delete requests

Personally, I use 1and1.com to host my website. Their rates are really cheap and I've had nothing but good service with them.

[auswipe]

Originally Posted by khatley

just found 50gig for $5 a month...anyone else have any other solutions...I am thinking 200gig for $5 a month would be better!

My 1&1 is about $8 per month for 200 gigs of online file space and with the business accounts they do have SSH so that fills the bill. It wouldn't surprise me if there is another web host online with 200 gigs for $5 per month.

Looking around I found this. Webhostingpad account for $5 per month with 1.7 TB filespace but no SSH that I can see. That would have fit the bill pretty good for off line archival purposes.

[auswipe]

Originally Posted by bpjones

Here's an option you might want to check out - Amazon s3. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=16427261) Basically, you pay for only what you use.

My FTP client on my mac (Transmit) can ftp files to s3. I haven't used these guys before, but I have confidence in their brand.



Personally, I use 1and1.com to host my website. Their rates are really cheap and I've had nothing but good service with them.

Using the AWS calculator at 500 GB-months with a monthly upload of 150 gigs (for my system, initial backup is about 60 gigs and daily differentials is about 1 - 3 gigs so I figured 3 gig per day for 30 days for 90 gigs per month. Also figuring a fresh image once a month with daily diffs afterwards) with no data retrieval the bill comes to about $90 per month. Yikes!

I'll stick with my 1&1 account for now. That Webhostingpad 1.7 TB for $5 per month sounds sweet but lack of SSH kills the deal, unfortunately. I tried using a web provider without true SSH shell access and it was a pain. I loves my command line!

[auswipe]

Just putting around waiting for the wife to get ready to go downtown (sister in law is in town visiting) I created an FTP site on my site and verified that Acronis could backup directly to FTP (it can, w00t!).

I started a backup of my backups (every day at 11:15 AM I have a diff job execute to dumps to another HD in my main rig) to the FTP site (with different password of course, paranoia FTW!) of about 80 gigs of data (1 full backup with 3 diffs) and at an average outbound connection of 8.1 MBit/s I did some gonkulations and it would take about 21 hours to fully back that up online. Yikes!

But still, the Acronis solution coupled with that Webhostingpad 1.7TB via FTP would be pretty sweet.

But the question pops into my noggin'. Would Verizon tag me for so much outbound bandwidth uploading to my offline backup location. 21 hours of 8.1 Mbit/s is bound to trigger something in their systems as abuse. I've never heard the same complaints about Verizon as I have heard with cable companies but something tells me that some desk jockey would probably flip a switch as a mindless automaton but I could be completely wrong.

I'm seriously thinking about that Webhostingpad FTP solution. After the initial backup hit (allow a full day for that) my daily diffs are between 1 - 3 gigs and that isn't too terrible.

Restoring from offline would take FOREVER though. Several days for a months worth of backups (assuming no online hiccups).

[adirty1]

http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=1&pid=509
redundant and secure. If you want something off site get a friend or family member to put one up in there closet of ya. I keep one for a friend of mine and he keeps mine. with my raid 5 and that doing backups I have no fear of loosing data.

[auswipe]

Originally Posted by adirty1

http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=1&pid=509
redundant and secure. If you want something off site get a friend or family member to put one up in there closet of ya. I keep one for a friend of mine and he keeps mine. with my raid 5 and that doing backups I have no fear of loosing data.

That's not a bad idea, either.