Computer backup

[BillConnerFASTC]

I've used Crash Plan for quite a while but they are discontinuing the "home" account and the business level us a little pricey for one individual IMHO. So, anyone found another good service?

The Wirecutter recommends BackBlaze. Anyone using that?

Thanks in advance.

 

[DanH]

Been using Backblaze for years. Highly recommended!

 

[MNicolai]

Same.

I went out and bought a 4TBx2 WDMyBoook and set it for RAID 1 so everything from the first 4TB drive is duplicated onto the 2nd. It doesn't protect me from everything like natural disaster or ransomware, but it at least protects me from a failed hard drive.

Eventually I'll park another at my brother's house and schedule it to mirror any changes every week or so.

Unintended benefit is by pushing a lot of files off of my desktop onto this NAS drive is both my laptop and my desktop PC have become sacrificial. If something happens to either, I'll have to spend some time replacing and reinstalling but I don't have to go through any data restore process like I would've had to with Crashplan. But...I do miss versioning backups even if I only ever restored select files from them once every couple years.

Higher upfront cost. No recurring fees.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

We used to resell Carbonite, and now we resell iDrive; both work pretty well.

As Mike notes, the problem with attached, spinning storage is that ransomware can *reach* it, and if it's not plugged in, automated backups can't.

In my opinion, it's not a backup if it's not tape, but...

 

[sk8rsdad]

I'm using Microsoft Office 365 and OneDrive as a backup solution. At $99 CAD per year for 5 TB it's hard to beat cost-wise. It's not designed as a backup solution so a background in tech helps. It offers some protection from ransomware since it moves files to the Recycle bin instead of deleting and versions Office documents automatically. For added safety, deny write access from your primary account and run the sync as another user.

 

[ShowNet]

I went out and bought a 4TBx2 WDMyBoook and set it for RAID0 so everything from the first 4TB drive is duplicated onto the 2nd. It doesn't protect me from everything like natural disaster or ransomware, but it at least protects me from a failed hard drive.

An FYI you either mistyped "RAID0" or have it set up incorrectly. For backups, RAID 0 is exactly what you DON'T want - RAID 0 splits the data across multiple hard drives with no redundancy, so that if one drive fails, ALL data is lost.

What you're describing is RAID 1, where the data is identically copied onto two hard drives.

RAID 0 provides you speed (it's theoretically twice as fast as a single hard drive). RAID 1 provides you protection. For the best of both worlds, you want RAID 10.

 

[CrazyTechie]

I'm using Microsoft Office 365 and OneDrive as a backup solution.

+1 to OneDrive, and having Office 365 is a nice perk. If you're extra clever, you can setup symbolic links to backup folders that are outside of your OneDrive folder allowing you to backup data on other hard drives as well. I played around with the trial of Backblaze, but the fact that it was all or nothing was a turn off. I would prefer to only backup the folders and files that I want instead of everything on my hard drives.

RAID is good for data redundancy, but you shouldn't count it as being a backup or foolproof. If you really want to protect your data follow a 3, 2, 1 approach. 3 different copies, 2 different formats, and 1 offsite.

 

[MNicolai]

An FYI you either mistyped "RAID0" or have it set up incorrectly.

Good catch. RAID 1 is what I have. One of those details I don't mess with often so I blow it out of the back of my head within a few days.

 

[gafftaper]

I'm on Carbonite and love it. Set it up once and you never have to think about it again. Yeah there are geekier solutions that are cheaper and all, but I like being a "normal" and having one thing in my system that I don't have to do manually

 

[Footer]

Been using Backblaze for years. Highly recommended!

Agreed. Backblaze is great because it will backup external drives as well. Carbonite won't.

 

[Silicon_Knight]

Just to muddy the waters, I just started using iDrive. It seems pretty strong so far, allows you to set your own encryption key (if you like), and supports both live syncing, as well as scheduled backups from an unlimited number of computers for the basic single-user account. It is also fully cross-platofrm (Win, MacOC, Android, iOS). I have a NAS w/ RAID 1 that I back up to my iDrive now, too. For critical items, I still use an external drive kept in the Safe Deposit box - actually a pair that I swap out every month or so.

However, if you look at the reviews, it seems like iDrive, BackBlaze, and Carbonite are all amongst the top recommended solutions.