Storage in 2017: Big improvements are on the way

Back on the base topic of Storage:

Data storage and backup is a very old problem and the answer has not
really changed in the 36 years that I've been directly involved with it.

One of the first commercial data backup routines that I got involved in,
was at a bank, where they had to shut down their Trust Dept, at 3PM,
so they could do their data backup and hope to be finished by 5PM,
when the people wanted to go home. They were using the old DOS
backup program from MS, to back up their entire PC hard drive to
5.25" floppy disks. They had never heard of doing incremental backups or just backing up their data files that may have changed on a particular day.
I helped them to cut down their backup time to about 15 to 20 minutes, by introducing them to Incremental Updates. The floppy disks that they produced went into a fireproof vault, so they were about as safe as was possible at that time.

That was many years ago now, but the premise that your data should be backed up frequently and then placed in a Secure Location has not changed.
Handing my own critical data files over to someone I don't know, in a place I don't know, with what kind of security and redundancy that I don't know, is just ridiculous to me.

I make regular backups, to storage devices that I own, and that I keep close to me, that are not available to anyone else, anywhere else. My most critical data files, I burn to DVD's and store in a secure vault, off premises.

In the past 36 years I've experienced many HD crashes, on my own PC, where everything ON the HD was lost, but because I have good backups, I've never lost even one little bit of data.

A question:
If all your backups are on a 'cloud' somewhere and your HD totally Crashes, how are you going to restore everything including the OS, to a brand new HD? My question is predicated on the assumption that you (anyone) have only one PC.

Personally, I have three computers capable of becoming my Main PC at a moments notice. My data files are copied and regularly updated to all three PC's.

One of my favorite quotes (author unknown):
"The only bad backup, is the one that you decided NOT to make".

Cheers Mates!
TechnoMage

TechnoMage2016 said:

...Handing my own critical data files over to someone I don't know, in a place I don't know, with what kind of security and redundancy that I don't know, is just ridiculous to me...

The way you put it, I totally agree. However, there are reputable cloud backup services that are about as safe as can be. Carbonite, for example, uses secure servers and encryption for which you hold the key to access; even Carbonite cannot access your files without your permission. Their servers have adequate redundancy to protect from data loss should a one or more drives fail. Each server location has backup climate and power systems to keep them chugging along in pretty much any emergency. While not available for basic, personal plans, the more expensive business plans also have geo-redundancy (your data is stored in multiple servers located in different geographical locations). There are several other companies that provide the same protection but none of them are free. Many business totally depend on cloud backups. The electric/irrigation utility I retired from has local backups but also uses an out of State cloud backup system that the company can actually run off should the entire local system go down. They would test it a couple of times of year and it always worked flawlessly, albeit a bit sluggishly.

I use Carbonite myself as an additional layer of protection for any data that has been added or changed since I last updated my offsite backups (although I could recover everything from there if needs be; it would be extremely time consuming, however).

TechnoMage2016 said:

...I make regular backups, to storage devices that I own, and that I keep close to me, that are not available to anyone else, anywhere else. My most critical data files, I burn to DVD's and store in a secure vault, off premises...

I do pretty much the same. I have a set of four backup drives for each data drive I have in my computer (currently, four). Two of each set are kept at home in a drawer away from the computer and the other two are kept in my safe deposit box in the vault at my credit union; the vault is built on solid rock, btw). The onsite and offsite drives get swapped out no less than once a month. I already mentioned I also have a cloud backup.

TechnoMage2016 said:

...A question:
If all your backups are on a 'cloud' somewhere and your HD totally Crashes, how are you going to restore everything including the OS, to a brand new HD? My question is predicated on the assumption that you (anyone) have only one PC...

Assuming your cloud backup was your only backup, you would have to reinstall the OS and programs onto the replacement drive so you can then download your data from the cloud. More expensive backup services will actually send you a replacement drive (for a fee, of course) you can use to recover your OS and programs from, assuming you had the foresight to have imaged them already and stored the image(s) on the original drive.

However, one should never depend on only one backup, even if it is a cloud backup (unless it is one of the better business services). For us common folk, it's more economical to maintain at least a physical onsite backup and an offsite backup. While a less expensive basic cloud backup can be used as an offsite backup, especially since it automatically stays up to date, it does take a long time to download all your data if you have very much of it. If I had to download all my data, it would take weeks. That's why I also have physical drives for my offsite backups and keep the cloud backup to recover data added or changed since the last time the offsite backup was updated. I have yet to need it, though.

