Online Backups

[Ian]

Does anyone here use an online backup service of any sort?

I've been using DropBox over the last few months to share files, and it's a pretty nifty service - although I've not made full use of it yet.

All of my documents, photos and e-mails are currently stored as hard backups - but I've not uploaded any of them online, mainly for security reasons I suppose.

Is anyone using an online backup service for their own personal use? I'd be interested to hear your experiences with it .

 

[muckshifter]

are you spamming?

The only thing of any importance to me are my pictures.

I make use of Picasa & Flicker, not sure they realise I'm actually using them to store my pics.

As for data, naw, not got any ... games I play are online also.

 

[Ian]

Hahaha, no spam

I'm just wondering if/how people use backups online. I'm hesitant to upload much online, although I also use an online photo upload service - so I guess that's me partly covered

 

[floppybootstomp]

No online backups here, I want my stuff in locations I feel positive I can access.

Any online storage may go into liquidation tomorrow.

Server storage may crash.

BFG, the video card manufacturers, offered five year warranties on their cards if you registered. Less than four years after I bought a BFG card, BFG have gone under.

Which absolutely proves no warranty is worth the paper it's written on.

And I think much the same applies to online storage. Nobody offers free things for nothing, there are ulterior motives.

Any online storage facility may suddenly not exist when you wake up tomorrow.

Which is why I make sure any valuable data is stored on at least two hard disks, preferably DVD-R and if really valuable stored in two different locations in case of fire or theft.

 

[Ian]

My thoughts are along a similar lines, Flops - so I've got 2 hard copies of everything, but very little online. I quite like having local backups (although no ideal for fires, floods etc...!).

 

[Quadophile]

I mainly do local backups as I feel safer and know my data is there when I need it even without going online. However, I have used the back-up space provided by Ubuntu which is known as - Ubuntu One.

In Ubuntu a folder is created when you opt for it and keeps it synchronised when you add or delete anything. The synchronising works with multiple computers with single account. The limit is 2 GB free but more space is available on paying a small fee. If I have to rely on anyone Ubuntu Linux is the one. Commercial online site are a big no no for me.

Here are the advanced features of the Ubuntu One - cloud computing.

https://one.ubuntu.com/features/

 

[Ian]

That's an interesting link Quad, I didn't know that Ubuntu had a free storage service. I've just had a read and the contact/notes/bookmark sharing service looks very handy - and it's the sort of data that is handy to have on the move. I wouldn't mind having that sort of data stored online I guess .

 

[nivrip]

Memory sticks for me (used to be floppy discs some years ago ). Just don't like the idea of confidential info being stored online.

TBH, hadn't given any thought to the place being burned to the ground so a second set of memory sticks elsewhere is a really good idea.

 

[Abarbarian]

Only used Drop Box a few times but it seems neat and reliable. Keep pictures on-line at ATPIC as I can keep full sized copies.

Looking for an almost indestructible USB stick check out the Gadget shows efforts to kill some hi-tech gadgets. The fact that some of them worked after thte tests amazsd me.

http://fwd.five.tv/gadget-show/videos/challenge/ultimate-ttd-complete

 

[Andrew C]

Using 2* Raid 5 servers that backs everything up using snapshot every Sunday evening at 3pm when i should be sleeping.

Use Drop box for work so i have a backup if i need it.

There's no way i can afford to backup 300GB of data online. Even if i could it would be a terrible waste of good money.

 

[psd99]

Virgin offer this backup service called vstuff. Only problem is it is VERY VERY SLOW.
I wanted to backup my 22GB zipped up pictures folder at home it would take 6 days to complete. My upload speed is 1.1mbps.

So I decided to take it to work which has an upload speed of 40mbps.

Sadly the time was still the same so their servers are very slow.

I make my backups on USB drives. I am worried about backing up my data on a server somewhere without encryption who knows who could be viewing this! Although it would be good if there was a way my computer could automatically encrypt and backup once a day when connected to the internet.