Online backup recommendations?

M03 · May 20, 2013

So, today my ioSafe Rugged Portable external hard drive started acting funny...I did a successful repair in the Disk Utility but I have 300+GB of video and files from Logic that I'd like to backup safely somewhere. (It has done this once before)

I've checked out Backblaze since it was recommended to me first. That seems to be ok except I use my external as my primary TimeMachine device and according to the FAQ, I'd have to partition it to protect my files...I'm currently awaiting response from them to see if there's a way I could work around that since I don't want to partiton my drive.

In a nutshell, I want to protect my videos and Logic files only. Nothing else is of concern.

I'm basically looking for something that won't break my pockets for a temporary fix and do what I mentioned above. I'll be buying some upgrades later this year and I'm just trying to hold off until I can purchase another external device that will be used to backup my current drive.

satcomer · May 20, 2013

Well with videos I would rethink online backup. Video files are HUGE at backing up online may take forever.

You have to be honest with yourself, do you live a disaster prone area (Tornado Alley, Burning California or Shaky breaky West Cost or Flood Prone Area)? Then online backup might be a good option.

Plus shop around because like I said earlier video files are HUGE! Maybe a NAS (like something like a Drobo or a Synology) using a RAID 5 or better to make sure you don't loose your video work.

PS- If you do get a NAS make sure your home network is 1000 (CAT 6 cables (like from (Monoprice). Plus use a switch (I recommend the D-Link Gigabit Switch (I use two of these and they have been running great for over 3 years). This way you get the quickest network speed possible for a NAS.

NorCalLights · May 30, 2013

Here is a screen shot of the Exclude menu from Backblaze Setup. You can set it to exclude specific folders, file types, or files over a certain size.

It sounds like Backblaze would be a great option for you to backup your video files. Since it is unlimited, I use it to backup everything on my computer including video files.

Fishrrman · May 31, 2013

"…but I have 300+GB of video and files from Logic that I'd like to backup safely somewhere. (It has done this once before)"

"Online backup" isn't going to work for this.
You had better start re-thinking your options.

With 300gb of data, I'd suggest:

1. Get a USB/SATA docking station
and
2. One or two "bare" drives
3. Use CarbonCopyCloner to dupe the contents of your existing data drive onto a "docked drive".
With a docking station, you can also just swap the bare drives, and create a SECOND backup. Now you have three copies of what's important.

The idea is to have multiple copies of the data.

Again -- you aren't going to get 300gb up into the clouds without a lot of time and trouble, or without spending a lot of money.

jdechko · May 31, 2013

Crashplan.

It's unlimited.
It's relatively cheap (and can even be free).

Look into setting up a backup to an external hard drive. Once you've seeded the drive (backed up all your files at least once), ship it to a friend or relative--preferably someone not local. They can set up crashplan on their computer and you can continue backing up your files to your drive.

Their website does a little better job explaining it.

samh · Aug 16, 2013

M03 said:
So, today my ioSafe Rugged Portable external hard drive started acting funny...I did a successful repair in the Disk Utility but I have 300+GB of video and files from Logic that I'd like to backup safely somewhere. (It has done this once before)

I've checked out Backblaze since it was recommended to me first. That seems to be ok except I use my external as my primary TimeMachine device and according to the FAQ, I'd have to partition it to protect my files...I'm currently awaiting response from them to see if there's a way I could work around that since I don't want to partiton my drive.

In a nutshell, I want to protect my videos and Logic files only. Nothing else is of concern.

I'm basically looking for something that won't break my pockets for a temporary fix and do what I mentioned above. I'll be buying some upgrades later this year and I'm just trying to hold off until I can purchase another external device that will be used to backup my current drive.

Another option besides backblaze is Arq + Amazon's Glacier service which is cheap (until you need to actually restore the files from backup when it gets a little pricier).

daviesgeek · Aug 17, 2013

I would highly recommend Backblaze. I've heard really good things about it. However, I haven't used it personally. I heard about it after I signed up for Crashplan. A third alternative is also Carbonite.

Here are the pros and cons of each:

Crashplan: (I use this and I'm moderately satisfied with it)
If you don't get a good backup server, it will take forever to upload your data. I had to restart the backup of my computer twice before I got a good fast server. Crashplan is not a native app; it runs in Java, which can have some odd issues. It backs up all your files. Every single one.

Backblaze: (highly recommended by people I know)
Very fast upload speeds. iOS application. Mac specific application. If I were signing up again I would use Backblaze rather than Crashplan.

Carbonite: (another recommendation)
Carbonite is recommended by a lot of people. However, the main problem I had with it is that it doesn't back up files that are bigger than 4GB (4GB I think, but there is a limit)

dmk1974 · Aug 29, 2013

I am looking into one of these options as well have have it down to Crashplan and Backblaze. Seems like splitting hairs. I do have one friend that has Crashplan and he's happy with it so far, but he hadn't heard of Backblaze at the time.

jdechko · Aug 29, 2013

One additional thing I forgot to mention, that I really like about Crashplan is that it uses a single interface to backup data to multiple locations.

