The Cloud vs the USB stick

bl0at3r

bl0at3r

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I have approximately 50gb of data that I like to protect and also have available as and when required - this is in addition to the 200gb of photos that I backup 3 times to physical disks including an offsite rotation to alternate location (mum and dads house :) ).

I am considering the pros and cons of a cloud based solution such as Dropbox, google drive or skydrive vs an encrypted USB stick.

For comparison I am looking at costs, ease of use, confidentiality, availability and integrity.

Cost

Cloud - approx £32-£100 pa
USB - approx £80

Ease of use

Web/application vs inserting a USB stick
Dragging and dropping into cloud folder vs dragging and dropping onto stick

Confidentiality

Cloud - No control over the data but the option to use true crypt or similar to create an encrypted container within the cloud storage.
USB - AES 256 bit encrypted storage

Availability

Cloud - reliant on web access and that the data has synced before it is available
USB - available almost instantly but only if you remember to copy onto stick

Integrity

Cloud - is on someone else's servers that you assume are backed up and that they don't go bust
USB - stick can be lost or damaged

So there you are - I'm still none the wiser and can't see a clear winner - what are your views?

Thanks
 
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USB stick every time for me, too many variables and privacy issues in 'cloud' backup.
 
gramps said:
USB stick every time for me, too many variables and privacy issues in 'cloud' backup.
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But is your USB stick encrypted? Privacy issues will exist if it isn't and you lose the stick on the bus and somebody finds it, takes it home and inserts it in their computer for example...
 
Well if you intend taking it on the bus then encrypt it - check Dropbox terms for example, you have to agree to them sharing your content!
 
Notice to users 2/7/2011

“Your Stuff & Your Privacy

By using our Services you may give us access to your information, files, and folders (together, “your stuff”). You retain ownership to your stuff. You are also solely responsible for your conduct, the content of your files and folders, and your communications with others while using the Services.

We sometimes need your permission to do what you ask us to do with your stuff (for example, hosting, making public, or sharing your files). By submitting your stuff to the Services, you grant us (and those we work with to provide the Services) worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable rights to use, copy, distribute, prepare derivative works (such as translations or format conversions) of, perform, or publicly display that stuff to the extent reasonably necessary for the Service. This license is solely to enable us to technically administer, display, and operate the Services. You must ensure you have the rights you need to grant us that permission.”
Click to expand...
 
And remember the time it takes too upload files to the cloud compared to transferring to a memory stick. I would go memory stick, a lot faster and easier to use...
 
gramps said:
Well if you intend taking it on the bus then encrypt it - check Dropbox terms for example, you have to agree to them sharing your content!
Click to expand...

to the extent reasonably necessary for the Service. This license is solely to enable us to technically administer, display, and operate the Services.
Click to expand...
 
Presumably then you are happy for them to exercise that control over your files ... personally I'm not.
 
gramps said:
Notice to users 2/7/2011
Click to expand...

Not sure where you dug that up from gramps but this is the same section on their own website in the link I gave above - dated 14/02/2012 :thinking:


Your Stuff & Your Privacy
By using our Services you provide us with information, files, and folders that you submit to Dropbox (together, “your stuff”). You retain full ownership to your stuff. We don’t claim any ownership to any of it. These Terms do not grant us any rights to your stuff or intellectual property except for the limited rights that are needed to run the Services, as explained below.

We may need your permission to do things you ask us to do with your stuff, for example, hosting your files, or sharing them at your direction. This includes product features visible to you, for example, image thumbnails or document previews. It also includes design choices we make to technically administer our Services, for example, how we redundantly backup data to keep it safe. You give us the permissions we need to do those things solely to provide the Services. This permission also extends to trusted third parties we work with to provide the Services, for example Amazon, which provides our storage space (again, only to provide the Services).

To be clear, aside from the rare exceptions we identify in our Privacy Policy, no matter how the Services change, we won’t share your content with others, including law enforcement, for any purpose unless you direct us to. How we collect and use your information generally is also explained in our Privacy Policy.

