EntropySink

Technical & Scientific => Software => Topic started by: ober on December 03, 2010, 09:31:38 AM

Title: online backup
Post by: ober on December 03, 2010, 09:31:38 AM
So... I've been considering an online backup tool for a while now and I think after the first of the year I'm going to go ahead and do it.  So which one is best?  Carbonite?  Mozy?  They have the same yearly price.  If Dropbox had a cheaper yearly plan I'd probably just do that.  Is there another option I'm not aware of?
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: ober on December 03, 2010, 09:42:16 AM
Shit, I think I found a winner: http://www.sosonlinebackup.com/online-pc-backup/system-backup-pricing.htm

I didn't realize Mozy and Carbonite limit you to one computer, which would mean I'd be having to come up with a routine to copy shit to my computer and then sync to the account from there.  No thanks.  For another $20/year roughly, I can just tie all my computers together.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: ober on December 03, 2010, 09:42:39 AM
I found this review by the way: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2288745,00.asp
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Mike on December 03, 2010, 09:43:53 AM
Ack, stupid auto play voice!

I'd also look at Amazon's S3 storage.  Kinda depends on what you are using it for.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: hans on December 03, 2010, 10:47:44 AM
We now use egnyte at work and it works pretty well. I think it's more aimed at companies but I've thought about using it personally.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: ober on December 03, 2010, 11:31:28 AM
Amazon S3 isn't really what I'm looking for.  I want the full automated backup package that I don't really have to manage.

Egnyte looks to be more aimed at companies and is way more expensive than the other options.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: jkim on December 03, 2010, 02:26:49 PM
Thanks for the thread.  I was actually looking at Dropbox as a solution to share large video files within our media team and SOS looks like a much cheaper alternative.  Do you know if you can limit it to a single folder?

edit: found their manual. yes i can.

edit2: except, I just realized SOS doesn't seem to be mac compatible. back to dropbox...
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: ober on December 03, 2010, 03:39:12 PM
Yeah, that was the only downside I saw but I don't use any Mac's so I think that's probably the route I'll go.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: kermi3 on December 03, 2010, 04:26:49 PM
I use mozy...love it.  Prior reviews somewhere...I've got like 90gig uploaded - so better for me...

Also check out Belvadere for teh automated routine - one of the lifehacker staff made it:

http://lifehacker.com/5472317/belvedere-05-update-automates-recycle-bin-management-file-compression-and-more
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: ober on December 06, 2010, 01:00:52 PM
But you're only managing one PC with it, right?  Anyone using any of these services with more than one?  I'd go with Mozy or Carbonite if it wasn't for that.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: kermi3 on December 06, 2010, 08:11:01 PM
Yup - actually I pay for it on 2, but I'm going to drop 1...
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: kermi3 on February 01, 2011, 06:59:42 AM
Ober you happy with this guy?  Mozy just announced price hikes and the end of their unlimited plan...I'll be dropping it when my subcriptions are done....
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on February 01, 2011, 09:24:36 AM
none of the online backups are unlimited anyway, they are "unlimited" lol.

I use Ubuntu One.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: ober on February 01, 2011, 10:59:13 AM
I haven't actually done it yet.  I was waiting for my refund.  I think I'll still go with SOS but it looks like their prices jumped too.  But I just went to their site and I was sitting on the order form and a little support chat window popped up with a 20% off link.

https://ecommerce.sosonlinebackup.com/cart/pages/soscart_20pc/soscart.htm?src=upsellit
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on February 01, 2011, 11:55:36 AM
Also i'm not limited to one computer. I pay something like $30 a year for 40GB
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: kermi3 on February 01, 2011, 03:22:38 PM
Mozy used to be truly unlimited.  I'm still unlimited until June...I'll probably sit to see if carbonite's prices jump too....
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on February 01, 2011, 04:37:22 PM
Mozy used to be truly unlimited.  I'm still unlimited until June...I'll probably sit to see if carbonite's prices jump too....

