Cloud Backup?

[AngelSpeaks]

What do you use? I currently use Carbonite but creating a download takes forever, even for smaller folders way belong the maximum. I'm using brand new computers and Xfinity. Nothing else is turned on.

 

[Isaac]

I use google drive for desktop. it's a synch, not a copy, but that works for me

 

[The_Doc_Man]

On my new computer, I use a stick drive and a batch script that copies the contents of my critical folders. It's a USB 3.0 stick with pretty high capacity, so it has a very fast copy rate. I also know that I only need about 15 GB for everything and a 32 GB stick is pretty cheap. A lot cheaper than the yearly subscriptions to any of the commercial cloud-based file backup services. I absolutely DO NOT trust the privacy of any cloud setup.

 

[Minty]

We use a iDrive account. It has a cost associated with it, but is operated as a Scheduled Incremental back up, with recovery possible to any point in time in the history available.

It appear to be quick and painless to operate, I have approx. 115GB of files backed up in total.
You can also have it Sync in real time, but I don't need that. I have a decent internet connection and as it only stores changes the backups are generally quite small (under 200MB) and normally takes under a minute.

Restoring is simple and easy. The UI is clean and straight-forward to use.

 

[AngelSpeaks]

I use google drive for desktop. it's a synch, not a copy, but that works for me

Will that work for a total or partial restore?

 

[Steve R.]

I use a WD Elements 8TB USB drive. I'm tempted to buy a SanDisk 1TB Extreme PRO USB 3.2 Solid State Flash Drive, as that would be large enough to hold an image of my hard drive. I'm also contemplating buying an internal Western Digital 10TB drive specifically to backup my files (not the operating system files) since I can run an automated scrip to back-up the files. With the USB drive, have to manually attach.

 

[AccessBlaster]

I use Seagate external drive for system images and for the occasional folder backup.

 

[Isaac]

Will that work for a total or partial restore?

I've used it to transfer my wife's "life" to at least 2 different computers. Just download the folders again. But we're pretty targeted, all we do is backup the folders on Desktop and keep it very simple.

I also subscribe to Adrive, which has a lot of FTP and API's type of stuff, but rarely use it any more. Used to use it to give customers uploads and downloads and merges of data from disparate Access non-split databases in special circumstances, but now just have old (customer-related, mostly and family backups from many years ago) memories on it - like 90 GB of them

 

[Isaac]

Be careful with automatic backup like to Google drive... If you get an infection it can affect your files and then they can be backed up automatically and hey presto, you've got infected files on your computer and infected files in your backup....

Agree, Drive has some options for synch vs. copy and mirror, I think those are key IF you're worried about that particular thing.
I haven't really dealt with viruses for so many years I forget they exist sometimes - but you make a good reminder that it's still a threat.

I should add that when I did gigs for consulting customers, I didn't use Drive as the backup, I used other methods that copied versions of files at certain intervals instead. Haven't done that work for a little while now, just too busy with the rest of life I suppose at this juncture

 

[Steve R.]

Since we are in a backup discussion, I received this headline today by coincidence. I don't know anything about the ZFS file system, but you may find it interesting.

5 reasons you should use ZFS for your NAS

Having trouble finding the ideal file system for your storage server? Here are five reasons why you should check out ZFS

www.xda-developers.com

 

[Isaac]

find the PC file search facility is chronically slow & annoying!

I really and totally agree with you. However I will say I think that there are some major configuration options in terms of search and file indexing and this can make a big difference. I haven't delved into it that much so I can't speak to specifics but there are quite a few configurable options that will either speed it up or slow it down

 

[Steve R.]

Best early SSD and storage deals for October Prime Day 2024

Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days event is still around the corner, but you can already find good discounts on SSDs and external storage from Samsung, SK Hynix, and other respected vendors.

www.pcworld.com