Online data storage options?

[Tony Sade]

I'm thinking of adding online storage to my backup regimen. My ISP has a 1gb for $1.99/mo option, but I'm wondering what else might be out there. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

[Curt Harms]

I'd have some concerns about having too much too personal data on someone else's server, Identity theft heaven if hacked. How would a USB drive kept somewhere other than where the computer is but readily accessible work? There are free data sync programs that work well, just set up a profile on the computer, insert the the USB drive, click on "sync" or whatever, remove the USB drive and put it wherever isn't in the house. Just the thought of a non-professional.

Curt

[John Schreiber]

I backup a few of my most important files on line. I do it by emailing them to a Gmail account. When file sizes gets over the maximum of 10K, I use a Firefox extension called "Gmail Space" which is capable of breaking up a file and spreading it over multiple emails, then reversing the process.

Any identifying information can be encrypted. I do it as part of a *.zip compression program, but there are more robust options out there.

It's not a bullet proof strategy, but if the house goes up in smoke, or if I'm far from home for some reason, I should still have access to my most important data.

[Robert Mickley]

I used to use elephant trunk. now I just back it up to flash memory.

[Jim Becker]

Dr. SWMBO recently had to deal with this issue for email as her new employer's servers have very constrained limitations for mailbox size. (Unlimited at the old one) She's using GMAIL for this as she can do it automatically using some IMAP features. As a researcher (and now also teaching professor), she needs to keep stuff long-term.

Using an email space for files is a bit more cumbersome, however. "File Hosting", like your ISP offers isn't a horrible idea for a "backup to your local backups", especially if you employ encryption. But for a couple bucks more a month, you can get the same space as well as web and email hosting on your own domain name, which would be independent of your ISP. Far more desirable, IMHO, because you can change ISPs without having to deal with the implications on your online storage. The hosting service I use (myhosting.com) offers a basic Linux program for five bucks a month...there are similar offers from many such services.

[Al Willits]

I lean towards either a external hard drive or DVDs.
I like to keep it simple.
Al

[Drew Bernat]

An external hard drive works well for backup. Gmail is also a great idea, and there are many programs that provide an interface.

Or find someone remote that you trust with decent storage (or buy 'em a hard drive) and back up there.

[Tony Sade]

Thanks for the suggestions, folks. I already do local backups-to an external hard drive, thumb drive, DVD's etc., but what I'm looking for is something that takes the place of physically taking storage media down to my safe deposit box. That's a hassle-the bank where my s.d. box is located seems to have pared down staff to a minimum and trying to find someone to help me open the box is a pain. The most important issue of course, is that it does no good to have the backup files sitting on the desk waiting to be carried down to the bank when your house goes up in smoke or the burglars think that they might as well take all the stuff on the desk, not just the new computer.

Remote, offsite, idiotproof and convenient is what I'm looking for-oh yeah, and cheap.

I'll check out the things mentioned.

Cheers,

[Al Willits]

""""""""""
Remote, offsite, idiotproof and convenient is what I'm looking for-oh yeah, and cheap.
"""""""""
Burn to a DVD and leave with a neighbor you trust, or if the garage is seperate from the house, put the DVD's in a small fireproof safe there.
That's as cheap as I can come up with.
Al

[Art Mulder]

Remote, offsite, idiotproof and convenient is what I'm looking for-oh yeah, and cheap.


1- Tony, how technically savvy are you? And do you work outside the home? I am quite technically literate, and I have set up a job on my computer at work such that each night it : sync's my personal files from work to home, and from home to work. Computer disks are so big these days, that the 4-5 gig this require is just not noticed. I work in an educational environment, so we're fairly much in control of our own desktop computers. In corporate culture this might be a no-go

2- But a similar thing can be cooked up between you and a buddy, if you both have high-speed at home. You back up his stuff, he backs up yours. I have used home-grown tools to do this. I have no idea what commercial software might work in this situation


3- if you have a mac, then a .mac (dot-mac) account at apple.com can do this, for a fee. Or, if I google "internet backup" then I find a bunch of companies that do this for a fee, but I have no personal experience with them.

[Brad Schmid]

Do you have access to a physical network port outside of your own home (work, friend, relative, etc.)?

If so, set up a small inexpensive NAS to store your data. If you already have a spare drive, you can just get a NAS enclosure for it. The good thing is, no other pc involved, no patching, etc. Accessible from any machine, anywhere, as long as you config it and any firewalls correctly.

In my case, I've been using a small unit from Buffalo (~250GB) along with Genie backup software for about 2 yrs. Lots of options out there now in the low end, low cost NAS market...

Cheers

[Uma Duffy]

DriveHQ provides a realtime backup service that we just started using (after the dreaded blue screen of death appeared, taking the hard drive with it). I can back up multiple computers and move info among them. Turns out that the zip drive back-ups I had been making were never really backing up... there were lots of empty folders or corrupt saves that couldn't be restored. Definitely check the integrity of backed up files from time to time no matter how or where you choose to save them. In a business setting it's worth a little $$ to protect the data. CDs get scratched, flash drives are almost too convenient. Inevitably, they will be overwritten with some useless info.... The online backups save to mirrored locations...added safety and insurance.