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 08/27/2013 11:07:38 AM · #1
have anyone used one? like //www.carbonite.com/online-backup/pricing-plans/home. How do we know that our work is secure and do not voliate copyright.
 08/27/2013 03:13:59 PM · #2
* Stay away... what they hide from you is that after a small amount of data they throttle the upload.... "unlimited" is meaningless with a throttle.... I might have all mine uploaded by the time mt subscription runs out :-/
* Software is easy enough to use and install.
* You can choose to have a custom encryption key, so no one there can read data - keep in mind that it limits your functionality because you cannot use the app or website since all you data is unreadable.

Without the cheating limits I would recommend them but instead I would suggest looking almost anywhere else. Backblaze seems to have a good following.
 08/27/2013 03:37:32 PM · #3
WOW kindof brutal
 08/27/2013 03:55:07 PM · #4
Personally, I trust Google Drive... It's pretty hard to find someone who's more likely to not lose your data.
 08/27/2013 04:19:37 PM · #5
Originally posted by cowboy221977:
WOW kindof brutal

It's time companies figure out that a happy customer tells their best friend and an unhappy one - especially one that feels cheated - tells anyone they run across :-)

I use cheated because a hard to find sentence buried in the fine print make all the world of difference when they advertise "unlimited" - I think that's a fair use of the word. I just swapped computers and so have no bothered installing it on the new machine even with a year left paid up.
 08/27/2013 04:23:33 PM · #6
Originally posted by Cory:
Personally, I trust Google Drive... It's pretty hard to find someone who's more likely to not lose your data.


I saw something interesting with my google drive free account it says "Using 3.3 GB of 15 GB (0 MB in Trash)" where as I have about 10 documents and non is big. Can I trust the size of space?
 08/27/2013 04:27:00 PM · #7
Originally posted by pgirish007:
Originally posted by Cory:
Personally, I trust Google Drive... It's pretty hard to find someone who's more likely to not lose your data.


I saw something interesting with my google drive free account it says "Using 3.3 GB of 15 GB (0 MB in Trash)" where as I have about 10 documents and non is big. Can I trust the size of space?


I think it may be a shared quota with Picasa or possibly with your inbox.
 08/27/2013 04:32:14 PM · #8
Originally posted by Cory:
Personally, I trust Google Drive... It's pretty hard to find someone who's more likely to not lose your data.


Without a doubt, risk of data loss on Google Drive should be nearly nonexistent. Security? I'd say no less or more secure than anywhere else in the cloud. Then again, stuff on your own PC may be less secure due to risks related to malware.
Looking at pricing, Google Drive seems reasonable. For me, I'd need about 200GB to back up everything right now, so I would be looking at $10 USD/mo. That's not an outrageous amount but I could also just buy a 1TB backup drive and keep it off-site for less than a year's Google Drive subscription cost. But I would not have some of the benefits, like being able to have access to it from anywhere or having it backed up continuously. I'd also need to be religious about my backup-and-move-off-site routine. And I'd probably really need two drives to make it work like it should.

ETA:
Another facet of cloud storage is upload, and potentially download time. An initial backup of my hypothetical 200GB of data would take 4.63 *days* suing 100% of my upload bandwidth of approx. 4 megabits/s. A full download following a HDD disaster would take about 7.5 hours using 100% of my average downstream bandwidth of about 60 megabits/s. Not to mention that I *would* incur charges for bandwidth over-use in such a case, another thing to consider when contemplating cloud storage.

Message edited by author 2013-08-27 16:44:17.
 08/27/2013 04:33:16 PM · #9
Originally posted by Cory:

I think it may be a shared quota with Picasa or possibly with your inbox.


It is a shared quota between Google Drive, Google+ Photos, and Gmail.
 08/27/2013 04:44:08 PM · #10
Originally posted by kirbic:
Originally posted by Cory:
Personally, I trust Google Drive... It's pretty hard to find someone who's more likely to not lose your data.


