What backup service to use?

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retire14
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What backup service to use?

Post by retire14 »

I am currently backing up my Mac with an external HD, but would like to find another backup mechanism. What backup service do you use and why? Is iCloud a good backup?Thanks.
tmhudg
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by tmhudg »

I use Mozy. I started using it primarily because it was subsidized by my employer. I haven't really compared other options.

I don't think iCloud is a good backup option. iCloud is really more about cloud storage - a folder structure that is replicated to the cloud. Backup is about version history, comprehensive selection of various files throughout your whole system that you want to protect. You *can* do this via a cloud drive such as iCloud or Google drive for example but it's not really the same thing as "backup (and recovery)".
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by pondering »

I use Dropbox because it works with the most OSes and it provides some use of the active files
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by brad.clarkston »

I use Carbonite as it's a true incremental backup for years without any issues.

@pondering -- Keep in mind that Dropbox is not a real backup service it's a file sharing system you have to use it manually.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by nisiprius »

I'm testing Backblaze with Mac OS X. I've only been using it for four weeks and don't have a definitive opinion yet.

I'm quite unhappy about what Code42 (Crashplan) did, and it's too long a story but the reason why I'm not just using up my remaining year with them is that I just upgraded to a new Mac and (for the second time) Crashplan didn't install correctly. Crashes on launch, won't even get to "unable to connect to backup engine." Last time it took several calls to support and a "try this, try that" and finally it started working... mysteriously... I didn't want to bother to go through that again for a service that is abandoning me.

I think it is bizarre and disappointing that Apple, which has offered (paid) iCloud backup for iOS for years, still doesn't offer it for Mac OS... as far as I know.
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pondering
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by pondering »

Good luck reading your files on your iPhone when you don’t have access to a PC with a backup service.

I periodically copy my files to an external hard drive as well.
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tuningfork
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by tuningfork »

tmhudg wrote: Thu Nov 09, 2017 9:16 am I don't think iCloud is a good backup option. iCloud is really more about cloud storage - a folder structure that is replicated to the cloud. Backup is about version history, comprehensive selection of various files throughout your whole system that you want to protect. You *can* do this via a cloud drive such as iCloud or Google drive for example but it's not really the same thing as "backup (and recovery)".
This. If you use any cloud storage service, make sure you understand how it behaves if you need to retrieve a file you accidentally deleted two weeks ago. If you can't do that, it's not a backup. Cloud storage is great for sharing files among multiple computers, but might not work well for backup. Some of the cloud storage providers only sync files if they are in a certain folder. What if you have important files in other places on your computer that you can't easily move to that special folder?

I currently use Arq Backup. It can backup locally and to the cloud. Backblaze is also a pretty good cloud backup service but you'll also want to have a good local backup in place too. The experts recommend at least 3 copies of your data: the working copy and two backups on different media, preferably one off site.

Crashplan used to be the hands down best, but they dropped their Home version to promote their less functional but more expensive Small Business version.
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siamond
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by siamond »

I used Mozy for a while, then got tired of their never-stopping price increases. In a world of many pictures and videos (which I like to archive), their pricing was getting out of whack.

I switched to Google Drive a few years ago, and find it great in terms of convenience and price. I also REALLY like the fact that if my house gets destroyed (and backup drives with it), I'll be able to recover my life (that is, if I make it out of the house in time!). But as other posters say, it's a snapshot, so if you delete a file or if somebody (maliciously or not) messed up with your hard disk, well, the snapshot will sync up, hence not provide the proper past image you'd like to see.

So I ended up buying a backup disk, and I use Time Machine to back it up every month, with an encryption key. And I kept Google Drive for immediate sync/snapshots. Such combo is very cheap, and makes me feel safe.
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Backup(s)

Post by FraggleRock »

SuperDuper to hard drive.
Backblaze for service.
Both have been working great for years.
Puakinekine
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by Puakinekine »

OneDrive for everything but financial and health files. OneDrive also syncs flawlessly (so far--3 years now) to my phone and other laptops/pcs. I would not backup anything private to any cloud service, for those I go the old fashioned way of the external hard drive. I also do a complete backup of all devices about every two months or so to external hard drives.
davebo
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by davebo »

I keep all my important documents within Evernote. Not really a backup service, but any editable document is edited within Evernote so it's always up to date.