You are solely responsible for your conduct, the content of your files and folders, and your communications with others while using the Services. For example, it’s your responsibility to ensure that you have the rights or permission needed to comply with these Terms.

We may choose to review public content for compliance with our community guidelines, but you acknowledge that Dropbox has no obligation to monitor any information on the Services. We are not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, appropriateness, or legality of files, user posts, or any other information you may be able to access using the Services.


borisnikon said:
And remember the time it takes too upload files to the cloud compared to transferring to a memory stick. I would go memory stick, a lot faster and easier to use...
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True enough boris on outdated adsl - I am only considering the cloud option as I have bt infinity and get 7.8mb upload so times to copy data are surprisingly similar to a usb2 stick

Thanks for the input :thumbs: still undecided though :bonk:
 
Integrity. Just ask the millions that permanently lost data in 2 crashes last year of Amazons cloud servers.
 
hollis_f said:
How long to download those 50GB from the cloud?
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You don't need to download the whole lot as you can use the web browser to access an individual file, having said that once the whole 50gb is downloaded to each pc, it is then surprisingly quick to sync just the changes .
 
bl0at3r said:
Not sure where you dug that up from gramps
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Haven't looked at Dropbox recently but that was their stance in July last year ... maybe there was such a backlash that they changed their policy. Still wouldn't use it personally.
 
I'm just started using crashplan - have about 300GB which is data that i also backup locally to a local backup drive.
 
Forget dropbox, it's a collaboration tool NOT a backup tool. Cloud comes in two distinct styles: Sharing / collaboration or Online backup. Different features for different purposes. The likes of dropbox and so on probably don't offer encryption, multiple location redundancy, versioning or bit level updates.

Have you looked at Mozy, Carbonite and SOS?
 
How about a rented website?
My provider give unlimited storage, and they are offering this at £1.95 a month when you sign up for a 3 year plan. You dont have to have a web front end, you can just use it for storage and access your files via a secure folder or ftp for bulk uploading/downloading.
http://www.hostpapa.co.uk/web-hosting-plan/
 
Ebilpirate said:
Forget dropbox, it's a collaboration tool NOT a backup tool. Cloud comes in two distinct styles: Sharing / collaboration or Online backup. Different features for different purposes. The likes of dropbox and so on probably don't offer encryption, multiple location redundancy, versioning or bit level updates.

Have you looked at Mozy, Carbonite and SOS?
Click to expand...

Thanks but I am more interested in the fact that Dropbox/google drive/skydrive allows sync between machines and devices - so by using cloud or usb stick the files are available to me whenever and wherever I am - so there is actually three distinct styles IMHO

Bambi72 said:
How about a rented website?
My provider give unlimited storage, and they are offering this at £1.95 a month when you sign up for a 3 year plan. You dont have to have a web front end, you can just use it for storage and access your files via a secure folder or ftp for bulk uploading/downloading.
http://www.hostpapa.co.uk/web-hosting-plan/
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Thanks - the sync part of cloud is what attracts me - plonking the files into the sync folder and it does the rest.

Dogfish_magnet said:
I'm just started using crashplan - have about 300GB which is data that i also backup locally to a local backup drive.
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Thanks - how much does crashplan work out at per annum ?



I'm still unsure what is best :bonk:
 
bl0at3r said:
Thanks but I am more interested in the fact that Dropbox/google drive/skydrive allows sync between machines and devices - so by using cloud or usb stick the files are available to me whenever and wherever I am - so there is actually three distinct styles IMHO


I'm still unsure what is best :bonk:
Click to expand...

Aha, I get you now. For intramachine / web drive services the best I have found is Sugarsync. They have a 5gb free account with full functionality that you could have a play with to evaluate things.