Without a doubt, risk of data loss on Google Drive should be nearly nonexistent. Security? I'd say no less or more secure than anywhere else in the cloud. Then again, stuff on your own PC may be less secure due to risks related to malware.
Looking at pricing, Google Drive seems reasonable. For me, I'd need about 200GB to back up everything right now, so I would be looking at $10 USD/mo. That's not an outrageous amount but I could also just buy a 1TB backup drive and keep it off-site for less than a year's Google Drive subscription cost. But I would not have some of the benefits, like being able to have access to it from anywhere or having it backed up continuously. I'd also need to be religious about my backup-and-move-off-site routine. And I'd probably really need two drives to make it work like it should.


so how many photographs you would keep on GD? meaning say you went for a photo shoot and took about 2000 photographs of entire event. Now these days full size RAW image is about 25MB meaning about 48GB of your RAW image. Now would you keep all 2000 in backup or selected that you are going to hand over to the client? because if you keep all raw then with three such client you are done with the size.

Message edited by author 2013-08-27 16:44:41.
 08/27/2013 04:48:52 PM · #11
Originally posted by pgirish007:
Originally posted by kirbic:
Originally posted by Cory:
Personally, I trust Google Drive... It's pretty hard to find someone who's more likely to not lose your data.


Without a doubt, risk of data loss on Google Drive should be nearly nonexistent. Security? I'd say no less or more secure than anywhere else in the cloud. Then again, stuff on your own PC may be less secure due to risks related to malware.
Looking at pricing, Google Drive seems reasonable. For me, I'd need about 200GB to back up everything right now, so I would be looking at $10 USD/mo. That's not an outrageous amount but I could also just buy a 1TB backup drive and keep it off-site for less than a year's Google Drive subscription cost. But I would not have some of the benefits, like being able to have access to it from anywhere or having it backed up continuously. I'd also need to be religious about my backup-and-move-off-site routine. And I'd probably really need two drives to make it work like it should.


so how many photographs you would keep on GD? meaning say you went for a photo shoot and took about 2000 photographs of entire event. Now these days full size RAW image is about 25MB meaning about 48GB of your RAW image. Now would you keep all 2000 in backup or selected that you are going to hand over to the client? because if you keep all raw then with three such client you are done with the size.


Pass it along to the customer. $3 per month for "Photo Archival" Make it $5 and have yourself a little profit for the administrative effort.
 08/27/2013 04:49:01 PM · #12
Originally posted by pgirish007:
so how many photographs you would keep on GD? meaning say you went for a photo shoot and took about 2000 photographs of entire event. Now these days full size RAW image is about 25MB meaning about 48GB of your RAW image. Now would you keep all 2000 in backup or selected that you are going to hand over to the client? because if you keep all raw then with three such client you are done with the size.


I'm not a pro, so my needs are only for personal use. I normally cull images during my copy/import process (I use Lr 5). I can't imagine trying to manage "selective backup." If I'm doing cloud storage, it is all or nothing. the hypothetical 200GB would cover pretty much every file I have for personal use. I have another 115GB of work files, but those are backed up already, so I have no need to store those unless I change jobs, in which case a subset of them go in my "archives" and add to my personal file space requirements.
 08/27/2013 05:25:21 PM · #13
I do selective cloud storage [or I did before swapping machines :-)]... In LightRoom (but this could be repeated in a lot of software): I simply have a publish "smart" collection [a logical view not another copy] that has the right criteria and I publish to my hard drive [I push out DNG but could be anything] in a location where the cloud storage software is listening on that set of folders. I do it based on nbr of stars but could be keywords or any combo.... It's not as much work once it's going.....
 08/27/2013 05:34:29 PM · #14
I'm very happy with Backblaze, unlimited space for a reasonable price. Recently lost a HD, it was nice to have backup.
 08/28/2013 01:59:21 AM · #15
A friend uses Crashplan. In a couple of online write ups of different options it receives kind words. I plan to check it out for my use. One place stated that they will take your initial data load on an external HD. Dunno- might work.

Edit to add the price for initial upload via ext HD is 125$. Rather steep IMO.