Outside of documents, I only really care about photos/videos. I use the Google Photo app and it backs up automatically from my phone and you can pay for additional storage (i think it all ties into Google Drive)

Personally, I also really like Amazon Photos for Photo/Video backup. They have an app to automatically backup stuff on your phone and then you keep a folder in the desktop and anything in there is uploaded/updated.
kelvor
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by kelvor »

I have a FreeNAS box running on my network and all my documents, photos, videos, movies, etc. are hosted on that and accessible to any machine on my local LAN. It is running a VM running SpikerOak One for zero-knowledge secure cloud backup. It's working out great so far.

You can just use SpiderOak One on any Windows, Mac, or Linux machine. No need to have the fancy FreeNAS server like me. I'm a bit of a techie. :D
JBTX
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by JBTX »

Carbonite
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Ged
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by Ged »

I use Arq to back up my laptop and desktop data to a homebrew Linux NAS and to Amazon Drive.

I particularly like the minimalist footprint, versioning, the large variety of services supported and the per user license rather than per machine.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by euroswiss »

retire14 wrote: Thu Nov 09, 2017 9:01 am I am currently backing up my Mac with an external HD, but would like to find another backup mechanism. What backup service do you use and why? Is iCloud a good backup?Thanks.
What don’t you like about using Timemachine to back up to an external hard drive? Are you concerned about having the original and the backup in the same location? I like this solution because it AVOIDS potential cloud/internet connectivity issues.
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bostondan
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by bostondan »

On my Mac, for local backup, I use Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) to create a twice weekly and a monthly clone/backup. The weekly and monthly backups are on two different hard drives. The monthly backup is kept in a safe drawer, not connected to any computer, only taken out for the backup, so that it would likely be protected in the case of theft or minor disaster.

For off-site backup, I am using the remaining time of my CrashPlan subscription for 5 computers, which should last until 11/2018. I am considering finding an alternative before it runs out, but I also don't feel like wasting money when this is still working fine.

When CrashPlan expires, since I cannot renew it, I will need to find an alternative. I am interested in trying Duplicati (https://www.duplicati.com/), a free program which can connect to many different backends, including BackBlaze B2, Google Drive, Amazon S3, FTP, etc. It has similar features to CrashPlan. I have unlimited personal Google Drive space, so will probably try that with Duplicati to see if it works well.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by samsoes »

I've been using Carbonite for over a decade, and it's saved the day numerous times. One time I had to call-in with a technical issue, and their Massachusetts-based phone support was top-notch.

With Carbonite I make use of the not-too-well-known option of managing my own encryption key. In the typical Carbonite configuration, Carbonite stores your encrypted backup and the encryption key on their servers (although they claim on separate servers). As an added layer of security, I manage the key myself so it isn't stored on their servers. The risk is in the event of a total system failure or hard-drive failure, you have to "point" the software on your new PC to the encryption key, or else they won't be able to decrypt your backed-up files. I keep a copy of the encryption key on a USB thumb-drive safely stored offsite in my safe deposit box at the bank.
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TravelforFun
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by TravelforFun »

I have two copies of all my files including pictures and videos. One copy resides on my home computer hard drive and the other on an external drive in my briefcase. House on fire? Grab the briefcase and run. I back up my files every time I modify them or add new files. I don't trust the cloud with my financial and password documents.

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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by hudson »

My backups are manual.

I use one of the iCloud like services to keep non-critical files that I might need on the go.

I have an unplugged thumb/usb drive that I plug in and save critical files and folders a few times a week. Then I unplug it.

Periodically, I'll plug in a 1TB external drive and manually copy over say documents, pictures, downloads, and desktop. The drive has enough room to handle several versions of the backup. At the same time, I'll plug in a separate 1TB drive and do the same for my wife's PC.
I need to buy two more 1TB drives and keep the latest "backups" in a safe deposit box or the equivalent. (The 1TB drives have arrived...very easy to use...just one USB cable...plug it in...find the drive letter....copy and paste.) https://goo.gl/bTVs37
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Eric
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by Eric »

tuningfork wrote: Thu Nov 09, 2017 10:47 amCrashplan used to be the hands down best, but they dropped their Home version to promote their less functional but more expensive Small Business version.
In what ways is the Small Business version less functional?
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billthecat
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by billthecat »