I don't have time machine enabled, so I'm not running 2 backup processes on my machine.

Currently, I have Crash Plan set not only to back up to their servers (which is the paid portion), but also to my desktop computer over my home LAN and to an external hard drive when I remember to plug it in (free).

That's 3 backups (2 local & 1 remote) from a single program.

Another feature I really like is the weekly emails from Crashplan that let me know the status of all my backups. It let's me know that things are functioning properly, and reminds me to plug in the hard drive occasionally.

dmk1974 · Aug 29, 2013

jdechko said:
One additional thing I forgot to mention, that I really like about Crashplan is that it uses a single interface to backup data to multiple locations.

I don't have time machine enabled, so I'm not running 2 backup processes on my machine.

Currently, I have Crash Plan set not only to back up to their servers (which is the paid portion), but also to my desktop computer over my home LAN and to an external hard drive when I remember to plug it in (free).

That's 3 backups (2 local & 1 remote) from a single program.

Another feature I really like is the weekly emails from Crashplan that let me know the status of all my backups. It let's me know that things are functioning properly, and reminds me to plug in the hard drive occasionally.

So wait, Crashplan can also backup your drives locally? Kinda like Carbon Copy Cloner included for free???

jdechko · Aug 29, 2013

dmk1974 said:
So wait, Crashplan can also backup your drives locally? Kinda like Carbon Copy Cloner included for free???

Carbon Copy Cloner (and SuperDuper!) create bootable clones, while Time Machine and CrashPlan do not.

Both Time Machine and CrashPlan can back up entire drives (including system files).

I think the interface for specifying what gets backed up is easier on CP; rather than excluding specific files as with TM, the user is presented with a heirarchy of folders which can be checked. I think that restoring from TM machine is easier though.

I'm also not as worried about losing versioning with TimeMachine because CrashPlan does some versioning in its backups and Dropbox handles it as well.

Also, if you don't want to pay for offsite backup, you can do that with CrashPlan too. Just set everything up on a friend or relatives computer and send them a hard drive. Your files are encrypted so no worries about prying eyes. And if you have a catastrophic data loss, just have them send you the disk.

I have my mom's computer set to back up to my desktops 2TB drive. I worry a lot less about her losing their pics.

dmk1974 · Aug 30, 2013

jdechko said:
Carbon Copy Cloner (and SuperDuper!) create bootable clones, while Time Machine and CrashPlan do not.

Both Time Machine and CrashPlan can back up entire drives (including system files).

I think the interface for specifying what gets backed up is easier on CP; rather than excluding specific files as with TM, the user is presented with a heirarchy of folders which can be checked. I think that restoring from TM machine is easier though.

I'm also not as worried about losing versioning with TimeMachine because CrashPlan does some versioning in its backups and Dropbox handles it as well.

Also, if you don't want to pay for offsite backup, you can do that with CrashPlan too. Just set everything up on a friend or relatives computer and send them a hard drive. Your files are encrypted so no worries about prying eyes. And if you have a catastrophic data loss, just have them send you the disk.

I have my mom's computer set to back up to my desktops 2TB drive. I worry a lot less about her losing their pics.

For my setup, I use TimeMachine to backup my main system (Mac Mini) drive to my TimeCapsule.

My Mac Mini also has a USB 3.0 external hard drive attached which has just files on it (music, photos, videos). This external drive is all that I am interested in backing up to Crashplan/Backblaze.

Currently, in addition to TimeMachine, I use CCC to clone that external USB drive to a dedicated folder on the TimeCapsule hard drive. For this use condition, since it's not intended to be bootable for the external drive backup, I think Crashplan has this same CCC capability built in, right?

clukas · Aug 30, 2013

Online backup recommendations?

Has anyone got any experience with the WD Mybook Live Duo drives? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Personal-Cloud-Storage-Drive-Mirroring/dp/B006TADRD2 They look quite interesting, as they can be setup as raid drives and have quite a high capacity. They can also be setup as cloud drives making them accessible through any web browser. I have tried a similar setup before using a pogoplug, but that was just far too unreliable to continue using, however this looks quite interesting.

I would be interested if someone has any experience with how reliable these work as nas drives and their reliability as backup drives.

jdechko · Aug 30, 2013

dmk1974 said:
My Mac Mini also has a USB 3.0 external hard drive attached which has just files on it (music, photos, videos). This external drive is all that I am interested in backing up to Crashplan/Backblaze.

Personally, I don't have any external drives that I back up, but I can select an external drive to add to the backup. After a quick check, it appears that CP and backblaze support backing up external drives.

dmk1974 said:
Currently, in addition to TimeMachine, I use CCC to clone that external USB drive to a dedicated folder on the TimeCapsule hard drive. For this use condition, since it's not intended to be bootable for the external drive backup, I think Crashplan has this same CCC capability built in, right?

