BACK UP - What should I look into?

ThePensioner on 06/04/2012 - 09:10

hi all, this is my situation at the moment: i'm using dropbox for my documents and i've created a truecrypt container and it works really great because i can just upload the truecrypt container to dropbox and so my data is encrypted while also being backed up. however, dropbox only offers 2GB of storage.

altogether, i'd say i have about 2TB's of data i want to back up somehow. what's the best way for me to back the data up while also keeping it encrypted using truecrypt? i thought about using a NAS, but i've never looked into them so i don't know much about them.

what can you guys recommend?

thanks

Computing

Comments

  • ozhunter on 06/04/2012 - 09:19
    +3

    Using cloud storage would cost way too much, I'd just buy an external hard drive.

    • retiredfeline on 06/04/2012 - 10:56
      +1

      +1 Buy two and swap with an alternate location every so often. In case you have a flood or fire or …

      • ThePensioner on 06/04/2012 - 11:13

        but i want to store a backup on the other side of the house. how can i do this with just an external HDD? i just want a cheap solution that works decently — i won't be streaming video or anything like that.

        what should i go with?

        an old tower, NAS, something else?

        • retiredfeline on 06/04/2012 - 11:42
          +2

          Just do the backup and carry it over.

        • ThePensioner on 06/04/2012 - 12:51

          i just want something automated.

        • retiredfeline on 06/04/2012 - 15:33

          Then leave it plugged into the computer. It won't be on the other side of the house, but that's not going to save it if the house burns down.

          If you must have it on the other side of the house, you need networking and a NAS, either off-the-shelf or DIY.

        • ThePensioner on 06/04/2012 - 15:56

          ok cool bro. what NAS would you recommend? i remember reading about the drobo a while ago.

        • retiredfeline on 06/04/2012 - 16:38

          My Thecus NAS model isn't made anymore but still runs fine, so I am not familiar with what is current on the market.

        • Jabba the Hutt on 06/04/2012 - 18:35

          The price of that sort of always-connected automation is vulnerability to severe power surges, and to damaged or corrupted data (e.g. caused by malware) being propagated to the backups before you realise what's happened.

          I keep two separate, disconnected external drives in different parts of the house each containing an encrypted full backup, so in the normal course of things there is always one "off the grid" in case Murphy's Law strikes :)

        • ThePensioner on 06/04/2012 - 22:59

          oh ok thanks jabba. so you 'manually' back up your data by walking up to them once a week? how often do you do it?

  • ThePensioner on 06/04/2012 - 10:51
    +1

    oh ok. i was thinking of setting up an old tower (with the drives connected) on the other side of the house and sending the files wirelessly or using the ethernet that works through powerlines? what would work best? a NAS sounds great, but i've never used one.

  • c64 on 06/04/2012 - 11:32
    +1

    an old pc would work just as well if you already have one. many pcs support wake-on-lan which lets you remotely wake up the backup computer via an ethernet connection, so your pc can be off most of the time. a nas will be more power efficient if you want it continually on.

  • Cobalt_ on 06/04/2012 - 14:11

    From what I hear Carbonite offers unlimited storage space. You just pay a yearly subscription fee.
    http://www.carbonite.com.au/

    From their FAQ:
    Cost — If you backed up your computer daily to CDs, you’d go through hundreds of dollars worth of CDs a year. Outboard hard drives cost $150 and up. Traditional online backup services cost at least $100 per year and offer only limited capacity. Carbonite offers unlimited storage capacity for just a few dollars per month.

    Pricing:
    Carbonite Online Backup - One Year Subscription $71.99
    Carbonite Online Backup - Two Year Subscription $129.99
    Carbonite Online Backup - Three Year Subscription $167.99

    • ThePensioner on 06/04/2012 - 15:50

      wow, that is a great price.

      how can they make it so cheap in comparison to other companies?

    • ThePensioner on 06/04/2012 - 16:02

      ok i just looked on their site and it works differently to dropbox. i really like how dropbox just appears as a folder on the PC.

      • Cobalt_ on 06/04/2012 - 16:06

        Carbonite works a bit differently in that you install a resident program and then set which directories you want synced up to the internet. I haven't used it myself but have been told it's very good as an offsite backup. I don't know whether you can access the files directly from the cloud or just instruct which files to be synced back down again. There may be an option for a trial somewhere so you can try before you buy

    • sjbartley on 07/04/2012 - 02:06

      I just left Carbonate. They allocate bandwidth based on total backed up. I do not recommend you go with them if you have more than 300GB, as it will take years to complete. Your first 38GB will be fast, but after 200GB it slows to nothing and the unlimited backup plan becomes purely theoretical. In a year, I got to about 300GB. Finally, you might also want to check up on there solvency - they have been losing money.

