Foolproof backups

dakid

dakid

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I've seen a few threads about this recently, so thought I'd post about what's working for me. Actually, it's probably not foolproof as nothing's ever totally infallible, but I think it's near as damnit.

Anyway. I discovered a month or so ago about online backups. Don't bother with this country as it costs a fortune, but US companies offer it for a very reasonable cost, and as we're on t'interweb, it makes no real difference. I currently have about 25Gb backed up, but there's no limit on it, so I could have 10 times that if I wanted.

The company I use, for example, allow you unlimited backup space for $50 a year, i.e. £25 at current exchange rates. They're called Carbonite, and you can find out more at their website.

I do use an external hard drive as well, but that's little use if the house burns down! Anyway, just thought I'd mention something else for people to consider when doing backups :)

P.S. If you do happen to decide to sign up with Carbonite, PM me your email address and let me refer you and we both get free months



 
Very interesting, I'm going to look into that.

Thanks for the heads up! :thumbs:
 
Cheers for the link. Apple offer something called iDisk but it looks pretty expensive and the reviews say it's slow so this is a great alternative.
 
Thanks for that I was looking for exactly that service, as I'm sorting out my puter now (just bought a portable HDD). The problem for me is that the folders are too big to leave on the computer, and this would save me the hastle of trying to duplicate onto a non portable external drive I've also got at home. I've always been worried about the fact that physically all my data is in one place, what if I get burgled, flooded etc. imho £25 for piece of mind is worth it :)
 
...or hacked ...:nono:
 
I can see the arguments about security, but surely a service like this will only survive if it secure (and if you believe what they say on the site it is). From my point of view I'm looking at what would be the greatest risk, site being hacked or loosing data using my curent back up stratergy should the very worst happen. each to their own I guess.
 
I use Mozy.com at $4.95 a month for unlimited space (discounts available for 1year etc... also). I use these because of their Apple Mac compatibility.



Gandhi said:
Hmmmmm,

leaving my RAW files on somebody elses server with no guarantee of data security?

</cynicism>


Sorry :(
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Their software also allows you to set your own encryption key (448bit encryption IIRC), so other people don't have access to your files at all. Not even Mozy themselves can look at your data, only the file structure - Just don't lose it! Or your files will be lost.
 
Does it not take ages to upload your images? I have a similar option with my host of using my webspace as a 'virtual drive' but never set it up because I assumed it would take too long to upload.

Do you lot that use it just upload your finished images or do you upload everything?
 
Amp34 said:
Does it not take ages to upload your images? I have a similar option with my host of using my webspace as a 'virtual drive' but never set it up because I assumed it would take too long to upload.

Do you lot that use it just upload your finished images or do you upload everything?
Click to expand...

I personally upload everything.

The first backup took a long time but it just runs in the background and doesn't interfere with using the computer at all. If things start getting a little slow you can even tell the software to use less of the upload bandwidth to keep everything else running fast. After that it just backs up any new/changed files.

I rarely add over 2Gb of photos to my collection in a day, but when I do I just leave my laptop on overnight. I've set the software to make a backup at 1am, by the time I want to use it the next day it's usually finished. Even if you add more photos than this in one session how often do you do that? Once a week? Once a month? Unless it's 3Gb+ a day it should keep on top of uploading. Of course this depends on your broadband speed though.

I think the pros of having an off site backup far outweigh the cost of leaving my computer on a bit longer than usual. If there's a flood, fire, theft etc... I will still have everything. I can even download individual files at friends houses by logging into the website if I want to show them something and don't have my computer with me.
 
Does take ages to upload, but it runs while it's idle. Took probably a few weeks first time. The point is though that you do the initial upload once, and then after that the backups are incremental, and so fairly fast.

Regarding privacy and security, it's probably best to go look at their FAQ page on the subject.

Keltic Ice Man, have done the referral.
 
I think we just both get a free month each on our subscription. Nothing huge, I'm afraid, but it all helps :)
 
I might well sign up to this, if I do I'll drop you a pm and you can reffer me as well (asuming that's ok and there is no limit on the number of people you can reffer).
 
Thanks, I'll definately have a look at what my hosts system is like, it sounds good and it will sort my backup problem out. :)
 
Hawker said:
I might well sign up to this, if I do I'll drop you a pm and you can reffer me as well (asuming that's ok and there is no limit on the number of people you can reffer).
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Sure. Can't imagine why there'd be any limit, but if there is I've definitely not reached it! :)
 
I think the best part of this is that it uses what should be a part of any good backup plan and that is duplicate data in two physical locations - if you can do that then you may have a good backup - if you cant you wont.
This wont work for me,(way too much data and the data security is not good enough - also not covered by UK law - such as data protection act) but would be good for others, depends if you care more about a third party getting your data more then loosing it yourself.
Good post though - we all need to think and talk about data security
 
After looking into it, I've found one downside, it won't backup USB, external or network drives. I've got the problem that all my RAW files are far to big to keep sitting on my laptop (kept on an external USB at the moment). Migh have to think about a different way to keep my files, maybe just use it to backup the high res converted jpegs???
 
I used to use an external hard drive but it packed in. Lost loads of Florida photos for the past 4 years
 
Just bear in mind your monthly banwidth allowance when using this type of service.
 
I'm currently using the 2Gb free at Mozy to test it, I think on the Mac version anyway you can back up external drives. I just need to make sure that I can restore my files properly before I commit to the $5 per month.
 
Just got a reply back from Carbonite customer services, I was asking about the external drive problem; Yes they have plans to include them, but they can't put a time on when. A little hope at least :)
 
Still working ok - But I had hoped that I could backup and store info on it. As in I do a shoot, its on my pc so I backup to Carbonite, and backup to DVD and to my external drive. Then I want to delete it from my pc. But it seems that Carbonite will then delete it 30 days later from its backups. :( any thoughts on how i get round this?
 
Think you've got the same problem as me, I think we'll just have to wait until the extenal drive option is included.
 
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