One thing that is handy about my cloud backup is I can use it to access data when I'm on the road as long as I have a secure internet connection since the notebooks I carry can hold only a fraction of my data at any one time.

TechnoMage2016 said:

...Personally, I have three computers capable of becoming my Main PC at a moments notice...

I currently have only one desktop PC that is my main PC. In a pinch, if the main PC goes down, I can fire up one of my travel notebooks and use it. If I need data that's not on the notebook, I can always use one of the backup drives in an external dock.

The only backups I have for my notebooks is one external drive with a clone of the notebook on it and another one with recent images (if the drive in the notebook should permanently die, I can always pull the clone drive out of it's case and pop it into the notebook). Other than the clone and system images, I don't worry about backing up data on the notebooks since all the data on them is on the main PC, which is backed up to the teeth, and on Carbonite.

Many people here are restricted to ADSL2+ with maximum 24Mb/s down, 1Mb/s up. In reality you don't get that due to distance from the node and congestion at the node and exchange. I live in a housing estate that is ~12 years old and all they installed was twisted pair. Digging up the street for cable or fibre is deemed too expensive for many/most areas. Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN) initiative is a bit of an expensive joke for many.

For people on ADSL2+ this makes cloud storage only useful for small amounts of data. Personally I want all my applications (inc Adobe PS etc) installed as standalone on my PCs and large data stored on my HDDs/SSDs. I can also store HDD data in a different location.

mjf said:

Many people here are restricted to ADSL2+ with maximum 24Mb/s down, 1Mb/s up. In reality you don't get that due to distance from the node and congestion at the node and exchange. I live in a housing estate that is ~12 years old and all they installed was twisted pair. Digging up the street for cable or fibre is deemed too expensive for many/most areas. Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN) initiative is a bit of an expensive joke for many.

For people on ADSL2+ this makes cloud storage only useful for small amounts of data. Personally I want all my applications (inc Adobe PS etc) installed as standalone on my PCs and large data stored on my HDDs/SSDs. I can also store HDD data in a different location.

This is why I laugh (when I'm not swearing) at the idiots that claim all processing will be done remotely (Cloud Servers) within 5 years.

It will be at least 10 years (if ever) before we get fibre to our house (which is the astronomical distance of ~8 km from the city centre).

lehnerus2000 said:

This is why I laugh (when I'm not swearing) at the idiots that claim all processing will be done remotely (Cloud Servers) within 5 years.

It will be at least 10 years (if ever) before we get fibre to our house (which is the astronomical distance of ~8 km from the city centre).

I feel the same way about the push here in the U.S. to move everything to the cloud. We simply do not have the infrastructure to support that much traffic and, even if we did, not everyone would be able to afford it.

lehnerus2000 said:

It will be at least 10 years (if ever) before we get fibre to our house (which is the astronomical distance of ~8 km from the city centre).

You are probably correct. When I say "housing estate" these are houses that typically go from $500k-$1m. Buyers should be asking what is my broadband connectivity before shelling out the $. Clearly the "cloud" is cloudy.

mjf said:

...Clearly the "cloud" is cloudy.

Methinks you have hit the head on the nail!

I loathe the idea of the cloud. I prefer to keep my stuff backed up across my machines and also on Blu Ray and DVD discs. I also have wonderful internet faster that any other provider. We have 4 sources of internet. The county has wifi masts dotted about from towers and grain barns to cover everyone not on cable. There are 3 cable supplies. Comcast, AT&T uVerse and Metronet. Metronet is fiber to the home and is by far and away the fastest. Currently pay $100 for a fantastic fiber and phone service.

marsmimar said:

San Antonio is one of the U.S. cities selected to receive Google Fiber Optic internet with up to 1000 Mbps download. In order to accommodate the infrastructure, Google is building about 17 "huts" to house needed equipment. Construction has apparently been placed on hold while city officials review the plans and address concerns from citizens. So much for progress and San Antonio joining the 21st century.

Don't feel bad. Phoenix is larger than San Antonio and recently was removed from Google's list. Which doesn't really matter for me because I live in a suburb that has only one internet provider and wasn't on Google's list anyway. And I'm paying 2/3 of what Indiantone is paying for 1/10 the speed.