Online Data backup?

Hey everyone...

I wanted to what your thoughts were on online data backup for personal use? Something like www.carbonite.com among others.

Pros? Cons? Would you trust it with your data? Is it ideal for a non tech-savvy person?

Thanks Everyone!

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Comments

iowatech

Pros its off-site, encrypted and easy to use.

Cons you run the risk of them going out of business and still having your data flowing around out there in magic packet land, fifty dollars a year would probably be better off spent buying an external usb HD of your own.

But it's all about what data you're willing to risk someone else seeing, how much you're willing to spend, and how critical it is to have an off-site managed backup.

Just an opinion,
IT

dynamik

iowatech wrote:

...fifty dollars a year would probably be better off spent buying an external usb HD of your own.

This is exactly what I decided to do. Online backup services are slow and expensive relative to the storage. You can pickup a 500gb drive for what you'd pay for a year of 5gb service. I have two 500gb drives. I bring one in once per week (I alternate drives each week in case there's a fire or something during the actual backup), and then I bring it back home after the backup. I do differentials on tape the other days.

Online services are pretty good for small backups, such as accounting files (throw these in a true crypt archive before you upload them, even if they provide encryption) and other important documents, but I wouldn't consider them if you have a lot of data to backup.

JDMurray

Carbonite is good because it automatically backups up in small increments as files change on your drives. If you have a small upload pipe, it'll take a while to make that first baseline backup, but it's unnoticeable after that. It also solves the problems of loosing data because of your local equipment being stolen, or destroyed in a fire or natural disaster.

Kasor

HD is cheap and you should able to get one for your personal used. Unless you are living in CA, then you have watch out the wildfire or living nearby the river or below sealevel area.

Ahriakin

Online/out of state is particularly useful if you live in an area prone to natural disasters. I use an online service personally with just 100MB of space for critical paperwork