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Online Backup

G

Greenman85

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 16, 2009
237
3
So i dont have an external hd, but i want to clean install SL. Would it be a good idea to sign up for a free trial for an online storage site, do the backup, clean install sl, and then put my stuff back on and then cancel the trial? Would this work or is there some hidden bs i am missing. i dont want my card charged and it sayd 15 day trial. thx

also, what would a backup keep? internet favorites? apps? thx again guys
 
Services like that I have looked at usually don't allow you to upload the files in a lump, they have specific folders for music, pictures, etc. (I don't know any that will make a duplicate of your hard drive like time machine) so your internet bookmarks would not be remembered. I would say on option is to back up to DVD's if money is super tight.

Your best bet is going to be to break down and buy an external HD. It's always advised to keep a local backup of your system in case something tragic were to happen (HD failure, lost laptop, etc.). You can get a 500gb external for around $50-60 these days, they aren't the $200 price tag they once were.

Plus, you never know when one of those "free" online storage places will close shop taking your backup with them. I had about 200mb of school papers etc. on Xdrive and they have since discontinued the service without notice. :(
 
I don't trust the online back-up sites since they are advertised en masse on radio. I'd go with registering a domain that has free webspace or paying for a month of space.
 
Yes that sounds feasible. You have to do some research on how much free space you get during the trial period, though. You can control what gets backed up with most of the online services.

Some things from my experience with online backups:
- You don't get the full throughput of your ISP's upload speed. For instance, if your service is rated at 1Mbps upload, you won't see that speed consistently. Probably due to the load of the backup servers.
- I haven't tried it but I don't think Migration Wizard works with online backups. You may have to download to a temporary directory after your clean install and go from there.
- I've tried about four different services and they're good about honoring the free trial period.

'Hope that helps.
 
Honestly it’s probably not what you want to be told, but I’d just get an external HD. Even if you weren’t upgrading, it’s just such a good idea to keep backups and Time Machine makes it so incredibly painless. Everyone thinks their HD isn’t going to crash, but when it does, they get screwed over.
 
go buy an external hard drive (about $100 depending on what capacity you need), backup with time machine, install SL, erase all data from the drive with disk utility, then return the external hard drive from where you bought it from...just tell them it wasn't the one you wanted, it is out of their hands whether or not you buy another one from them. I did the same thing (but then bought another one) from Fry's Electronics, they were very easy with it - although, I do remember they gave me a printed out receipt so I could put that towards another drive. So do some research on which electronics stores will put a credit back to your account / give you cash back
 
It's gonna take a long time for backing up and restoring. That's my main concern.

Personally, I haven't used an online storage other than dropbox, so I don't know about any good services to advise to you.

I think it's still a worthwhile investment to purchase an external hd for regular Time Machine backups or just media storage.
 
mrsir2009 said:
Yes, you can't trust a free online storage website with your important files. Either get a good pay for one or get a external drive.
Click to expand...

Many webhosts forbid this type of action and if they find that to be the case will lock down your account. Its quite easy for them to monitor storage usage and how its being allocated. I'd not trust my backups to a service that you explicitly break the agreement. Besides, depending on who you go with, there's no guarantee that they'll be backing up the data as well (I've read a number of horror stories of people losing their websites because their host didn't backup the data)

I'd spend a little money and buy an external drive, just consider the sidekick debacle as a reason NOT to trust online services with your data.
 
yes, I agree, but with online backup I can access data from anywhere, no need to carry the hard drive every now and then. Online backup comes handy when you are traveling. But you should take ultracare while selecting a backup service. Make sure you choose a reliable and secure service.
My current online backup provider BackupandShare.com is taking good care of my precious data, so far fantastic service from them. Very cost-effective and user friendly!!
 
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