Cloud Backup Service: For local backup I am using three external hard drives, one connected to my computer, the second resides in my desk drawer and the third in the safe deposit box...

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

For local backup I am using three external hard drives, one connected to my computer, the second resides in my desk drawer and the third in the safe deposit box and are rotated monthly.Because I'm afraid I'm not paranoid enough I also use cloud backup.

I have had it with Carbonite and have until September 10th to replace it. For you who are using ON LINE back up service what are you using and do you recommend it?

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

https://www.backblaze.com
--Bob

Curmudgeon wrote:

For local backup I am using three external hard drives, one connected to my computer, the second resides in my desk drawer and the third in the safe deposit box and are rotated monthly.Because I'm afraid I'm not paranoid enough I also use cloud backup.

I have had it with Carbonite and have until September 10th to replace it. For you who are using ON LINE back up service what are you using and do you recommend it?

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Thanks Bob, I'll look at it

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Curmudgeon wrote:

For local backup I am using three external hard drives, one connected to my computer, the second resides in my desk drawer and the third in the safe deposit box and are rotated monthly.Because I'm afraid I'm not paranoid enough I also use cloud backup.

I have had it with Carbonite and have until September 10th to replace it. For you who are using ON LINE back up service what are you using and do you recommend it?

Amazon S3. Amazon owns the cloud - they have as much market share as the next 4 largest companies combined - there is a reason for that. Whether you choose Amazon or Google or Microsoft or Apple, or..., use a MAJOR cloud provider. They will have more sites, which means more copies of your data and are more financially stable.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

TriX wrote:

Amazon S3. Amazon owns the cloud - they have as much market share as the next 4 largest companies combined - there is a reason for that. Whether you choose Amazon or Google or Microsoft or Apple, or..., use a MAJOR cloud provider. They will have more sites, which means more copies of your data and are more financially stable.

Thanks TriX for the tips. All good points size is sometimes important

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I use Carbonite and my locals alternate between two hard drives in an external dock.
(If one of those local external drives fail, I still have the next previous backup.)
The cloud backs up are almost immediate, my locals are once a month or if I have massive file changes/additions.

What was the problem with Carbonite?

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Only one internal and one external drive backed up for a reasonable price. They offer no option to add individual drives to an existing plan.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Curmudgeon wrote:

Only one internal and one external drive backed up for a reasonable price. They offer no option to add individual drives to an existing plan.

I have them only backup my primary drive, which is what I use.
I don't use any externals as working drives.
I wouldn't have them backup my external backup, they already backed up my files that I backup.
I only backup data locally (photos, docs, PDFs, spreadsheets, etc.).

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

Paranoid is a great word for it...lol

I use a local for daily backups with rolling 14 snapshots just in case something gets corrupted or I deleted something on accident and actually remembered. And then I use BackBlaze B2 service for weekly backups with a rolling 14 snapshot inventory.

I chose Backblaze B2 specifically because I can backup my data server (linux) in one bucket and my digital imaging work from my desktop (also linux) in another bucket. B2 is pretty cheap, but the catch is you pay by gigabyte, so the costs increase slowly over time.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

So, have you ever had a computer or drive fail? What / how much did you lose that prior time: anything, everything, other? If you've experienced one prior failure, have you also experienced multiple failures?

Is this back-up strategy cost-justified based on prior experience, or based on forecasted risk of a total loss? Do you have a business dependent on this computer? If you regularly back-up important files and images, what is the most you could lose between back-ups: a week? a month? other? What would be the impact of such as loss, and again, is the cost of ongoing service justified, for a year, for 10-years, so forth?

srt101fan

Curmudgeon wrote:

For local backup I am using three external hard drives, one connected to my computer, the second resides in my desk drawer and the third in the safe deposit box and are rotated monthly.Because I'm afraid I'm not paranoid enough I also use cloud backup.

I have had it with Carbonite and have until September 10th to replace it. For you who are using ON LINE back up service what are you using and do you recommend it?

With no previous experience with cloud backup, I recently did a trial with Carbonite and Backblaze. Chose Backblaze primarily because I use several external drives and Carbonite was much more restrictive in backing those up.

I just finished my initial upload of data to Backblaze. Very happy. Had a few questions during the trial and the support was outstanding.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

srt101fan wrote:

With no previous experience with cloud backup, I recently did a trial with Carbonite and Backblaze. Chose Backblaze primarily because I use several external drives and Carbonite was much more restrictive in backing those up.

I just finished my initial upload of data to Backblaze. Very happy. Had a few questions during the trial and the support was outstanding.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

CHG_CANON wrote:

So, have you ever had a computer or drive fail? Wh... (show quote)

No I have never experienced a computer or drive failure. In another life, a long time ago, I was a fireman and saw what real loss means. There is nothing worse than a fire, you loose everything. My life is on those disk drives and the loss of anything is simply not acceptable. When you reach my age memories are sometimes all you have. I could conceivably loose four drives in a fire and have the fourth fail at startup. As I have said before I know I am paranoid but am I paranoid enough.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Curmudgeon wrote:

No I have never experienced a computer or drive failure. In another life, a long time ago, I was a fireman and saw what real loss means. There is nothing worse than a fire, you loose everything. My life is on those disk drives and the loss of anything is simply not acceptable. When you reach my age memories are sometimes all you have. I could conceivably loose four drives in a fire and have the fourth fail at startup. As I have said before I know I am paranoid but am I paranoid enough.

Anyone who has been unlucky enough to have experienced a serious fire up close knows exactly what you mean - there is nothing left.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Curmudgeon wrote:

No I have never experienced a computer or drive failure. In another life, a long time ago, I was a fireman and saw what real loss means. There is nothing worse than a fire, you loose everything. My life is on those disk drives and the loss of anything is simply not acceptable. When you reach my age memories are sometimes all you have. I could conceivably loose four drives in a fire and have the fourth fail at startup. As I have said before I know I am paranoid but am I paranoid enough.

Just like the UHH crowd will spend your money for the highest-end camera equipment and subscriptions to the highest-end processing software, they will spend your money for industry-grade back-up and disaster recovery services. My questions were intended to prompt you to give serious consideration to what you plan to spend as compared to what you actually need, especially when looking at the ongoing subscription payments.