I'm looking for a cloud backup service. In other words, I already do external hard drive backups but I'd like to also have a cloud-based backup. So I don't want iCloud or DropBox that aren't true backup services (they are syncing services). I've read an extensive article about services like iDrive, CrashPlan, and Backblaze but all these services were tested on Windows; I want to know what Mac users would recommend. I also only want to back up certain folders, not my entire HD.
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Cloud backup service recommendations?
- Thread starter lostnomore
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I've been very happy with Backblaze for the past 18 months or so. The primary purpose is off-site backup for my iMac to supplement local backup. I have also used Backblaze to access individual files and folders (backed up from the desktop Mac) while traveling with a laptop. Backblaze works very well, and I have not noticed any system slowdown or network/bandwidth problems. Highly recommended.
One tip: Opt for yearly payment. This is slightly less expensive - $50/year for yearly payment vs. $5/month for monthly payment.
One tip: Opt for yearly payment. This is slightly less expensive - $50/year for yearly payment vs. $5/month for monthly payment.
I've been quite happy with CrashPlan for the last 12 months, and have over 3.5TB backed up for just $60 a year. It's running in a Linux VM on a FreeBSD host though, so not 100% sure about running on OSX.
It works on the Mac too. My only complaint is that its (java-based) app's file-recovery mode is rather clunky: it doesn't remember where you were after each file so you have to drill down again.
See this thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/online-backup-options.2012962/#post-23874785
I would summarize as:
1. Crashplan has the best and most configurable interface, but backups and restores are slow.
2 Backblaze has limited options, a lot of default exclusions, backs up and restores at same rate as Crashplan. However you can request a backup for a restore be placed on a 4 TB disk. If you return the disk you are refunded the disk cost
3. Amazon S3 offers the fastest backups or restores, via arq or any other interface but gets expensive as you move to TB of data.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/online-backup-options.2012962/#post-23874785
I would summarize as:
1. Crashplan has the best and most configurable interface, but backups and restores are slow.
2 Backblaze has limited options, a lot of default exclusions, backs up and restores at same rate as Crashplan. However you can request a backup for a restore be placed on a 4 TB disk. If you return the disk you are refunded the disk cost
3. Amazon S3 offers the fastest backups or restores, via arq or any other interface but gets expensive as you move to TB of data.
I read your threads about Crashplan and the /.MobileBackups problem. Over 2 years of use and I haven't seen that, but I'll keep and eye out for it-- thanks.
If it was just me, I would not mention it, but I have run across it several times on the forums here. There are several other sites with people mentioning the same issue. I have no idea why it happens to some and not others. I can't think of anything really special or different about my configuration that would have caused it. Who knows.
I have never seen Backblaze affect operations in any way, with throttling set to automatic. Highly recommended, good value.
It took over 2 weeks to get a first reply to my post so I did other research and settled on IDrive which oddly nobody has mentioned - I hope long-term that it's the right solution. I like how it also has the option of setting up a sync folder if one wishes but so far I've strictly done backups, over 40 GB of data.
I used IDrive with no problems before Apple supplied the iCloud Drive. No problems, but never had the need to recover anything from IDrive...
I use Time Machine on my external drive, and I copy my documents to a flash drive, and to the iCloud drive. I don't use an app to back up to a Cloud location, just use the iCloud drive as if it is a folder on my hard drive, sort of. It's just a way of having redundant copies of my files.
I use Time Machine on my external drive, and I copy my documents to a flash drive, and to the iCloud drive. I don't use an app to back up to a Cloud location, just use the iCloud drive as if it is a folder on my hard drive, sort of. It's just a way of having redundant copies of my files.
I chose IDrive over iCloud because it is a true backup service, just like a physical external backup drive. In other words, once I backup the file to IDrive it does not get changed unless it is over-written. With iCloud and Dropbox, to my understanding, as soon as I make a change to a file on my hard drive it syncs right away with the one on the cloud and if I want the old/original file back I'm out of luck.
Quoting my post:
I don't use an app to back up to a Cloud location, just use the iCloud drive as if it is a folder on my hard drive, sort of.
What I mean is that there is a "folder" in my sidebar called "iCloud Drive". I copy files to it using drag and drop. It's not a "real" back up, as I tried to explain, just a redundant copy of files. Nothing changes in that "folder" until I intentionally overwrite the files with new copies.
I don't use an app to back up to a Cloud location, just use the iCloud drive as if it is a folder on my hard drive, sort of.
What I mean is that there is a "folder" in my sidebar called "iCloud Drive". I copy files to it using drag and drop. It's not a "real" back up, as I tried to explain, just a redundant copy of files. Nothing changes in that "folder" until I intentionally overwrite the files with new copies.
I use iCloud drive as a way of syncing my various devices as well as a way of also stashing files in one place; it's convenient to be able to put a folder into the iCloud drive in the Finder sidebar and then later on when on another computer to be able to go into iCloud Drive and retrieve and download that folder if I want the material in that computer, too. My primary backup method, however, is using external drives and that way my important data is also saved and accessible locally.