Used iCloud and -

- turn on iCloud Photo Library
- turn on iCloud Drive and enable "desktop and documents" folder syncing
- get enough iCloud storage to cover that (it's cheap)

and use Time Machine, backing up to a Time Capsule, other network drive, or an external drive. Better if the drive is always available (on the network or directly connected) than one that you have to periodically connect. Purchased music, movies and TV can be re-downloaded; other media, well, meh, it's all rather disposable.

iCloud is not really backup, because (i) everything in iCloud is also on your Mac and (ii) it only has the most recent version. Delete something on your Mac and it will be deleted from iCloud.

Time Machine though works great. There are various cloud backup services but I don't trust them.

Whatever you use, you should think through how you would recover from a total loss, like a fire. You should be able to think through how you would get new hardware and restore your data to it.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by jebmke »

billthecat wrote: Sat Nov 11, 2017 3:25 pm iCloud is not really backup, because (i) everything in iCloud is also on your Mac and (ii) it only has the most recent version. Delete something on your Mac and it will be deleted from iCloud.
Probably better than nothing but you are correct, it isn't a proper backup. The few times I have had to restore a file were because I had either deleted or otherwise hosed up the recent version of the data. I have never had to refer to my backup due to hardware failure - only user error. Without versioning, I would have been screwed.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by tuningfork »

Eric wrote: Sat Nov 11, 2017 2:45 pm
tuningfork wrote: Thu Nov 09, 2017 10:47 amCrashplan used to be the hands down best, but they dropped their Home version to promote their less functional but more expensive Small Business version.
In what ways is the Small Business version less functional?
The Small Business version of Crashplan does not support computer-to-computer backups. No more backing up your computer to a friend's computer and vice versa. No more backing up to another computer on your own network to provide a layer of insulation from malware that might attack your backup files.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by Boogieknight »

I rely on Dropbox synching but like the others said, it's not a backup. So I back about 50Gb to a 64Gb flash drive about once a month. And I'm SUPER careful when I move and delete files. So far so good.

EDITED: Most stuff I have, I wouldn't miss. It's also replicated elsewhere, like in emails, others' folders, stuff like that.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by bostondan »

Just today I realized I had deleted an important receipt from 2011. It turns out I deleted it in 2013 accidentally, but didn't realize because I hadn't needed it at that time. Thanks to CrashPlan, I was able to recover it without any difficulty because it never deletes files. Had I been using BackBlaze, or any other similar service, that file would have been long gone because they purge deleted files after 30 days.

I am going to try Duplicati to see if I can replicate a CrashPlan type of experience. I will report back if successful.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by pondering »

I posted the list so far:

https://sterbalssundrystudies.miraheze. ... _to_use%3F


Amazon Drive
Amazon Photos
Amazon S3
Arq
Arq Backup
Backblaze
BackBlaze B2
Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC)
Carbonite
Code42
Crashplan
Dropbox
Duplicati (https://www.duplicati.com/)
Evernote
FreeNAS
Google Drive
Google Photo
homebrew Linux NAS
iCloud
Mozy
OneDrive
SpiderOak One
SuperDuper
Time Machine
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gasdoc
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by gasdoc »

Carbonite has saved me a few times. No problems thus far. It works seamlessly in the background, as does my external hard drive. I do both.

gasdoc
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by Caduceus »

Sooner or later, these cloud services are going to be hacked or compromised in some way. So for privacy reason, I save everything offline, using a combination of external hard drives, and MDiscs, which are archival. The pros are that it is cheaper than a regular online backup plan, safer, and you can't over-write an MDisc accidentally or have it corrupted with viruses. The cons are that real time backup is more of a hassle. The tradeoff is worth it for me.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by Nearly A Moose »

One cool feature ofr CrashPlan was that it could also backup my network drive on my NAS. My photo collection is too large to keep on my laptop hard drive, so I simply keep the working files on my NAS in a mapped network drive. I simply set the network drive to automatically mount whenever I'm on the network, and I set that mapped drive as a drive to be backed up using CrashPlan. Presto, all relevant info on the NAS is backed up on the cloud (I also have a dual RAID backup but like the off site solution).

