Tech and Talk > Computing Clubs > Team Helix > [Info] Online Backup Services. Any Experience?

[Info] Online Backup Services. Any Experience?

Cloud backups can present a problem if your ISP has data caps. I prefer local solutions since large capacity HDD's are relatively cheap. Of course YMMV.

reply to mattmag
I get free Amazon Cloud space with my Amazon Prime membership and thats worked well for me so far. 5GB free and then plans for buying more. I think the 20GB is $10 a year,100GB plan is $50 a year,1000GB is $500 and other plans in between.
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reply to mattmag
Matt, I second what Icky says. I also have Amazon Prime, and went with their online backup service. Can't beat the price!

If you don't have Amazon Prime, might want to take a look at Microsoft's SkyDrive. I've used it too, with no problems. I have my niece backing up all her stuff to it at college now, after her laptop went belly-up last year when the motherboard croaked. Fortunately, I was able to recover her files from the hard drive, but we aren't taking any chances anymore. She now has an iMac monster system, and I have it set up to back everything automatically to her SkyDrive. She's an art major at Truman, so it's critical that everything be protected. Good Luck shopping around!
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"I can't save them all, but I sure as hell CAN help move them to safety." - Jo

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reply to mattmag
I prefer a local solution. I don't trust my personal data to people I don't know. Well, really, not even to people I do know. No offense intended, but one can't be too careful. Personal is person, IMO.
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reply to Icarus


I forgot about Amazon Prime, and I'm already a member!

I'll take a look at that.

Sunny; you are right on that, and I won't be putting personal data out on a cloud just yet. I'm also a bit wary of that, but I figured for some picture files, and old documents that I just need to keep an extra copy of, it may work OK.

I don't then see a problem, as long as it isn't a security or bandwidth issue.

reply to mattmag
I use Carbonite which costs 149/3 years. I am not aware of any data capacity though I believe my ISP (Uverse) has a limit of 250 gig/month. I have had no problems and it has a very useful phone app (I can access my computer's data anywhere that I have data service or WiFi.)
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reply to Icarus
1TB for $500.00....that's one expensive HDD!

Indeed, but they all charge like that. And your ISP will likely have a cap that is so low, you'd get in big trouble with them with that much data, though some business ISP accounts allow for higher/unlimited data, but don't hold your breath that they won't hassle you anyways. ISPs are all overboard about data movement ever since they got government in their pockets and think they're entitled.

One thing you could do is store your data on an external drive and store the drive in a safe deposit box. Even better would be to get a caddy style external enclosure (where you can swap hard drives as easily as spreading peanut butter on bread), and make a few backups, and send one to a friend in another part of the state or country, and do the same for them. You could encrypt the drive, too, there are encryption programs (I don't know much about them, so YMMV), but you could put your data elsewhere and since it would be encrypted, you'd have no worries.

I haven't tried any cloud storage yet since my budget doesn't allow for it, but if I did, I would encrypt the data.
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reply to mattmag
I use MozyHome 125 GB for 3 computers (»mozy.com/home/) for 9.99/mo.) I usually do multiyear deals and they give you a few months free.

Mozy allows you to pick your own passphrase so that if their servers were compromised, they would need the passphrase to decrypt your data. Your data is encrypted before it is sent to Mozy's servers. They also have a feature called Stash that uses any of your unused space as a DropBox type application.

It took about 5 minutes to configure and a couple days for the first backup (DSL internet here). I have it set up to do 2 incremental backups /day when the computers are not in use.

There is a Mozy app so you can access your files anywhere.

Files are easily recovered.

Thus far it works well for me and has saved my bacon (and files too!).

I have debated on Mozy having used and been happy with the free version but would like to save more AND the free version is deleted after awhile. When you really need, it works well?

reply to mattmag


Well I "tried out" Amazon's solution, and sent about 34MB of pictures "to the cloud" as a test successfully. Seems to have a nice user interface, and offers a right-click "send to" option for the Cloud. Looks like I'll move some other documents and pictures there as I decide what can be safely placed out into the ether-land.