Yea for like a month, if that. Then they imposed the same restrictions as Carbonite.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: kermi3 on February 01, 2011, 05:13:01 PM

Ummm - I'm at 100+ GB on 1 comp and 72 on the other.  Have had it for at least 5 years.  No longer unlimited now...but has been....
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on February 01, 2011, 05:15:14 PM
When i had it i got an email from them telling me it wasn't truely unlimited and that i needed to delete files to get under 100GB of storage.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: KnuckleBuckett on February 01, 2011, 10:12:41 PM
Carbonite?
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on February 01, 2011, 10:20:07 PM
Carbonite?


http://www.carbonite.com/

(i assume thats what you were asking? I used Mozy)
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: KnuckleBuckett on February 02, 2011, 06:33:43 AM
I meant what did you use.  I use Carbonite.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on February 02, 2011, 11:13:24 AM
I meant what did you use.  I use Carbonite.

Mozy, i use Ubuntu One
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: kermi3 on June 03, 2011, 01:32:09 AM
My mozy is nearing expiration...plus I got a new apartment, so I've got to go to slower internet so I want to get my new backups done now...Any success with any of these new services I'm about to switch to carbonite, but I thought I'd ask about others first...
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: ober on June 03, 2011, 09:10:18 AM
I haven't actually made the jump.  I'm building up space with Wuala (similar to dropbox) and I might give that a whirl.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on June 03, 2011, 02:24:27 PM
Ubuntu One is top notch
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: kermi3 on June 03, 2011, 02:46:42 PM
I want something a bit more backup oriented than that - I use dropbox, mobileme, google, and probably soon iCloud for syncing type stuff....

I'm skipping on Carbonite.  After reading some it sounds like they have some throttling issues on upload - and given that I want to backup 100gigs in the next 2-3 weeks while I still have this available to me:

(http://www.speedtest.net/result/1325296545.png) (http://www.speedtest.net)



Seems like BackBlaze is pretty similar to mozy and carbonite and I can have complete encryption.....Not sure about their apps, but I don't use my mozy app very often so I'll live....

http://www.backblaze.com/internet-backup.html

Learned about it: http://lifehacker.com/5749845/the-best-alternatives-to-mozy-for-big-or-unlimited-backups
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on June 03, 2011, 03:29:04 PM
If it's on LH it's probably a safe experiment
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 04, 2012, 06:34:12 PM
Ok I'm done with carbonite. They keep dropping the ball on my massive music collection. Time to re-read this thread.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: KnuckleBuckett on September 04, 2012, 06:46:05 PM
How do they drop the ball?
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 04, 2012, 06:48:05 PM
They ignore marked folders constantly.

Just signed up with ZipCloud. Good reviews, 250GB for $5/mo and allows multiple devices. Worth a try. I liked the look of SOS but 50GB isn't enough to even handle my documents and pictures.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 04, 2012, 07:43:38 PM
So far zip cloud is a hit. The app runs great, the interface online is nice and the uploads are pretty fast.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: KnuckleBuckett on September 04, 2012, 09:12:20 PM
Keep us up to date.  I am done with Carbonite for the same reason.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 04, 2012, 10:48:40 PM
Will do. Their trial is limited to a few mb so you can check out the software and the interface. I spent the $7.99 to sign up on a monthly plan (cheaper paid ahead) and right now about 20% of my stuff is up so far.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: ober on September 05, 2012, 05:03:47 PM
I actually jumped on the bigger plans Dropbox went to.  99/year for 100GB which is more than enough for what I need right now.  I haven't fully start pushing our backups there yet but that needs to start to happen.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 06, 2012, 12:13:00 PM
Yea man don't spend a $100/yr and not use it...

Followup on Zipcloud:

I love it. I have backed up around 75GB of data just letting it run in the background since signing up. The interface is great and I have it on every laptop we have as well as two android phones. They gave me an extra GB of data for every device I added just for adding it.

