Solved Solutions for off-site backup strategies?

[juanantoniod]

Hello everyone,

I use a service called Mozy. For those of you who are not familiar with it, it is an off-site backup solution, which backs up my files throughout the day, as they change, through the Internet and, should I need to access them due to an accidental deletion or total loss, I can retrieve anywhere from 1 to all of my backed up files. They charge a monthly fee, based on how much space you need.

I have recently acquired a 2 TB external hard drive (HDD), and I am in the process of loading all of my file backups that were on CDs and DVDs to it. I'm not even half way through, and am at 169 GB of data alone. At Mozy's rates, just for this amount of backup, it would cost over $30 monthly.

So, I am looking for a less expensive solution. Either a different service provider who charges less for more storage, or an alternative strategy for off-site back up. I was thinking that, since my mom lives in Arizona, and I am in Los Angeles, if there was a way to have a hard drive at her computer dedicated to being my backup, and there was an application to support it, I could backup my files to this hard drive through the Internet.

Can you please tell me if there are any other providers who allow a greater amount of data for a lower price, or if there is an alternative to this strategy? I really want off-site backup, and preferably from a solutions provider who has redundancy. But, if it is more economical, I would be willing to do my own set up.

Any ideas or input is welcome and appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Bill2]

Teamviewer maybe?

How To Connect To Remote Desktop Using TeamViewer [Tutorial]

http://www.sevenforums.com/software/101318-teamviewer.html

 

[juanantoniod]

Need set and forget...

Hello Bill2,

Thanks for the response to my query. I was looking more for a 'set and forget' kind of backup.

I want something that I can set up once and then it just runs itself in the background as files are changed, and / or on a regular schedule. I'm thinking that if Mozy had a service where the actual backing up of the files was free, but that you paid when you needed to access them. That way, I would not be penalized for having a lot of data.

Take good care.

 

[Bill2]

Ok. Take a look at this, cheaper than mozy I think.

IDrive features complete hands-free automated online backup application

 

[juanantoniod]

Getting closer...

Hi Bill2!

You are getting closer to what I'm talking about. I would like this service, which offers 500GB for $14.95 monthly for up to 5 PCs, but for 1 PC at less cost. Although...I could theoretically share the storage space with my mother and sister, bringing down the overall individual cost. I wonder what the price is for more than 500GB; that is only have a terabyte.

Let me know your thoughts! Thanks again so much!!!

 

[Bill2]

Suggest you get in touch with their sales people and see what they can come up with for your needs.

IDrive - Online feedback form for remote backup technical support

 

[richyrichuk]

used it for ages

cant beat it

Second Copy:
Automatic backup software - backup data | encrypt files with Second Copy

 

[juanantoniod]

Great, great solution!

Bill2,

Although I am still open to other service providers if anyone else wants to post them, this seems like a good solution. If I could get more than 500GB when needed, and get my mom, sister, and step dad on this plan with me, we would average a very low cost per user. Thanks for getting my brain thinking along these lines!

Take good care!

 

[juanantoniod]

richyrichuk,

Thanks for the recommendation. I actually have used Second Copy in the past before I switched completely to Mozy. Although I am not completely opposed to it, I would prefer an online backup service.

 

[richnrockville]

I also use Mozy pro for my clients who backup each evening, They like it because it has been reliable and dependable. They can retrieve one single file in a real short time if necessary or they will provide you a complete set of DVD's of your data for a reasonable fee.

One problem that I see with cheaper alternatives is the reliablity and retrievability of your data. Some new entries into the on-line backup arena don't have the capacity to backup reliably. It costs money to have servers on-line and the storage capability with the necessary security of your data. Encryption is a big deal and as one on-line backup company had problems with others being able to see data that was not theirs. It was only for about 4 hours but still a securiy breach.

I guess it boils down to bottom line, Is your data that important or is it sentimental?

One problem that I have had with some of the others is the overhead that their program has with instantaneous backup over the internet. Unless you have a good bit pipe, it will slow down other access. Also it is the upload speed that is important, not the download speed.

Just my thoughts on this.

Rich

But: BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP

 

[juanantoniod]

Good information...

richnrockville,

Thank you for the thoughtful reply to my post. I understand what you are saying about Mozy and reliability, because I have had good experience with them.

However, I have been looking for just a little while now and found more competitive pricing. Just the data I have on my HDD now, which is not even half, is at 169 GB, which, under Mozy's pricing, would be over $30 monthly. I have found other providers that will give the same for $14.95 for one company, and the other company is $8.99 and under for unlimited storage space.

The problem with that is, as you said, reliability. I went back to reload their pricing page, and it failed to load, even after several tries. Yes, there may be a good reason for this, or they may be major flakes.

I would like some reasonable compromise between $5 and $35 monthly. At some point, it becomes un-worth it. Because, most of my data is sentimental, so I am not that concerned with encryption, although one company had a good policy whereby it was all encrypted before it was sent, so that their employees never saw the data...

Also, can you (or anyone else) please comment on this? One of the plans had a cap of either 1 GB or 4 GB per upload. Why would they have this? It just seems like a rather odd restriction, which, although probably not a big deal, would become a stickler just when you had that 4.1 GB file to upload by yesterday!

What about this, also? Could someone write a program that would make a RAID array out of all of the free storage services, such that my 169 GB of data could be spread in increments over all of the free services, thus costing me nothing. And, with a redundant system, could offer a full backup even if one of the services went offline or out of business. Hmmm.. Who would be able to write such a program?

 

[richnrockville]

One thing to remember about price, good, cheap and reliable do not necessarily go together.

I have a few external Laptop drives in external cases where I copy off all my critical data as well as store an image of my C drive on a weekly basis. I then can take these drives offsite which makes me feel good.

I use Acronis home backup to create the images as it only costs around $25 for the latest versions which works fine on my laptop and desktop machines. I buy mine from ugr.com as a user group member, they give a price break.

Rich

 

[juanantoniod]

Crashplan seems good...

Hello richnrockville and everyone else who has posted helpfully,

Last night I stayed up until about 6 a.m. this morning looking at all of the online backup services that I could find, as listed in a Wikipedia chart, that offered unlimited backup.

I narrowed the selection down to the following choices, based mainly on competitive pricing and unlimited data, in no particular order:

• Backblaze
• Livedrive
• Carbonite; and
• Crashplan

Based on the fact that Crashplan offers a reduced rate, down to $6 monthly for 2-10 computers and for unlimited data, when paid 4 years in advance. I thought that I would try this, and then if I liked it, I would pay for the 4 years, and also add my family members to the plan, and it would be a great deal for less than $300 every 4 years...

However, when I explained this to my partner today, he said, "Absolutely NOT!" (He did not even know we were paying for Mozy.) He is surprisingly paranoid about having his data in an unknown data center, and says that he would rather spend the money on backkup hardware that we would own, or toys for himself.

So, I will probably just find a free provider for low data amount, and use that on my laptop for my working files, and for my 2 TB HDD, I will figure out some hardware based solution, perhaps buying another 2 -2 TB HDDs at less than $200 total, and then copying the data in A-B-C rotation, with one of them being left at my mom's house.

Thanks for all the helpful comments and input. I will go back and give rep where indicated, and where the system will allow me.

Take good care,

~Antonio

 

[fergiet]

I use Carbonite for online backup and its about £25 a year ($40) for unlimited backup.