I think CP will do what you want, if I understand your question correctly. You want to know if CP will copy the files from your external drive to your Time Capsule. Just mount the TC drive on your Mac and use that as the destination for the backup.

Which brings me around to another cool feature of CP: Backup Sets. You can create different backups that go to different devices. So you could have your main backup set be your user files that go onto the CP server, and a second backup set be your external media that goes to the CP server and the TC.

mrjosh · Aug 30, 2013

iDrive

I've been using iDrive. It's a little more expensive ($14.95/month), but like the interface. I am, however, considering moving to backblaze - just to save money.

flynz4 · Aug 30, 2013

I've been using Crashplan since 2009 (4 years) and it is flawless. I still have over 3 years left on my most recent 4 year subscription. I work for a major corporation, which as standardized on Crashplan Pro as their enterprise backup solution for all Macs.

I have the unlimited family plan... and we are backing up 8 computers (4 iMacs, 4 MBAs). The total cost (for all 8 computers) in my case is $6/month. The largest single backup is 1.5 TB.

I recently needed to do a restore to my daughter's MBA. Typically, I would have restored using Time Machine local backup, but she had turned off TM a year ago while in grad school and never re-enabled it. Hence, I was forced to do a cloud restore. Bottom line... it was flawless. I wrote a report on it somewhere here in MR recently.

I would strongly recommend Crashplan+ based on extensive personal experience.

/Jim

dmk1974 · Aug 30, 2013

I keep going back and forth looking at Crashplan and Backblaze. For what I want them to be, which is a cloud backup in addition to my local external HDD backup, they really seem to do the same thing. Backblaze just seems to be a little lower cost.

Backblaze:
1-yr: $50
2-yr: $95
3-yr: $145 (w/1-yr re-up)
4-yr: $190 (w/2-yr re-up)

Crashplan:
1-yr: $60 ($10 more)
2-yr: $115 ($20 more)
3-yr: $165 ($20 more)
4-yr: $190 (even)

jerirat · Sep 1, 2013

Backup locally and Online

For many years I've kept both a local and an offsite backup. Back in the day that meant I'd backup to my server (local) and then burn key files to floppies, and later CDs. Those would be deposited in my safe deposit box. Online storage is so cheap now that my offsite backup is with Crashplan. The family plan allows me to backup 5 windows machines (including my Win8 media server running WHS 2011 in virtualbox), and 2 mac machines. My windows machines backup nightly via WHS 2011 and I use CC to backup my mac machines to a network share. The local backups have saved headaches when hard drives die.

And when my local dies (which happened late last year) the online backup was very helpful as I lost some of my data when my server died (motherboard took a couple of drives with it.)

MacForScience · Sep 1, 2013

Just to throw my two-cents in:
Crashplan

Cheers

dmk1974 · Sep 1, 2013

Sounds like a lot of good endorsements for Crashplan over Backblaze. I'll hopefully get it uploaded to their server in the next week...taking forever!

Netlinked · Sep 20, 2013

Online backup alternative to Crashplan and Backblaze

Another option is www.allbackup.com, they offer unlimited backup starting at $36 yr and have an option to add USB or NAS drives to your backup. I have been using them for a couple of years and it works great (over 350GB there already)..

dmk1974 · Sep 22, 2013

Well, in the end I decided on going with Crashplan. After the week to upload ~550 GB of data, it's been pretty automatic and I like being able to backup to their servers as well as to my TimeCapsule using the same software. Going with the 1-year plan for now.

blhoward2 · Sep 22, 2013

dmk1974 said:
Well, in the end I decided on going with Crashplan. After the week to upload ~550 GB of data, it's been pretty automatic and I like being able to backup to their servers as well as to my TimeCapsule using the same software. Going with the 1-year plan for now.

I use CrashPlan but backup to a family member's computer for free....and its encrypted.

miblk1 · Oct 10, 2013

Still not that cheap

Crashplan is great but unless your ready to drop $479 for a 4 year plan then its 13.99 for 10 pcs unlimited data a month.

A new site I found that has been working for me is http://www.kisercloud.com.
Its cheaper than crashplan and you have more options as well. You can get to all your backup files from your iphone and ipad as well, which is pretty cool.

Anyway just thought I'd share.

jdechko · Oct 10, 2013

miblk1 said:
Crashplan is great but unless your ready to drop $479 for a 4 year plan then its 13.99 for 10 pcs unlimited data a month.

You know, it's interesting how you say that. $14/month seems like a lot of money. But really, what is cloud backup if not insurance for our digital stuff. Most people have either homeowner's insurance or renter's insurance to cover their physical goods, but few people think about their digital stuff. And actually, going digital, it's easier to save some of the irreplaceable things (photos & videos) that regular insurance can't.

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