Anyone use Online backup? Mozy Carbonite Backblaze

Ugh.. A couple of TERABYTES? I think you need to look at another solution!

I do use online backup for my important files (Quicken, Word/Excel, Work Files) and my pictures (~15GB). I personally use "IDrive", and pay 50/yr for 150GB of space (with versioning, which is important to me on my DOC/XLS files). I'm pretty happy with it, and it does have a free trial, so I'd suggest you download it and take a look at the program to see if it works for you. The interface leaves a bit to be desired (why can't they just use something like BE/NBU??), but it does seem to get the job done!

A couple of TBs of data is not going to happen though (unless you have a T3+ in your house!). If you really need to backup that much data, I'd suggest you get a small RAID array, backup to that on a periodic basis, and send the array offsite (safe deposit box). Anything "online" with that much data is going to almost necessitate a T3 or higher connection.

Even with a 2Mb uplink (typical cable speed), you only transfer ~300MB per hour, ~6GB/day. It would take ~150 days per TB!

Your internet provider would probably make you step up to a business-level service plan, too, if you had anywhere near that kind of bandwidth use. If we were in Japan, though, it may be an option. I think 100mbps speeds are pretty standard for consumer level connections, so that would cut your times by a factor of 50. You'd also have to wonder how truly "unlimited" those services would be when you try to upload TBs, though.

I'm backing up about 53GB of data using Mozy. Once it completes your initial backup, it just does incremental backups so it doesn't take long at all. I'm using on cable with a 1.5mb uplink.

If you have a good and preferably unlimited connection, online backup is easy to use and safe option for your important data.

I use jungledisk on my whs to back up my photos. my cost right now for 7 or gigs worth is $2.

Hi thought I would share this recent comparison... it won't let me post URL's yet so search "Mozy is superior to Backblaze (October, 2009)" in Google

All of those mentioned are ok, but I prefer a true backup with versioning. The "unlimited" space isn't really unlimited because its the same file being copied over and over. I like seperate backups. In case i delete a file I can actually recover it. Try backazon.com

Cheers
Eric

Mozy actually does support versioning -- much like how volume shadow copies on your PC work. From Chapter 1 of their user guide: "The MozyPro backup service saves 30 days of data history for each file you back up."

When you restore your files using Windows Explorer you just right-click and select "Change time..." for the drive/folder you are restoring, etc. If you do multiple backups per day, you can select individual sync times as well.

I use sugarsync, and I love it. Versioning, instant sync across computers as files are created/modified, web access to files, public sharing via web, stream music from online storage via website.

I have FIOS, 20mbit upload, so I could to 1.5TB/week if I saturated the link, but actually you will be limited by the backup service throttling ;-)

Anyway I only have 30GB storage, which is plenty for documents and pictures. If you want to backup media, its pretty static so just get a few 2TB drives and a safety deposit or a fireproof safe in your closet.

If this works it'd be a great idea to backup all our movies. I wonder how long it'd take to upload 5TB with a 512k up connection.

If you could schedule it to start backing up when were sleeping or something it's a viable option. I'd pay $5 a month to store my 5TB's even if it does take a few months of copying and would take a month of downloading if needed.

The only movies that this would be useful for is home movies. There is no point in using an online backup service for movies that can easily be ripped again.

I'd think it'd be a lot easier to download 400+ movies than to rip them. It would download automatically instead of having to spend a 100 hours infront of a computer swapping discs. Its taken me around 3 months to get my movies ripped and i'm still not done. Plus this would be more of a disaster recovery if like fire,flood or i was robbed. It wouldn't replace flexraid or anything.

I'm not saying to not back them up, but use another disc drive or something. It would take a very long time to upload those movies online in the first place before you would even have the chance to download them.

I use Crashplan. Yes the initial backup take a very long time, but its not my primary backup it is my disaster recovery.

I mainly use it for things I never want to lose if say there is a fire and my other backups are destroyed.

But it's the only one that offers unlimited storage, multiple PC support (up to 10 on one account), network drives, and is multiplatform.

I looked at Backblaze and the like, but they all had the critical limitation of not supporting network drives. Reason that was important is I store all my digital pictures (about the only thing I care to back up) on my NAS, so I needed something that would allow backing up network drives. When I found Crashplan I jumped on the family plan. $287 for four years unlimited storage for 10 computers.

Now it's even better because I have it running on my unRAID box automatically keeping all my digital pictures and personal info backed up. And I run it on all of my computers actually, all for that same price of (what amounts to) $6/mo.

I was initially set on getting Crashplan, and I heard a lot of people talk about how slow it is, and I stumbled on this review that compares the different services. I think I'm going to go with Backblaze instead. I don't like how the restore is setup as far as requesting zip files goes, but it seems like they are the fastest option of the bunch. Has anyone else tried them?

The review is here.
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/136531-backup-master-class-mozy-carbonite-and-backblaze-compared/3

Interesting. I will now have to make a choice between Crashplan and Backblaze.

I use Spideroak. I prefer their security model over the other companies, and I love the ability to sync separate libraries into one library across computers and operating systems.

http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/04/spideroak-dropbox-for-the-security-obsessive/

And yes, I'm aware that other companies offer the same features. But I'm happy with it.
Edited by robnix - 2/24/13 at 4:45pm

Well that chart doesn't exactly show if Crashplan is better or worse.

I use the free Crashplan and I have an external HDD (that I preloaded) at my out of state parents' house. Crashplan connects to it at whatever I set as the max upload speed. I don't use their cloud service.

Your right it doesn't, but from what I have heard Crashplan speeds aren't as good, but I could be wrong. I'd love to hear comparisons with other people for their results.
Edited by chap - 2/25/13 at 4:24am

99.9% of the time I would be using the services is to send my data. That will be limited by my upload speed and I even limit that further within the software so I'm not using up all my bandwidth.

This service is my last line of defense (house burns down) so if I have to restore all my data then I'll have more things on my mind than the best restore speed. In my case I'll just have my parents ship me the HDD and I'll do an on-site restore.

$5 a month seems reasonable

We are debating "speed" of online backup services?

Put me in the "don't care" category. Much more important things to consider.

The only time you would have an issue with speed is during your inital seed of data up to crashplan. It took me two weeks to upload 1tb worth of data (worse two weeks of my life as I thought everysecond the computer would crash and lose all my data...just me being paranoid). If this is your main concern have Crashplan send you a drive...you upload your data to the drive....and they seed your information....(for a fee)

Victor, what speed is your upload capability? Honestly 1TB in 2 weeks isn't that bad all things considered, but I'm curious if Crashplan was using your link effectively.

If you read the comments on the site that ran that comparison you'll find many there chose Crashplan.

Wait, those two weeks were the worst two weeks in your life? What did you use for backup prior to those two weeks? And you either have lived a perfect life or a very uneventful life if that ranks up with the worst week of your life.

what I used prior to backup...nothing.... My life is very boring....no sky diving...don't ride with a motorcycle gang.