If anyone decides to sign up let me know first, maybe there is a referral program.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: KnuckleBuckett on September 06, 2012, 12:20:46 PM
Decent privacy policy?
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 06, 2012, 12:36:28 PM
You know this process is aggravating. I just checked Ashleys laptop to make sure it all loaded, and it says she is on a 1GB trial associated with my account. They expect a second monthly fee for her.

See this is annoying. I'm canceling with Zipcloud and going back to square one. SOS would be great, but 50GB doesn't cut it.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 06, 2012, 12:40:34 PM
Also they require a year, i want monthly.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 06, 2012, 12:44:33 PM
Tired of dicking around. I'm giving Dropbox the $10 a month for 102GB.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: ober on September 06, 2012, 03:12:20 PM
Yeah, I kinda followed the same logic path as you... I just got there quicker ;)
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 06, 2012, 04:48:30 PM
It is annoying that i need a program to link folders to the drop box folder instead of dropbox letting me tell it which folders to sync.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: KnuckleBuckett on September 06, 2012, 07:00:47 PM
Yeah, I kinda followed the same logic path as you... I just got there quicker ;)

It's them long legs.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 06, 2012, 08:34:10 PM
Can I sync multiple computers to dropbox, without syncing them to another? For example I want all of the computers and both phones to sync what I tell them to the dropbox cloud, but I don't want it to send the files to all the computers. I don't need her files, she don't need mine, etc.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: jkim on September 06, 2012, 11:33:51 PM
You can decide to selectively sync on each computer? So on her computer, just click on the folders that are relevant to her, and on yours click on the folders that are yours.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 07, 2012, 07:52:29 AM
I didn't know if Dropbox automatically sends all files in the account to all of the linked devices on the account
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: kermi3 on September 07, 2012, 09:50:06 AM
It does by default, but you can change it....
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: ober on September 07, 2012, 11:52:06 AM
Agreed with Kermi.   And the phone version doesn't actually download anything.  You're just tapping in from the web and you can open stuff (and potentially add from the phone too but I never tried).
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 07, 2012, 12:40:04 PM
Cool ty
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 07, 2012, 09:05:30 PM
so how do you change it? I didn't find anything about it, and as soon as i installed it to ashleys computer it began dumping my files onto it.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: kermi3 on September 07, 2012, 11:31:09 PM
Go to preferences, advanced, selective sync
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 07, 2012, 11:59:23 PM
Well shit, that means on her computer i have like 3,000 folders to manually uncheck.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: jkim on September 08, 2012, 12:01:48 AM
Yeah, you probably should have done the selective sync preference change before it started dumping files from all 3000 folders.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 08, 2012, 12:03:08 AM
Yeah, you probably should have done the selective sync preference change before it started dumping files from all 3000 folders.

I installed the software on her computer and logged in when it asked me and instantly it was syncing them. I will probably completely remove it from her computer and do it over, guess i missed something.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: ober on September 08, 2012, 10:54:49 AM
Just uncheck them.  I think it removes the files for you.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 08, 2012, 02:49:25 PM
My laptop syncs thousands of folders to drop box. So on her laptop i would need to uncheck thousands of folders.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 10, 2012, 09:21:28 AM
Dropbox is not going to cut it. I have been trying SugarSync but apparently if you format a computer it will not backup your files onto the new install unless the file structure exists. Fail. The search continues, next up is iDrive. I demand excellence and I WILL find it. The solution constantly comes back to SOS but their prices are high.

The kill board:

Mozy
Carbonite
Zip Cloud (and it's spin offs, all have same basic logo and website)
Dropbox
Sugarsync
Amazon
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: ober on September 10, 2012, 09:35:14 AM
Why won't DB work?  You don't want to have to manage all the folders??
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 10, 2012, 09:39:49 AM
Not the way it does it. I want each computer to simply backup what I tell it to the cloud, and that is it. Enough of this sync crap, messy application setup, etc. If I want to sync files I will, Dropbox and a few others are using a feature design I do not want. I want a backup system that just works, does it well, does it simple, and does it fast.