In trying to replace CrashPlan, I'm having trouble replacing this functionality. Any online systems that can handle a network drive too?
Pardon typos, I'm probably using my fat thumbs on a tiny phone.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by LadyGeek »

First, any good backup plan should follow the 3-2-1 backup strategy. I have multiple backups, but nothing offsite until now.

My requirements for online storage are:

- Linux and MS Windows support
- Zero-Knowledge
- Multiple device support
- External drive support
- Data Deduplication
- File Versioning (optional)

SpiderOak ONE met all of my requirements. After a "live" test in Linux (including file recovery), I am proceeding to install the software in the rest of my desktop / laptop PCs.

An important point is how to manage backups of encrypted volumes. When a single file in the volume is changed, the encryption of the entire volume is changed and will be uploaded every time - no data deduplication can be performed.

The best approach is to mount the encrypted volume and backup the individual files inside the drive. See: Encrypted Volumes

I'm within the 21 day free trial period and plan to subscribe before the trial period expires. Discount pricing can be found via google.

Note: SpiderOak ONE does not support mobile as "zero-knowledge", but they have an alternative method:
ONE on Mobile I don't need mobile backup support.

Update: Be sure to exclude temporary files. There's no need for them and it will consume unnecessary storage and encryption time. Cached files are not just in your OS, but also in your web browser's profile. Here's what I'm excluding:

Code: Select all

*cache*, *temp*, *tmp*
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by Shikoku »

My computer uses rsync every hour to make incremental and snapshot backups to multiple external pocket-size hard drives. I keep one of those disks in my office at work and another in a safety deposit box. There is nothing better I can find that satisfies the way I like doing thing. I have been a rsync user for over 10 years and am very happy with it as I try not to put my data at the mercy of someone else.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by jebmke »

LadyGeek wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2018 3:04 pm First, any good backup plan should follow the 3-2-1 backup strategy. I have multiple backups, but nothing offsite until now.

My requirements for online storage are:

- Linux and MS Windows support
- Zero-Knowledge
- Multiple device support
- External drive support
- Data Deduplication
- File Versioning (optional)

SpiderOak ONE met all of my requirements. After a "live" test in Linux (including file recovery), I am proceeding to install the software in the rest of my desktop / laptop PCs.

An important point is how to manage backups of encrypted volumes. When a single file in the volume is changed, the encryption of the entire volume is changed and will be uploaded every time - no data deduplication can be performed.

The best approach is to mount the encrypted volume and backup the individual files inside the drive. See: Encrypted Volumes

I'm within the 21 day free trial period and plan to subscribe before the trial period expires. Discount pricing can be found via google.

Note: SpiderOak ONE does not support mobile as "zero-knowledge", but they have an alternative method:
ONE on Mobile I don't need mobile backup support.

Update: Be sure to exclude temporary files. There's no need for them and it will consume unnecessary storage and encryption time. Cached files are not just in your OS, but also in your web browser's profile. Here's what I'm excluding:

Code: Select all

*cache*, *temp*, *tmp*
Two questions (I couldn't tell from their web site).

Do they support network drives?
Is there a time or any other versioning limit (aside from the total data size of the plan)?
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by LadyGeek »

Shikoku wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2018 3:54 pm My computer uses rsync every hour to make incremental and snapshot backups to multiple external pocket-size hard drives. I keep one of those disks in my office at work and another in a safety deposit box. There is nothing better I can find that satisfies the way I like doing thing. I have been a rsync user for over 10 years and am very happy with it as I try not to put my data at the mercy of someone else.
I've been using rsync on Linux just as long (maybe longer), but for external drives. What I'm doing is "best practice" for backups by using a service that does not have my private keys. If I lose the key, no one can recover it. I really, really, don't want to lose my stuff if anything bad happens to my PCs.

BTW, rsync is built into Windows 7 and 10, but it's known by another name - robocopy.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by LadyGeek »

jebmke wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2018 4:04 pm Two questions (I couldn't tell from their web site).

Do they support network drives?
Is there a time or any other versioning limit (aside from the total data size of the plan)?
1. As long as you can map the network drive to a drive letter, yes. See: 'Map-a-Drive'
2. There is no version limit, see: Deleting and Restricting Historical Versions – SpiderOak Support, first paragraph.

