"Online storage! We keep your files safe if you crash!" Wait! What?

reply to post by CHEDwick


I've been thinking about a RAID setup for a while, I might go or it when I have the cash for a new case that I could squeeze one into

reply to post by CHEDwick


That still leaves the possibilty of fire or theft or some other disaster that would destroy all data. That's why the word offsite is very big in backing up.

While O.P. makes a very good point offsite storage is used by businesses( such as photographers) to safeguard against fire,flood, physical attack and other problems that can occur on the premises.
I knew some I.T. folks who brought daily backup tapes home with them every night.

Originally posted by davespanners
Could someone here suggest an external drive that they have found reliable and used as back up for 2 years or more.

I'm pretty desperate to find one, and I don;t know which companies to trust any more.

The last one I bought was a Fujitsu Storage bird, there not a top line company but their hard drives have an Ok reputation. It died after 6 months and when I opened up the drive inside was actually made by MDT a terrible terrible company with an even worse reputation.

edit on 26-12-2010 by davespanners because: (no reason given)

I have 2 Seagate 1TB external USB drives. Both are 2 years old and have worked flawlessly for me since I purchased them (for about $79 each which at the time was a screaming deal).

One does daily backup in the background at 7am each day. I use the second one to back up the first once a month and I keep that one in a file cabinet drawer in my office 40 miles away.

Using High-speed USB, they're fast too.

Good luck.

Originally posted by PsykoOps
All external drives, ipods, memery cards etc. are nutoriously unreliable. Unless you have an raid 5 or better system running in your home with offsite backups you're in risk of losing your data.

Consumer level of external HDD boxes have usually problems with cooling. Also it is important to buy "server" or "RAID" variant of HDD (designed for 24/7 run time) - it cost about 20 - 30% more but ... I found dual disk Synology products user friendly and quite reliable. We have 4 Synology boxes in mirror setup for 3 years and so far no troubles.

Originally posted by PsykoOps
reply to post by CHEDwick

 

That still leaves the possibilty of fire or theft or some other disaster that would destroy all data. That's why the word offsite is very big in backing up.

edit on 26/12/2010 by PsykoOps because: added reply to

You are correct - I use 3 stage backup for our company data, one is offsite, but $40 is price of physical server hosting in professional data house! If you invest into entry level 1U server you can saturate all your inet services such as mail, web page, FTP, blabla ... from your own server.

I guess my issue is with their statement that they are "always there...running in the background for you so you dont lose anything".

Im unclear, but I understand they link or partition or maybe spit/share your drive with you...because you dont do anything....they have you online with them on your link saving your stuff every minute. Im told you do not send or upload anything. They automatically see it with you in real time. What-ever you do, whe-ever you do it, and where-ever you visit, for how long and what you view, create, save and delete. Everything....every minute...all day...everyday.

i think ill be right

reply to post by mysterioustranger

Yes, from the ones I've checked online, that's exactly what they do. So even if you give your computer a reasonable clean at regular intervals with CCleaner or the like, they will still have all of that info backed up as well. Okay, one of the sites I checked says that all the data they backup is encrypted "for your protection" but that doesn't make me much more comfortable about it. They can still access the encrypted data. Obviously if they can't, then they can't supply copies of specific, backed up files. And yes, they say we can add our own, extra encryption key (actually a password) which not even they can access. Makes me wonder where that key is stored if they don't have it and it's needed to open the files, though.

IT-expert members, please don't flame me. I'm just saying that it doesn't increase my confidence in the security of the whole thing.

I don't mind the idea of backing up electronically elsewhere, but like you, OP, I have problems with a methodology that basically involves providing others (who we don't know from Adam) with a constant feed of everything our computer is doing.

As for the comments that there is always the chance of fire or theft, well of course there is. I lost a home to fire once and I've also been burgled a few times in the past and been flooded out as well. That's why my most important stuff is stored on backup media in an offsite location. As a home-based, non-business user, I don't really need to back up everything every day. I just make backups of any important stuff onto media that I can take off-site.