Message edited by author 2013-08-28 02:05:43.
 01/16/2014 11:26:34 AM · #16
I was a Carbonite user for three or so years. It was very good except it was very very slow to backup. I had no more than 300GB of my data backup in all that time. It was so slow, I excluded the bulk of my data (my photos) and only backed up other files.

In october, I noticed a deal on BitsDuJour: drivePOP which is a LiveDrive reseller offering a lifetime license for unlimited backup, unlimited computers for $79. It seemed too good to be true and I was skeptical, but I gave it a try.

On a good note, it was backing up like there was no tomorrow...but I had problems immediately--the software was killing my computer and internet connection (apparently, if some software steals all the bandwidth, and acks can't get through, you lose your connection periodically on Roadrunner (and likely other systems). But I got around both of these by limiting the bandwidth in their control panel, and using ProcessLasso to limit the CPU affinity of the process to two of my cores.

Anyway, it's three months later...and I'm up to 300GB backed up. That's less than 1/10 of my data (since I included photos this time), but it's still faster than Carbonite.

But I'm about to give up on it:

1) I have a new computer...there's no way to continue the backup to the new computer once I move the data...I have to start over.
2) I've noticed that the livedrive software eats memory...after one day it's up to over a gig of memory (not sure if it climbs higher). But that's 1/16 my total. Carbonite never consumed so much memory.
3) I went to download the software for my new computer, and Google blocked it as malware. Bitdefender doesn't think it's bad, but Google does. That didn't happen before, so something has changed in the software or in Google. It's likely a false positive, but it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

So I am trying Backblaze. It does allow me to transfer to the new computer, so I'm on a trial on the old one. Software seems good...memory commit size is not growing...it's at 10MB and holding.

It's set to auto-throttle, by default, and so far is not killing my machine or my Internet. Hpwever, after analyzing my machine, it came up with this estimate of how long it will take to do the backup...

Freak Out... your data will be backed up in 3,335 days.

That's a long time! But my upload speeds aren't very good...I'm limited to 1Mbit/s on Toadrunner (a typo, but really, a better name for it).

I'll report back after a few days of my 15 day trial. But I think the $50 a year might be worth it for Backblaze on my main computer...I can use the DrivePop account on my family's computer so it's not a total waste.

Message edited by author 2014-01-16 11:36:24.
 01/16/2014 11:36:27 AM · #17
When I see the subject line, I had to chip in...

"If" you ask me, I strongly suggest anyone who is thinking to backup stuff to get an external HDs, which are pretty inexpensive these days and have your files backed up locally. If you are very worry about your files and worry about fire, or theft, get two. Keep one at another location.

I know that will sound little crazy, but these days we all are depending on "cloud", old term "the internet servers", way too much... 1-We have no idea who can access those files at will, no matter who says what! 2-It takes one disconnect to lose all your data, because you can't get your files when there is no connection!

I just got another 1T Passport HD ($70), hooked up to my laptop, backing up the whole system and selected files regularly... another one sitting in my closet with more important stuff in it, and not connected to anywhere.

If you're insist and think it's more convenience to have your files backed up in the cloud system, you should get local HDs and backup stuff yourself anyway.

Just my two cents!
 01/16/2014 11:38:52 AM · #18
I have been using Backblaze for a few years. They have been great and after trying Carbonite and a few others. I stuck with backblaze. Currently have 4TB online backed up with them. Very happy user here. $50 a year for unlimited.

Matt

To add to what Focuspoint is saying. All of my stuff is also backed up locally to External hd's

Message edited by author 2014-01-16 11:39:58.
 01/16/2014 12:01:35 PM · #19
I use backup drives. I've been through a wildfire and a flood in the past two years. My stuff was not impacted, but it was close, in both disasters. 50' from the edge of both disasters.
June 23, 2012
September 13, 2013

I was using Carbonite. But, Carbonite stopped backing up data at about 350 GB, even though the plan said "unlimited". I'm pretty sure they wanted to sell me the business backup plan, which is ridiculously high in cost.