I don't have a network drive, so I can't vouch for this personally.

The free trial period set my upload storage limit to 250 GB. That's more than enough to know if you can use the software (or not). I didn't commit to this software until I went through a small upload, delete file, download (recover file) test. Consider doing the same for your network drive.

Be sure to test it on every PC. Once my initial upload is completed in Windows 10, I'll install it on my Windows 10 laptop to check the file sync.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by jebmke »

LadyGeek wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2018 4:20 pm
jebmke wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2018 4:04 pm Two questions (I couldn't tell from their web site).

Do they support network drives?
Is there a time or any other versioning limit (aside from the total data size of the plan)?
1. As long as you can map the network drive to a drive letter, yes. See: 'Map-a-Drive'
2. There is no version limit, see: Deleting and Restricting Historical Versions – SpiderOak Support, first paragraph

I don't have a network drive, so I can't vouch for this personally.

The free trial period set my upload storage limit to 250 GB. That's more than enough to know if you can use the software (or not). I didn't commit to this software until I went through a small upload, delete file, download test. Consider doing the same for your network drive.

Be sure to test it on every PC. Once my initial upload is completed in Windows 10, I'll install it on my Windows 10 laptop to check the file sync.
Thanks

The overall specs on this system look pretty good. They get past a lot of restrictions that have turned me off other products. These guys have been around for quite a while. I remember the name popping up years ago as one of the few providers that had zero knowledge.
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by Shikoku »

LadyGeek wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2018 4:07 pm
Shikoku wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2018 3:54 pm My computer uses rsync every hour to make incremental and snapshot backups to multiple external pocket-size hard drives. I keep one of those disks in my office at work and another in a safety deposit box. There is nothing better I can find that satisfies the way I like doing thing. I have been a rsync user for over 10 years and am very happy with it as I try not to put my data at the mercy of someone else.
I've been using rsync on Linux just as long (maybe longer), but for external drives. What I'm doing is "best practice" for backups by using a service that does not have my private keys. If I lose the key, no one can recover it. I really, really, don't want to lose my stuff if anything bad happens to my PCs.

BTW, rsync is built into Windows 7 and 10, but it's known by another name - robocopy.
LadyGeek: Thank you always for your helpful posts.

The single most important innovation of rsync is its ability to perform bandwidth-efficient remote copy which is based on Andrew Tridgell's doctoral dissertation, Efficient Algorithms for Sorting and Synchronization (https://www.samba.org/~tridge/phd_thesis.pdf). To the best of my knowledge, robocopy is an inferior tool as far as bandwidth-efficient remote copy is concerned. When synchronizing two large files with small changes, rsync transfers only the "changed parts" of the files; however, robocopy transfers the whole file which makes it unsuitable for many real-world applications. Therefore, robocopy and rsync are different.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by LadyGeek »

Thanks! I wasn't aware of the original rsync paper. I only use robocopy in MS Windows to handle "incremental" transfers for a few files that need immediate backup to an external drive. My "real" backup uses the built-in OS backup utility.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by tractorguy »

I too am attempting to find a replacement for Crashplan. This is a summary of a work in progress. I'm putting it here and will add to it as I find out stuff.

My situation: I have 2 Windows 10 machines. Each one has a 1Tbyte drive in it but they are greatly under used. I have about 700 Gbyte between to two of them taken up by data and system. I also have a total of 3 Tbyte of disk drive sitting on my router that is available for local storage. I want to back up both machines to the local storage and also to the cloud. I want to encrypt my files before I send them anywhere. I prefer to use one software package for both backups.

I was doing this with Crashplan which worked well except it is a resource hog. I had to add extra memory to my older machine to keep using it. Even than, I found that the system would slow down when Crashplan was running.

Software reviews are all over the map in terms of comparing these and most read like puff pieces. The one thing that none of them give is any idea of the financial strength of the company behind the software. After using Crashplan for 2 years and then having them leave me, I'd prefer to move to a company that's going to be around for a while.

I've not tried Carbonite yet. Their pricing is a factor of 2 times other options for 2 computers. After a quick look, I don't see that Backblaze offers an option to backup locally. That knocks it out of consideration for me.

