HughJasol Loc: Phoenix, Arizona

Another vote for BackBlaze ... I use it on my MacBook Pro. Will seamlessly and automatically backup all of your local disks, including all external Thunderbolt/USB disks (backs up the system disk, but does not do a system disk image - I use Time Machine for that). Keeps backups for all my disks as long as they have not been offline for 30 days or more (after 30 days, BB removes the disk & data). No limits, just a flat $60 per year per computer.

I also have a NAS drive where I actually keep my main copies of all my photo work - unfortunately, BackBlaze does not backup NAS drives unless you buy the business plan and pay based on data/throughput. So I really should move my catalogs and photos off of the NAS onto a local external USB drive, and just use the NAS as another level of redundant local (and manual) backup - I've been doing it the other way around (manually copying from NAS to local external drive), which is not ideal since I have not been religious about doing it.

JeffDavidson Loc: Originally Detroit Now Los Angeles

If you choose not to use the cloud in addition to local external HD's, then make sure that when you back up that one of your drives is off-site incase of natural disaster, fire or theft.

Ronjonron

nice reference to an old Stones song!

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

How do they know it’s a NAS? Because you connect to it via NFS or CIFS? How about if you map it to a drive letter on your computer and backup that drive letter?

Bison Bud

First off, I could ask the same questions about cloud storage, servers do indeed fail from time to time! The initial post was about losing photos/files due to a change in the file size policy and it doesn't sound like they are going to be recoverable. This sort of thing can't happen when backups are made in house. Anyway, the answer to your question is an easy one in that you make multiple backups and store them in different places. Nothing is perfect, but I think I've got my needs covered pretty well without paying yet another monthly charge for cloud storage or being subjected to their rules and or periodic changes, not to mention the increased security risks of using online storage.

You also asked about backing up a corrupted drive and I'm not real sure about how the cloud services handle this, but my photo computer has not been online for several years now and will never go there again due to this type of concern. I do all my internet activity on my Chromebook and keep my photo storage and editing computer completely separate. Any USB drive or SD card is also reformatted prior to use and reformatted again after being used on any machine that can access the internet. Probably a bit of overkill here, but it works for me. All in all, Cloud storage may be very popular these days and maybe a good option for some, but it's just not for me when I can keep complete control on my own media at today's reasonable prices for storage devices. Good luck and good shooting to all.

Bison Bud

Oh, but I do have backups stored offsite, it would be foolish not to do so!

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Everything fails eventually. Duplication mitigates that by increasing the probability that when something fails, there is a duplicate to take its place. Cloud servers are duplicated for that reason.




I am using CrashPlan, and it addresses corrupted files by storing versions. If you change a file, it will automatically back it up, but will not overwrite the old version so that both versions are available. If corruption changes a file, it is backed up, but the uncorrupted version is still there.

I should also note that while CrashPlan is oriented toward cloud storage, it will also do local storage, so you have the best of both worlds. The local storage is there when you need to recover something without bandwidth issues. The cloud storage is there if you have a local disaster and everything is gone.



I consider cloud storage a secondary system. I have multiple local hard drives, some of which are off-site. But there are degrees of off-site. A shed in the back yard. Your neighbor's house. Your parents' house across town. Your grandparents house two states away. Some of them are convenient but less safe. Some of them are safe, but less convenient. And most people only have one archive off-site.

Cloud storage has distribution -- duplication of files over a wide area, across countries, or even continents. And even with bandwidth issues, it's probably more convenient than an off-site drive a large distance away. On the other hand, local storage that's nearby, is susceptible to regional disasters (think Paridise Fire, where the whole town burned down).

Cloud storage is a few dollars a month. Not all that expensive. But it's not backup, which is for files you expect to need occasionally in the near future. It's archive, which is for important files you absolutely don't want to lose.

It all depends on how paranoid you are about your archives.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I take your points and glad your system has worked for you so far. I would add a couple of items though for those considering some form off off-site DR. First, the OP was not using a major provider. In fact, I had never heard of them, and I’m fairly savvy about cloud storage.There are well over a hundred, maybe two hundred cloud storage providers, and of those, less than 10 I would trust with my data.

As far as server or other failures, major cloud data centers are hardened with redundant power, servers, storage and networking with failover and no single point of failure, and also unlike the vast majority of home installations, they are professionally administered. But their most important feature of data safety/availability is that they keep 3-5 copies of your data at separate geographic locations to mitigate the effects of any disaster. You cannot possibly duplicate that level of reliability at home. But if you have dog slow internet access, you’ll need to swap disks with the storage provider to “seed” or recover from the cloud (daily updates shouldn’t be a problem) or choose another method of D/R. The downside of the mirrored drive in a bank safety deposit box or similar storage is threefold. First, what happens if the bank floods also as it did in Florida last year? Secondly, will the drive actually spin up? (A large portion of drive failures occur on start up after being down for awhile) And third, will you really religiously swap drives every week (what a pain and easy to forget/ignore), and what happens to the data between drive swaps that was created or modified in that week (or month)?

Finally, let’s not forget the convenience of being able to access your data from anywhere with an internet connection - especially important if you’ve had to relocate after a disaster. The important thing is to have that 3rd, off-site DR copy, regardless of how it’s accomplished, but for the vast majority of users, cloud storage for that copy is the most convenient and reliable solution.

Cheers

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I'd like to point out that 99.9% of the dogs I have met are a lot faster than I am.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Because the MAC address of the device identifies it as a NAS device.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Ahhh, I see. What about mapping it to a local drive letter and backing that drive letter up - will that work?

flashdaddy Loc: Berlin PA

Yesterday I asked a couple of questions about iDrive but no one has responded to them. I wanted to know if it would conflict with Backblaze which I use now, and will continue to.

I have 3 PCs here in the studio and a laptop at home and based on what I read they can all be uploaded to the cloud on iDrive. My biggest thing I would want to happen is to have the files I work on today, tomorrow, etc. be saved as I make changes as I only do a full backup on the weekend. My computers are shut down every day before I go home so they should be saved on the fly. Can someone answer my questions?

d2b2 Loc: Catonsville, Maryland, USA

I am looking at iDrive. It is recommended by several computer oriented publications. This would be in addition to the secondary drive than I have purchased. I believe I drive can backup in real time.

Robert M Loc: Clifton, NJ

I utilize SugarSync and I do remember that they sent an email a while ago that mentioned that problem. My son also uses SugarSync and he warned me that there was a limit to size of files, so he suggested to me that I store images separately, a big PITA! I would contact them that this happened and see if they can retrieve them. It is more than annoying.