Just be a little wary. Collaborative cloud, ( which you could view dropbox, sugarsync etc as), has a different set of design goals compared to true backup. I wouldn't regard them as really counting as true backup. You will probably miss out on multiple server centre locations, strong encryption, any kind of service level agreement - which could be a huge issue for you, one online backup co lost a huge amount of client data a few years ago and then just sat there saying "sorry, those t's and c's you clicked yes to? they said this might happen".

Having said that I use a free sugar sync account to auto backup mrs pirates laptop. She is terrible at running any kind of routine maintenance and fairly given to pouring cups of tea into laptop keyboards. Sugar sync is configured to copy into the cloud anything new that appears in her documents, music or photos locations. It saved her bacon when she poured tea into her dell a few months ago.

My home backup regime is pretty exhaustive, I am professional IT and have been for 20 years. I would say 20% of my income derives from disaster recovery work...

Mac Laptop : Photo's that are worth it go to flickr pro account, (meaning I can get the originals back). Thats my worse case scenario backstop. Weekly full time machine backup to external HDD giving me systems and data restore capability. I also occasionally run a backup of my raw files onto an external HDD which lives at home. Dropbox used for collaborative tasks with friends, sharing electronics schematics for example, or sending photos of friends kids after family get togethers. Evernote used as an off site archive for really important paper things - Glasses Prescriptions, Insurance documents, scans of important receipts and so on.

iPhone : Backed up directly into iCloud and all music is backed up into iTunes match and thus the cloud,

Wifes laptop : Select folders monitored by sugar sync and automagically backed up into her 5gb free sugar sync account.

Hope that helps in some way.
 
bl0at3r said:
Thanks - how much does crashplan work out at per annum ?

I'm still unsure what is best :bonk:
Click to expand...

Depends on how you pay -Unlimited, sorry cant say that word on here too many people get excited, lots & lots of data storage from $5 if payed monthly down to $2.92 a month for a 4yr plan. Works well, once you setup which folders you want backing up it just syncs any changes to the server . I use synctoy to copy all the laptops etc to a set of folders on the desktop which is then backed up by crash plan, i use FTP when working away from home to get the data onto the main PC which is then backed up in real time. I've not noticed and performance hits with this running constantly on the desktop.

info & cost's here
 
Cloud is 1 copy, USB drive is 1 copy, do both.

If a file gets corrupted in the cloud, all copies are corrupted.

USB - backup, put it somewhere safe.
Cloud - main use, log in and access anywhere, don't need to carry anything.
 
Ebilpirate said:
Aha, I get you now.

Hope that helps in some way.
Click to expand...

It does and thanks for the detailed post explaining your solution(s).

I guess I'm not the only one that craves ONE SOLUTION for this and many other situations, like camera gear and multiple bodies for example :bang:

Dogfish_magnet said:
Depends on how you pay -Unlimited, sorry cant say that word on here too many people get excited, lots & lots of data storage from $5 if payed monthly down to $2.92 a month for a 4yr plan. Works well, once you setup which folders you want backing up it just syncs any changes to the server . I use synctoy to copy all the laptops etc to a set of folders on the desktop which is then backed up by crash plan, i use FTP when working away from home to get the data onto the main PC which is then backed up in real time. I've not noticed and performance hits with this running constantly on the desktop.

info & cost's here
Click to expand...

Thanks - I assume you use Synctoy due to going with Crashplan+ and not Crashplan+ Family (multiple computers)?


Dale_d3100 said:
Cloud is 1 copy, USB drive is 1 copy, do both.

If a file gets corrupted in the cloud, all copies are corrupted.

USB - backup, put it somewhere safe.
Cloud - main use, log in and access anywhere, don't need to carry anything.
Click to expand...

Seems that I am slowly resigning myself to having both or at least more than one solution :( (but I know deep down for DR it is a must).
 
Definitely USB and also a small fire safe.

If your internet goes down or you can't get internet access somewhere then you are stuck. Fair enough you may forget the USB stick but you are in control so just don't forget. I would never rely on a third party for looking after my data not just from a privacy point of view but from a reliability point also.
 
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