So, in light of the disasters which nearly took everything from me, I've built in redundancy into several TB sized hard drives. And, the plan is to move the copied files to a safe place before the next disaster, if I can find a safe place. ;-)
 01/16/2014 12:05:56 PM · #20
Originally posted by hahn23:
...if I can find a safe place...


I bought this fire proof safe, from Walmart ($30) and I put everything that is very important for me in there. If you have a small TB drive like a WD Passport, use a zipper-lock to protect from water inside the safe also... Keeping things safe is very simple and inexpensive!

Message edited by author 2014-01-16 12:06:11.
 01/16/2014 12:10:10 PM · #21
Matt - glad to hear you have been happy with them! I'll see in a few days!

Leo...good advice of course! I'll add to that for people to remember that any rotating (reusable) backup system eventually overwrites the data, so I also recommend a more permanent archival scheme like optical media for at least one copy of each file. There are of course schemes in the way you rotate media so you can keep multiple versions easily for a year or two.

I will also add that online backup is a pretty inexpensive and very convenient secondary backup though at around $50 per year unlimited. It's much more convenient than digging through discs or hard drives to find a backup file. Perhaps those with Time Machine don't have that problem if you have sufficient secondary drive space to keep it all loaded at once (and you are in the Apple ecosystem--I'm not.) I use Macrium Reflect for local backups, and I rotate media.

For my system, I have a number of redundant backup tiers, including "permanent" optical backups.

1) Permanent - Photo shoots are backed up as they come in...to Blu-ray discs (previously, DVDs and CDs).
2) Offsite Periodic - I have a complete data backup, once a year or so, that I put in a safe deposit box.
3) Permanent - I do a manual monthly backup of key data (not photos) to Blu-ray
4) Rotating - I do automatic weekly incremental backups of key data, and I manually run backups to my bare hard drive media periodically on a rotating basis.
5) Permanent - I do periodic backups of key data and master (edited) photos to Blu-ray
6) Offsite - Continuous Online backup!

I always go to the continuous online backup though as my first restore medium though...it's the most convenient!

Message edited by author 2014-01-16 12:11:22.
 01/16/2014 12:32:48 PM · #22
Originally posted by FocusPoint:
Originally posted by hahn23:
...if I can find a safe place...


I bought this fire proof safe, from Walmart ($30) and I put everything that is very important for me in there. If you have a small TB drive like a WD Passport, use a zipper-lock to protect from water inside the safe also... Keeping things safe is very simple and inexpensive!


Believe it, or not, my backup hard drives are going to ride with me in my pickup.
 01/16/2014 12:34:35 PM · #23
Originally posted by hahn23:
...Believe it, or not, my backup hard drives are going to ride with me in my pickup.


Get'em seat belts!
 01/17/2014 02:27:47 PM · #24
A brief follow up. Backblaze is much better about resources than Livedrive. But I'm finding that it too interferes with my internet connection. It's causing time outs on just web browsing access while it runs. From what I've read the problem is that the rapid upload of files totally drowns out the required handshaking for http access, thus you get timeouts (this was a problem with Livedrive too without restricting its bandwidth).

Now that's not a problem that's specifically it's fault (I more blame Time Warner Roadrunner for that) ... however, the main feature missing is a way to tell it to only backup at night. [actually, I just found this option!] The built-in auto-throttle sets the bandwidth too high, while the slider to adjust is way to coarse (in comparison, Livedrive let me specif icy Kb/s up and down limits.

ETA: other setting limitations:
1) You can specify what to exclude, but not what to include via the file extension. Having both would be a winning combination.
2) You can't exclude the C drive.
3) If you want to cherry pick a set of folders to include, you have to do it one at a time, dismissing and calling up the dialog over and over. Carbonite let you just right click on any folder in Explorer and select that (and subs). Also, you could see the status of any folder within explorer easily.

I guess I'll finish the trial with the nighttime only backup and see how that works out. I like the fact that I can set an encryption key here and then even they cannot read my files.

Message edited by author 2014-01-17 14:35:00.
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