      I've reverted to an esata hard drive I will leave at work while trying out crashplan.

  • ShortyX on 06/04/2012 - 18:53

    How much is critical data in the 2 TB? Might be worth paying for Dropbox if the critical data isn't over about 50GB or so.

  • bargainr on 06/04/2012 - 20:52
    +1

    I would check out Crashplan. www.crashplan.com

    Cheaper than Carbonite. Plus it can backup to the cloud, another PC and an external harddrive. You get the peace of mind of being in offsite, plus the speed of local backups and quick local restore.

    Crashplan is also free if you don't want to use their cloud - but you can still do encrypted backups to a friends drive (they need crashplan installed) or an external drive.

    I switched to Crashplan from Carbonite, Crashplan has better service and a fairer cancellation policy.

    • Cobalt_ on 06/04/2012 - 20:59

      Cool, I had heard about alternatives to Carbonite but couldn't quite remember their names. Thanks!
      Also if you're looking for an alternative to Drop Box who offers data encryption you can also check out SpiderOak.

    • AlanI on 08/04/2012 - 02:24

      +1 CrashPlan.

      I used to use Mozy, but I stupidly did what you're not supposed to do: I set up the software but never serious tested its restore capabilities.

      Then one day I needed to restore data - turns out it's a horrible mess and there was no realistic way to recover my data. Thankfully I managed to find another copy of the data in question on a spare HDD I had forgotten about — but it was a very stressful few days before I realized this.

      Anyway, I migrated to CrashPlan and I've been very happy. I've had to do restores a number of times and each and every time it's done it quickly and easily. I now feel very comfortable that if my house burned down tomorrow that I'd have all my data back as soon as I got myself another PC…

    • bargainr on 08/04/2012 - 10:36

      Crashplan just lost ALL of my cloud data. It now needs to do a complete re-backup. So I take back my endorsement. Just switch back to Carbonite today for my cloud backup. If I could neg. my own comment (the previous support for Crashplan I would)

  • ThePensioner on 07/04/2012 - 00:44

    what about something like this: http://go.iomega.com/en/products/network-storage-desktop/wir…

    that might be perfect for me. but someone mentioned it'd be vulnerable to power surges?

  • belbo on 07/04/2012 - 07:33

    There is a big thread about EoP on Whirlpool. http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1512203. I have the Netcomms which I use to stream tv shows and movies from living room to bedroom, some hi def, and it works well, better than wireless-N was working. But it is a fairly compact apartment and rooms are adjacent except for a passage that transverses them.

    You don't get ethernet speeds and everyone's results will vary. The connection does drop occassionally but that's not a major problem for my use case - its immediately obvious and I usually just need to restart the unit in the bedroom.

    I'm not sure I'd use it for backup - unless your daily backups are quite small and you can find some sort of automated tool to tell you if the backup has failed / been incomplete. One of the other, more manual, options recommended would be a better idea.

    Re a NAS there are threads on this forum re using a HP Microserver as a NAS. You would need to install the operating system and software yourself though.

    Edit - Forgot to mention. Most places will allow you to return the EoP devices if they don't work for you (thinking particulary JB HiFi and Officeworks) so there isn't much downside to giving it a go. See the Whirlpool thread re pricing. I think I got Officeworks to price match (but can't remember who the match was against).

  • Davo1111 on 07/04/2012 - 10:58

    I don't trust cloud storage unless you encrypt everything yourself, which takes ages to reupload.

    I'd be inclined to either

    1) buy a nas (or build one)
    2) buy 2 external hard drives, keep 1 at work, and every week swap them over.

    • ThePensioner on 07/04/2012 - 20:59

      what NAS would you recommend for me?

      • Davo1111 on 08/04/2012 - 00:12

        buying a ready made one? apparently synology is good, but i don't have any experience with them. I build all of mine. Otherwise a small pc like an eeebox or anything of that size would work fine. just depends on how many files you want to store

        • ThePensioner on 10/04/2012 - 06:59

          ok, thanks.

          what do you use to build yours?

        • Davo1111 on 10/04/2012 - 11:51

          At the time, i had a bunch of old drives. So i went to msy (or equivelent) and bought the cheapest branded case with PSU, the cheapest MB (with the write number of Sata/ide ports), a cheap psu and 2 * 1GB sticks of ram. Mounted it all in and originally loaded freenas (but now i just run xp). The other machine is a ready built, and runs straight freenas.

