Backing up the PC

jordanogrady

jordanogrady

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This isnt for me, as i use icloud and a time capsule at home...(apple geek)

The father in law wants somewhere to back up his laptop and to be able to access the info from all over, different PC's and what not...

So, does anyone do this? if so what do you use?

I have found this site..
http://www.justcloud.com
Not sure if its good or bad, safe?

Any help greatly appreciated.. He's not amazing on computers, so something simple will be best!

Jordan
 
Peronsally I wouldn't trust cloud storage for my primary backup solution. It's good to use it as a secondary back up for small amounts of important data but it would take hours to up/download GBs of data.

It sounds like a NAS (Network Storage Device) would be the better solution. This is basically a hard drive that attaches to the router where you can back up your data and then retrieve/access it from other machines.

Some NAS devices offer RAID capabilities which is where there are 2 or more physical discs in the device and the data is split across them to limit the data loss in the event the drives fail. RAID itself has been know to corrupt data so I would say a non-RAID solution might be the safest option and then use cloud storage as a secondary back up for the most critical data.

In addition to this, you could then get another external HDD, periodically copy data from the NAS to it and store it in a more secure location and/or away from the home.
 
Thanks for the reply..
I think this will confuse him, i'll try to explain it all to him, and see what he says!

i personally use the time capsule, and everything is backed up onto that....

I think its for more personal photo's of the family, and things like that he wants to save!
 
The effort/money you spend backing up your data is proportional to how valuable it is to you. Me? My life is digital - I have a lot of backups here (now I have original + 3 datasets)...
 
what he said. whatever you do you should have at least 2 copies of your data with one of those stored offsite (USB drive stored in your drawer at work/friends/parents).

what you also need to consider with off site "cloud" backup services is the speed of your internet (upload AND download), how much data you want to store and any data caps the ISP imposes.
 
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Thanks guys.

I'm going up to check what he actually wants. I don't think it's anything to the extent of what some of you will do/need...

I think he just wants to be able to access files from a nexus 7 tablet, and his PC... From anywhere, so ill need to check what data he needs access to, and then the best way to go about it.
 
in that case he'll either need a router that can handle a USB drive plugged in to share it or a NAS.

then youll need a dyndns service set up and ports open on the router to access from the internet.
 
neil_g said:
in that case he'll either need a router that can handle a USB drive plugged in to share it or a NAS.

then youll need a dyndns service set up and ports open on the router to access from the internet.
Click to expand...

Won't something simple like google drive work? Cheaper and saves messing with HD's and NAS drives?
 
neil_g said:
personally i prefer to control my own data.

if amazon can nuke all of their users data then anyone can :D
Click to expand...

Yep, I understand. I too have external drives at home with back up's on....
 
neil_g said:
personally i prefer to control my own data.
Click to expand...
Yes, that way you can find out you have a bug in your backup script that has stopped any sync backups since you installed a second SSD :eek::wave:. Fortunately, the weekly images of the drive would have been fine, but that could have lost me 7 days worth (or more).

Fixed earlier today whilst I was setting up the "offsite" backup (a FreeNAS VM at the other end of the house....)
 
I think it depends on how critical his files are, if they are non critical, then a simple cloud solution would suffice.

Google drive has 5GB free cloud storage
https://www.google.com/intl/en_GB/d...source=en-oa-global-sk&utm_campaign=global-en

Microsoft has Skydrive, again 7GB free storage
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/skydrive/download

They both have apps so you can access them quite easily from your phone/tablet/laptop.

I use Skydrive, google drive and apple cloud, and all perform similarly.

Easy to set up and manage.

Of course, if the files are critical, then one of the solutions suggested would be the preferred choice.
 
Hi all, thanks for your comments.
I went up to see him last night, and he basically has about 12gig of files, so i'v set the skydrive one up for him, he's happy as he can see his pictures on his phone now. I think that will keep him happy, and basically a back up of his work files.

Thanks for all the comments again.

Jordan
 
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