Sugarsync is actually the biggest let down because transfers were FAST. I backed up 57GB in 3 hours.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 10, 2012, 09:41:54 AM
Also the fact that I needed an extra program to avoid putting my folders into the dropbox folder location was just plain obnoxious.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: ober on September 10, 2012, 10:47:52 AM
Seems to me like you're just picky.  ;)
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 10, 2012, 11:03:34 AM
I like to think I demand excellence.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: KnuckleBuckett on September 21, 2012, 11:37:49 AM
FYI, free year for Carbonite users if you are interested. Crashplan is much more customizable than Carbonite.

http://lifehacker.com/5942227/grab-a-free-year-of-unlimited-backup-from-crashplan?tag=crashplan
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 21, 2012, 11:49:01 AM
oh that is AWESOME!!!

Note after you enter email you have to hit enter to activate. at least on chrome.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 21, 2012, 11:59:37 AM
If this works out as well as the software would indicate I'm going to be a very happy man. I'm up and running on my 1 year, just had to enter the key from my email.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 22, 2012, 06:07:30 PM
FYI, free year for Carbonite users if you are interested. Crashplan is much more customizable than Carbonite.

http://lifehacker.com/5942227/grab-a-free-year-of-unlimited-backup-from-crashplan?tag=crashplan


Given my annoying track record of being let down by these services I'm trying not to get my hopes up BUT thus far CrashPlan is pretty damn good.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on September 30, 2012, 11:28:12 PM
Crashplan is pretty damn awesome. Only downfall is you can't (apparently) restore individual files or folders because you can't navigate them. You can only restore them all at once, for example after a format, which is fine. You can get individual files via the Android app.

One thing does concern me though. I read a thread on CP support website where a girl complained that she formatted her computer, and then when she went to restore from CP she learned that the restore system ignores anything in the backup that does not exist on the computer in regards to structure.

So for example I have my music as

My Music
/artist
/artist
/artist

and so on. According to her complaint she would need to go into her new My Music folder on the clean install and create a new folder for every single artist match the names found on the cloud. If that is the case then holy shit, that's a problem. Crashplan did not appear to refute it.

What an oversight that would be.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: KnuckleBuckett on October 01, 2012, 06:07:45 AM
I'd say.  Fail.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on October 01, 2012, 07:04:59 AM
I'd say.  Fail.

If its true total fail. Ik waiting on an official answer.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on October 20, 2012, 09:09:03 AM
Crashplan is pretty damn awesome. Only downfall is you can't (apparently) restore individual files or folders because you can't navigate them. You can only restore them all at once, for example after a format, which is fine. You can get individual files via the Android app.

One thing does concern me though. I read a thread on CP support website where a girl complained that she formatted her computer, and then when she went to restore from CP she learned that the restore system ignores anything in the backup that does not exist on the computer in regards to structure.

So for example I have my music as

My Music
/artist
/artist
/artist

and so on. According to her complaint she would need to go into her new My Music folder on the clean install and create a new folder for every single artist match the names found on the cloud. If that is the case then holy shit, that's a problem. Crashplan did not appear to refute it.

What an oversight that would be.

This information is not correct. I am restoring right now and it takes the folders you select from the cloud and creates them on the desktop, and then you can move them anywhere you like. Filestructure is in tact.
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: KnuckleBuckett on October 20, 2012, 10:28:05 AM
in deed   :thumbsup:
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on October 20, 2012, 08:40:21 PM
Crash plan, 10/10
Title: Re: online backup
Post by: Steve on October 28, 2012, 03:00:33 PM
OK so after using Crashplan on three computers and actually putting it to the test it gets my vote hands down, no question. The free year is a major plus, the software is fast and stable, and it just plain works. There is a learning curve to understanding how it all needs to be set up but once you get it down it is simple.