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nypnusWsF7A

  • Postulative on 07/04/2012 - 11:47

    If you do decide to go with cloud storage, I'd recommend you stay away from MegaUpload.

    You heard it here first.

  • ThePensioner on 07/04/2012 - 21:00

    i just want a good value NAS that i can plug a couple usb external drives into and maybe some internal drives, but just external USB would be enough.

    are there any good deals out there now?

    • realrift on 08/04/2012 - 06:07

      Have a look at smallnetbuilder.com for some comparisons of NAS boxes.

      There was a great deal on an Medion 1.5TB NAS at Aldi for $65 or so recently. Not sure if it is available everywhere. Not sure if it has USB ports either.

      Personally, I am thinking to go the HP Microserver option as it is cheap for what you get. Just have to be prepared to setup the OS yourself.

      Whatever you get, make sure you use a surge protector or something like a Voltage Regulator (eg APC Line-R)to protect your electrical components.

      • ThePensioner on 09/04/2012 - 04:55

        ok thanks. yah i saw that aldi deal, but it was only in QLD.

        are there any similar NAS deals you know of?

  • bargainr on 08/04/2012 - 10:35
    +1

    A take back my Crashplan endorsement. It just lost (in the cloud) 200GB worth of data and says it needs to restart from scratch! All my data gone, that's not what I call a backup.

    Have just cancelled Crashplan and switched back to Carbonite. Also, don't forget StartHere gives a rebate on Carbonite.

    • Davo1111 on 08/04/2012 - 19:00

      pay peanuts get monkeys?

    • FirstNameLastName on 11/05/2012 - 21:10

      just joined crashplan.
      I read a lot on whirlpool forums etc before going with them.
      Made me feel confident they are ok.
      Perhaps your situation is fairly rare??

      I won't mind too much if once every 18months or so they lose my data.
      The chances they lose my data while I'm having a house fire are surely slim?!
      And I have other backup systems.

      Carbonite seem good too, but one person above said they really slow uploads once you get past 38gb.
      Perhaps crashplan are the same in that area.. I'll find out soon enough.

      How long were you with them?
      What did support say when you asked about your data loss?

  • Postulative on 09/04/2012 - 11:26

    Re the heading? The rear vision mirror.

  • ThePensioner on 10/04/2012 - 06:59

    what else can i look into?

  • Cobalt_ on 10/04/2012 - 12:41

    I guess the lesson to be taken from this is always have a multi-layered backup plan. Personally I like the idea of keeping a daily backup on a local NAS, a monthly backup offsite (keep an HDD at a relative's house) and finally a small selection of my most important data in the cloud. You can never go wrong with having too many backups. The only issue is having the discipline to maintain and keep backups up to date.

  • ThePensioner on 12/04/2012 - 13:23

    what does everyone think about this NAS: http://go.iomega.com/en/products/network-storage-desktop/wir…

    i'm still looking for a good value NAS. the HP one looks great, but i don't know if it has wifi or not.

    • Davo1111 on 12/04/2012 - 20:14

      you should have a look at reviews online, but remember wireless transfer is painfully slow

  • ThePensioner on 13/04/2012 - 08:11

    yah i know it's slow — i don't mind.

  • ThePensioner on 26/04/2017 - 14:16

    I thought I'd post in this thread rather than creating a new one.

    I've just been using an external USB HDD all this time, but I want to upgrade to something a bit more advanced.

    What are my best options right now?

    • retiredfeline on 26/04/2017 - 14:19
      +1

      Nothing wrong with USB hard drives.

      What you might want to look into is storing an encrypted disk with someone you trust in case you have a house fire and swap disks regularly.

      And that's what I wrote 5 years ago above. :P

      • ThePensioner on 26/04/2017 - 18:17

        So not much has changed really?

        I mean, obviously USB hard drive's are much bigger now, but they're still the best option for reliable backup?

        • retiredfeline on 26/04/2017 - 18:35

          Nothing is 100% reliable. But you can mitigate the risks by having redundancy. For a start have more than one HD so that if one fails you still have the other until you can replace the bad one. Then you should have geographical redundancy in case something happens to your home. Some people use cloud backup for this, but there are costs too, you have to pay for the bandwidth and storage on an ongoing basis and 1TB will take a while for the initial upload.

          There are no solutions that will fit every situation. There is no "best". Work through a risk model to design your response.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join