I've looked at:
1. IDrive: After 3 days trying to upload ~200 Gbyte and seeing no progress, I gave up.
2. Acronis True Image: I had this running on to computers for about 1 1/2 weeks and the backup set kept growing. I was backing up 177 Gbyte from one PC. That grew to 500 gByte on my local NAS drive. I had purchased the 3 PC 500 Gbyte plan and was out of space. When I tried to upgrade to 1 Tbyte, the upgrade cost was $50.00 more than if I cancelled and started over with the 1 Tbyte plan. I cancelled and a refund is in the works. I may go back to them if my next option doesn't work.
3. Arq I just started it this morning. Setup is slightly more clunky that Acronis or Crashplan but is seems to be putting files on my local drive faster than Acronis and requires much less overhead than Crashplan. I'm planning to get my local backups done and then add a backup of each machine to Google Cloud. My hope is that with a cloud storage provider that will be here for a while, the fact that Arq appears to be a small (maybe one person) company won't matter too much. I'll edit this post after I get more experience with it.
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CardinalRule
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by CardinalRule »

I use Mozy and pay $7.99 monthly for 50 GB (I back up two desktop computers). I have thought about looking for around cheaper alternatives, but I have been pretty happy with how well Mozy works, when I need to restore a file. I have unlimited photo storage with Amazon Prime, and so that keeps us from getting close to the Mozy 50 GB limit.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by sleepysurf »

I went with iDrive, as they offered a 90% discount for former CrashPlan users. So far, I'm happy with it. It supports NAS drives, and has lots of control options. I have it set to throttle back to 25% processor resources when I'm using the computer, so the initial backup has been slow, but acceptable. They also offer iDrive Express, using a physical USB Hard Drive for initial backup (or restore), for those that want to save time.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by jebmke »

sleepysurf wrote: Sun Feb 04, 2018 3:33 pm I have it set to throttle back to 25% processor resources
That is probably an internet bandwidth throttle, not a processor throttle.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by sleepysurf »

jebmke wrote: Sun Feb 04, 2018 3:38 pm
sleepysurf wrote: Sun Feb 04, 2018 3:33 pm I have it set to throttle back to 25% processor resources
That is probably an internet bandwidth throttle, not a processor throttle.
Yes. You're correct. Throttles bandwidth, not processor!
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by ubermax »

I was surprised to see that Acronis (True Image) was missing from Ponderings List ; is that because the OP specifically wanted a "service" rather than backup software ?
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Artful Dodger
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by Artful Dodger »

I use Carbonite for my office PC, and this is the PC with all my important files. We have an older mac at home with pictures, etc, and there is a separate back up drive via Time Machine app.

I'm not sure I buy the whole "I'm not putting my financial / important information on the cloud" argument. At least for me, it's already there even if I didn't use an online back up....

Fidelity (plus the Fidelity full-view with most of my other accounts), bank accounts, mortgage, IRS, Illinois tax dept, turbo tax, credit cards, etc. All of this is online.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by Lacrocious »

tractorguy wrote: Sun Feb 04, 2018 1:49 pm I've looked at:
1. IDrive: After 3 days trying to upload ~200 Gbyte and seeing no progress, I gave up.
...
3. Arq I just started it this morning. Setup is slightly more clunky that Acronis or Crashplan but is seems to be putting files on my local drive faster than Acronis and requires much less overhead than Crashplan. I'm planning to get my local backups done and then add a backup of each machine to Google Cloud. My hope is that with a cloud storage provider that will be here for a while, the fact that Arq appears to be a small (maybe one person) company won't matter too much. I'll edit this post after I get more experience with it.
I'm in the same boat with CrashPlan. i tried IDrive via a paid trial and didn't get anywhere. Things didn't backup at all. Support didn't respond. I eventually requested a refund and they gave me a prorated refund. All but $0.14 back, but I was ticked that I didn't get any help so emailed them back that I wanted all my money back and they did come through and the last person I chatted with must have found something. I must have trialed IDrive previously with different account names. He said it looked like having 3 accounts was messing things up. He gave me my $0.14 back no issue.

