Cloud Backup

I have to cleanup my mac and backup my graphic and image +a lot more folders on an external drive and delete them from my computer. Recently I faced my biggest fear. My backup drive stopped working. Instead of backing up on 2 different external drives ( running out of 500 GBx2 already ), I was told to subscribe to a cloud service and have my main backup that way. Something like "Carbonite".
Any comment about it? Please note: I am not looking for something to mirror my laptop. I've already doing it via Time Machine. This would be for the files that are going to be permanently deleted from my laptop.

Thanks

One of the drawbacks to using an on line backup service is the initial backup of your data will take a long time. Of course that depends on how much data you have. Also, if your ISP has bandwidth limits you could exceed them very easily. As long as you realize that and are willing to pay for the service, I see no problem with using one.

My files are different sizes but mostly large. 3mb-250gb. my ISP doesn't have limitation. Any particular place for cloud service? I never used them and not familiar with them.

I signed up for Backblaze about two months ago. I have AT&T Uverse's highest speed connection and my 2011 iMac connected to the network via ethernet. Upload speed has been about 2.8GB/day and I still have 200GB of 963GB to upload. My computer has not been on constantly, and was turned off for one week while I was out of town. I have also added about 60GB of photos since signing up for the service, but the end of the initial upload is finally in sight.

Check it out. So far it seems like a good service, but I'll never know until disaster strikes.

Easiest Online Backup Service - Backblaze

I still don't quite see the value in online backups. I can appreciate the extra safety of "off-site," certainly, but the cost and time and hassle just don't add up for me.

I have, like a lot of people I suspect, basically three types of data on my computer:

1. Stuff I could EASILY reinstall if I lost it -- my OS, most of my apps, the stuff iCloud and iTunes Match covers.
2. Data I really wouldn't care that much if I lost it -- files I haven't looked at in years, apps I don't use anymore, old videos I downloaded from somewhere, non-essential media, outdated bookmarks, old emails and so on and so forth.
3. Data I really can't afford to lose -- in my case mostly pictures and videos I created, stuff I wrote, financial records etc.

I currently back up ALL of this, though I'm always working on pruning category 2.

I use a drive dedicated to Time Machine, and another external drive dedicated to a clone backup.

Stuff that falls into category 3, I periodically back up to DVDs and store them elsewhere.

This system of mine has, so far, made it easy to restore data on the occasion of drive failures. Within a day I'm back up and running in my experience, pretty much right where I left off.

Flickr Pro (and I'm sure other services) offers to let me upload my entire photo library for I think it's $25 a year. Combined with iTunes Match and iCloud this is the bulk of stuff I don't want to lose (or perhaps more accurately be unable to restore), so that's what, $50 a year? A decent insurance policy, and what little of category 3 is left to protect (the documents, mostly) is so small that a good thumb drive would probably handle it.

That's my view at present. I reserve the right to change my mind as technology and circumstances evolve. I do live in the Ring of Fire, after all ...

chas_m said:

I still don't quite see the value in online backups. I can appreciate the extra safety of "off-site," certainly, but the cost and time and hassle just don't add up for me.

Click to expand...

Emphasis added.

Backblaze charges $5/month or $50 annually if you pay up front. I have multiple backups of all my data, but if someone breaks into the house or the house burns down I'm screwed. I have almost 200,000 photos on my hard drives and far too much music to use iTunes Match. If the worst happens and I lose all this Backblaze will send me an external hard drive with all my data, for a fee of course.

Your needs may vary, but this is a simple solution for my needs. There is no hassle, just install the software and let it run. As for time, it takes far less time to download and install the software than to juggle multiple drives stored off-site.

Biggest issue I have with on-line storage is that when the connection to the remote server goes away, you are screwed. It could be as simple as me neglecting to pay my ISP bill, a power outage at the host sight, a larger web issue or a host of other things.

Sure my house could burn down, so could the storage facility, either being an unmitigated disaster, but that is fairly unlikely.

I have always relied on TM and CCC on separate drives and it has served me well.

My issue with backup is that I don't have the time to go and cleanup. I am sure there are more than 30 GB duplicate backups. This personal issue brought me to the point that I had to get a bigger one and dump everything on it till the "DAY" that I am going to have enough time for comparing files one by one to see which one is duplicated.
The other issue is that external drives can go bad...(Currently my case ) and now you have to have enough storage to bring back your back up data ( if you can ) and store it on another drive. And you will end up with 3-4 external drive not knowing which one is the latest as the file names are the the same ( my case) and you will end up having the 3rd copy of some files.
As for Online storage: I completely agree with the fact that my access will depends on electricity, bandwidth. And that would be a problem.
Another issue that I have heard ( not sure how true it is ) : Looks like that internet carriers are going to start charging for the amount of data transfer. Right now is unlimited but it seems that it may change.
My professor has 4 backups, in 4 different homes and 3 different states. That is extreme ( to me ) and how often you can refresh something that far from you.
I don't know which one is better but I can see you guys are happy with your choice regardless of the method. So, may be it is just the matter of personal choice?

Our back up strategy was onsite via nas servers and then a safety deposit box at our bank with either DVD's or external hard drives. We learned the value of a totally different location when the town we lived in went from 4 feet to 9 feet under water. Our house was 5 feet and the area the bank was in was about 6 feet. So now we use cloud services in two different locations of the county as well. This has only happened once, but what we lost we can't replace and I just hope we never need it.
We are protecting business records/prints/software written for customers/copies of issued permits. What we lost with the flood was some of the original documentation I had from the military as well as our business.

Is it possible to have unattended periodic clone back ups to a separate dedicated drive on my home network? CCC? How do you set it up so it happens automatically without user input?

It took a little digging to find this on Bombich's website, but this

Scheduling a task and basic settings / Scheduling Backup Tasks / Knowledge Base - Bombich Software Support

should answer your question.

Thanks for that. I'll check it out.