Backup External Drive Online

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I have a MacBook with 160GB hard drive and a Western Digital 500 GB external hard drive that I use for extra storage and backup. I have all of my photos and video/multimedia work stored on this external drive. If my external were to crash one day, I would be devastated.

So I've been looking into backing up the files from my external drive online with a service such as Mozy, Carbonite, CrashPlan, etc. I use the free versions of both Mozy and Dropbox to backup files I'm working on in case my computer crashes and have tested Mozy out with my external drive and have found some problems (Dropbox gets too expensive for lots of storage). First, I know that there is the risk that if I disconnect my external for more than 30days, those backup files will be deleted. Secondly, if I tell Mozy to backup files from my external, my laptop will see that Mozy is using my external, say that it is still in use, and not let me eject the disk. My external is portable for a reason, and this just won't work. This seems to be such a pain for something that seems simple.

I would really like to be able to upload files from both my laptop and my external hard drive to online storage easily and for an unlimited flat rate. Any ideas?
 

Slydude

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M1 MacMini 16 GB - Ventura, iPhone 14 Pro Max, 2015 iMac 16 GB Monterey
I haven't followed this area much so I can't be much help there. I doubt the MobileMe iDisk feature would be cost effective either.

I am curious though about the services that you have tried. Were you able to fully restore files from the backup? I thought I read somewhere that initially one of these services did not handle the resource forks in Mac files properly.

BTW I know it is not exactly the same thing but have you considered getting a second drive, creating a second backup, and storing it off site somewhere. Bit of a pain but might be cheaper in the long run.
 
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I've tried restoring files from Mozy and it works, the site is not exactly user friendly and it's slow. But it works. Haven't tried it with other services.

I've thought about getting a second drive and that would work. It would just be a hassle like you said. It'd be nice to just get it all online and have no worries.
 

chscag

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2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
I don't have a good suggestion for backing up your video work other than what you're currently doing, however, you can archive your photos to DVDs for safe keeping. That's what I do. I know most of us have family photos of weddings, kids, and so forth and would be devastated if we lost them.

I've even considered buying a blue ray burner and media for just that purpose. But they're still a bit pricey.
 

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