I also tried Cloudberry and ARQ both to Backblaze B2 back-end. No issues with BackBlaze B2- fast and easy. Cloudberry sort of worked, but kept failing. I passed. I still use ARQ, but only for a few things. It is getting better at fully completing as I exclude temp files and in-use files in my Windows Profile that it has issues with. It is also backing up my parents MAC without issue. I may keep it. I have some relatives that I also support and need something easy. ARQ with B2 isn't "simple". It isn't hard, but they are not computer people. Based on the last comments from the IDrive guy, I tried them again. I checked and deleted all accounts with them. I then signed up for their 2TB plan for $9.95 for the year. Backups are going smooth and restores test as well. It is a single platform and is close to getting the nod for my relatives. I think they were initially bombarded with Crashplan refugees which was why I had poor service early in January. I am keeping my fingers crossed.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by anoop »

tmhudg wrote: Thu Nov 09, 2017 9:16 am I use Mozy. I started using it primarily because it was subsidized by my employer. I haven't really compared other options.

I don't think iCloud is a good backup option. iCloud is really more about cloud storage - a folder structure that is replicated to the cloud. Backup is about version history, comprehensive selection of various files throughout your whole system that you want to protect. You *can* do this via a cloud drive such as iCloud or Google drive for example but it's not really the same thing as "backup (and recovery)".
Technically, it eliminates the need for backup. Services such as Dropbox do maintain a version history for all files.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by LadyGeek »

With reference to SpiderOak ONE:
LadyGeek wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2018 4:20 pm Once my initial upload is completed in Windows 10, I'll install it on my Windows 10 laptop to check the file sync.
My initial Win 10 desktop upload took 2 full days to complete. The installation on my Windows 10 laptop was straight-forward and worked as expected.

I then tried "Sync", which is synchronizing your backed-up folders across devices. I was disappointed that you can only sync one folder - it does not traverse down subdirectories. That's a big disadvantage if you have a lot of subdirectories. The details are here: Selective Sync

OTOH, the Hive Folder is designed for syncing multiple directories.

Taking a step back, just because you could do something does not mean that you should. If you delete a sync'd file, all copies are deleted across the network. The file is saved in a Deleted Item bin, but that's not the point. If you are using a backup utility, you should not be able to delete all of your copies in one fell swoop.

If I want to propagate data to my laptop, it should be done in a controlled manner. I'll probably use rsync / robocopy batch files. I could also download them from the SpiderOak ONE storage, but file selection is a manual process. I can't tell the utility to only download a bunch of files that are newer than the existing one.

In any case, I'll purchase a subscription to SpiderOak ONE near the end of my 21 day trial period. Discount pricing can be found via google.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by tbone1 »

backblaze.com

try it free for (30 days?) maybe it's 7 days?? I don't recall. buy the 2 year option, and it's less than $5/month for UNLIMITED backups.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by jhfenton »

tbone1 wrote: Sat Feb 10, 2018 11:10 am backblaze.com

try it free for (30 days?) maybe it's 7 days?? I don't recall. buy the 2 year option, and it's less than $5/month for UNLIMITED backups.
I just signed up with BackBlaze after uploading our 9 TB of data during their 15-day trial period. My Crashplan subscription runs out in late March, so until then, I have 9 TB in two cloud providers. I was impressed with BackBlaze's upload speed compared to Crashplan's. I also tested restoring a few hundred GB without any problems.

I have a fair amount of data stored in OneDrive, but I don't consider that a backup.

Locally, I use Time Machine for my Mac's boot drive and primary external data drive (Backup #1). I also have Carbon Copy Cloner make nightly clones of each drive (Backup #2). Both drives are included in my cloud backup (Backup #3), but the cloud backup isn't restorable to a bootable drive.

Our family library is included in the cloud backup, is housed on a 9 TB RAID 5 box (4 x 3 TB drives, tolerant of one drive failure). and is mirrored (roughly 50/50) to two drives on another floor.
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Re: What backup service to use?

Post by Rob5TCP »

I do this somewhat differently. I have a Wavelink H/D docking station.
I purchased 6 refurbished drives from NewEgg (I would never use refurbished as my main drive).
I alternate drives on different days. I have two others that I backup weekly to leave in my
safety deposit box and alternate drives.

I only backup data files using Second Copy (simple program but does what I need).
After the initial backup It backs up changed files - so each backup is a complete backup set.
I also have the program doing monthly, quarterly and annual backup sets.

Any critical data is backed up to an encrypted drive.

I am mixed about online backup services.
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