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Tech198

Cancelled
Original poster
Mar 21, 2011
15,915
2,151
Regading these, i had tried, and tested, quite a few nline stirage solutions (e.g Carbonite, Dropbox) mostly......and all have ther own "quirky" limitatons to the pont i'd be better off going back to a NAS (since i would have more control).

For example, i have a pc and Mac on my network, running these online solutions on both, (not at the same time, of course).

Carbonite, i see, favours Windws more, than Mac's since it has a backup drive (mapped drive in explorer). I would love this on Mac, as this was my primamy goal.

Point my wallpapaers folder to the online storage drive. but its not possible

Then i tried DropBox, which does have ths. This also, turned out to be good, but very limited stirage for my needs Only up to 500 Gig on a paid account.

My goal is really Unlimited storage, combine with a backup drive that works on Mac too.

Things which lack on Carbonite are, File version not available on Mac, over 200Gig they also start throttling your connection to 100k upload speed (that sux).

But im sure thy have their reasons. The thing i can't get is when your uploading your using *Your* own bandwidth, not theirs. You are using theirs to download, but the limitation only applies to uploads only.

I don't think its possible though to have a backup drive on Mac with Carbonite, so i'm searching round to see if there is anywhere else i can turn to.

All this, and more.....makes me wannna go back to using a NAS.....

I don't mind the price ether, its more the lack of features available to which OS"s.
 

yg17

macrumors Pentium
Aug 1, 2004
15,027
3,002
St. Louis, MO
You absolutely are using their bandwidth when you upload to them. And a NAS on your local network does you no good if a natural disaster destroys your house and everything in it, the idea of these backup services is that they're off site.

Have you checked out Crashplan?
 

Kurwenal

macrumors 6502a
Jun 27, 2012
894
334
I have used both Crashplan and Backblaze on Macs and am happy with both. These are in addition to local backups for the reason yg17 notes.
 

Fireproof!

macrumors 6502a
Dec 1, 2008
966
276
Frisco, TX
Crashplan is awesome.

Unlimited backup and I like that you can create multiple 'backup sets' and prioritize their backing up.
 

Tech198

Cancelled
Original poster
Mar 21, 2011
15,915
2,151
Crashplan.

ok, I may give this another try,,, but i hate installing Java because of security holes.

But the reason i choose Carbonite, was because of "Unlimited" storage..

Yes, off-site backup is my main reason i want to use these, also I thew out most of my DVD media as i haven't used them for 2+ years.

I'm guessing online backup is no different than streaming services (e.g.. "they" are in control)

When I finished calming down over the security and encryption keys *held with them* issue, and the fact they have the power to turn all over to a court, I'll have a another look.

Secondly here, would be TrueCrypt, or FileVault, adding extra layer.... But then this requires some setup, and/use not to mention for Windows... on the users part..

Nothing was never easy was it ....


If Carbonite had a backup mapped dive on Mac, then that would probably be good.

Ideally, what i want is not only backup, but i have heaps of Wallpapers,, I would want to select a folder point to my online backup, as i'm going for a SSD drive soon.

So, I dunno,, probably a mix bag of both,,,, Dropbox or Crashplan for my Wallpapers, (about 10Gig total), and Carbonite for everything else *shrugs*
 
Last edited:

Tech198

Cancelled
Original poster
Mar 21, 2011
15,915
2,151
I have used both Crashplan and Backblaze on Macs and am happy with both. These are in addition to local backups for the reason yg17 notes.

One consistency with all these reviews across backup solutions is the restore process.

Most have USB, and even ship on hard drive as a fee, or download via zip..

how well does the download one work ? and does it work in every case ok ? Since email has a limit of 25MB per message (including any attachments), are these backup services smart enough to split them up into smaller chunks ? Or optionally, download directly via website (bypassing web-based email services) like Gmail.
 

hallux

macrumors 68040
Apr 25, 2012
3,437
1,005
Welcome to 3 months ago...


Anyway, since I missed this topic when it was posted.. I use CrashPlan at home and the company I work for uses it for their Macs (legal and IM security approved it, SOMETHING must be OK about it), I provide support for a large (Fortune 50 if not bigger) company.

For my personal machine, I use a TrueCrypt volume for anything that is absolutely personal (financial stuff primarily), so there is THAT added level of security.

BTW, as for the clause that they can turn the data over to authorities, I imagine ALL cloud backups services will have that clause. Even your ISP has that clause for being able to turn over emails if given a court-order (Google as well). It's something they have to put in there, a court-order compels them to do what it asks or they face a penalty.
 

Fireproof!

macrumors 6502a
Dec 1, 2008
966
276
Frisco, TX
ok, I may give this another try,,, but i hate installing Java because of security holes.

But the reason i choose Carbonite, was because of "Unlimited" storage..

Yes, off-site backup is my main reason i want to use these, also I thew out most of my DVD media as i haven't used them for 2+ years.

I'm guessing online backup is no different than streaming services (e.g.. "they" are in control)

When I finished calming down over the security and encryption keys *held with them* issue, and the fact they have the power to turn all over to a court, I'll have a another look.

Secondly here, would be TrueCrypt, or FileVault, adding extra layer.... But then this requires some setup, and/use not to mention for Windows... on the users part..

Nothing was never easy was it ....


If Carbonite had a backup mapped dive on Mac, then that would probably be good.

Ideally, what i want is not only backup, but i have heaps of Wallpapers,, I would want to select a folder point to my online backup, as i'm going for a SSD drive soon.

So, I dunno,, probably a mix bag of both,,,, Dropbox or Crashplan for my Wallpapers, (about 10Gig total), and Carbonite for everything else *shrugs*

Have you looked at Bitcasa.com?

I believe it does what you want - creates another drive letter, and acts like an unlimited external drive.

I tried them - but the upload speeds were terrible compared to Crashplan. Support wasn't prompt in answering my questions. So I figured if I had trouble with some of the basics, I shouldn't risk my whole backup strategy. BUT - YMMV. Maybe they've improved...
 
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