But willingly give total strangers full access to my computer? No thanks. It's hard enough to prevent unwanted access.

Mike

sorry...but i must be the only luddite around...i don't do any banking, shopping, on the net...and any word or sentence that i type on a "connected" computer is of no importance and cannot come back and haunt me in the future...opinions yes...something damaging no.

Yes, I should have included offsite backup, as that's a given for me, hence the DVD method.

Let me just throw this out here too. Online e-mail is used pretty widely, and this is very insecure (like cloud) as well.

well the government is storing all your info.
They may as well get you to pay for it!

oh! you pay all ready with taxes.

CD/DVD/Blu-ray are the only real safe methods of backup, as long as you don't scratch them.

One nasty EMP from whatever source and you can kiss your magnetic/flash media goodbye.

Originally posted by woogleuk
CD/DVD/Blu-ray are the only real safe methods of backup, as long as you don't scratch them.

One nasty EMP from whatever source and you can kiss your magnetic/flash media goodbye.

edit on 26/12/10 by woogleuk because: (no reason given)

I'm sorry but you are wrong. Ordinary optical media have lifespan of about one year. Also storage on un-plugged HDDs is problematic. Plugged (spinning) HDDs have better life time of magnetic track but are spinning ... hence mechanical troubles.
Only "sure" solution is daily backup on RAID1 or RAID5 with secondary offsite backup.
May be it was not clear from my previous posts but I do not relay on "cloud computing" - I prefere to setup my own servers in some nice data house or other secured location. I just can not imagine that I'll put my personal or company data somewhere where I have no control of it!
Currently we are moving our office servers underground ... it is better in case of EMP and all the time you have heating in floor


2ADD: common praxes to handle dieing magnetic track is to rewrite HDD every year - in case of unplugged HDD every 6 months. Something similar to not using car ... it is wise to start it for half an our every half year.

The only reliable way to keep your important documents is to print, laminate, and put into a safe deposit box.

CDs and DVD are unreliable after 5-8 years unless they have been hermetically sealed and stored. But you're not going to want to do that anyway, because every so often you're going to have to convert your digital data into a format that your current software can use. Unless of course you happen to have Quicken from 1995 still sitting around and you have a computer that can run it. (for example)

Same with audio files. Can we be guaranteed that an audio file that was created today is going to even play in 10 years? What about PDFs? Are they going to still be the standard in 10 years? or will Open Office FINALLY become the document standard of choice?

I often wonder just how many times I'm going to have to purchase the White Album in my lifetime?

reply to post by zeddissad2


No, good optical media will last a very long time if looked after correctly, I have discs I burnt 10 years that still read fine.

Yes a RAID system is a reliable method of backup, but a simple power surge could wipe your HDD's out. A well stored, high quality optical disc could last in storage for decades.

Very well put thoughts all. I understand both methods on & off-line. Again, I guess my only problem is with the line" always running there in the background".

And they always have to have a way of retrieving it for you in case you lose your passwords for it or it gets messed up. Retrieval. Thats the nature of it all. So how do THEY get access to your info in case YOU cant, when they assure you No-ONE CAN? Encription, encoding, whatever. They can access it.

THEY can! Right?

Originally posted by juniperberry
The only reliable way to keep your important documents is to print, laminate, and put into a safe deposit box.
*snip*

Yeah but how are you going to do that with audio files, pdf''s etc.? Also you have to put them in a bank safe deposit box. Not just lock away in your own home like someone mentioned earlier. That way a fire or a thief wouldn't get to them.

I use online storage, along with an external HD. After losing about 12 years worth of my artwork in a fire, I am making sure it don't happen again. Then again I encrypt everything I upload with a 50 character password, with cascade encryption, so I really do not have to worry about anyone getting their hands on any of my files.

Sorry to hear about that. Must be hell to lose something like that. No insurance covers such things. I personally have one external raid 500/500 and one other external 1tb for a docking station. I however dont consider any of my stuff so valuable that I'd need an offsite backup. I suck in photography