Backing Up

[Matt]

Hello. Further to a previous post, I have basically learnt a hard
lesson about backing up my data, so now my hard drive is being dealt
with my professionals, I'm looking to the future and how I will do my
backing up.

I want something that is convenient, but also offers good capacity as
my work data continues to grow in size. To that end, I've been looking
at either getting an external hard drive or looking for more "off-
site" methods. It's probably overkill, but if something were to happen
here at home it would be good to have a backup that is at a different
location.

To that end, finding a company that provides online storage space
could be a good solution as I could access my data even when I'm away
from home, it's "off-site" and it would be easy to automate a regular
backup using an FTP server. Are their any companies out there people
can recommend?

I estimate my data requirements would be about 10GB for now, but I
would like the option to allow this to grow. I would rather pay a flat
fee and get lots of space, rather the paying by the gigabyte, as this
just discourages making the backups in the first place.

Kind Regards,

Matt

 

[Arno Wagner]

Hello. Further to a previous post, I have basically learnt a hard
lesson about backing up my data, so now my hard drive is being dealt
with my professionals, I'm looking to the future and how I will do my
backing up.

I want something that is convenient, but also offers good capacity as
my work data continues to grow in size. To that end, I've been looking
at either getting an external hard drive or looking for more "off-
site" methods. It's probably overkill, but if something were to happen
here at home it would be good to have a backup that is at a different
location.

To that end, finding a company that provides online storage space
could be a good solution as I could access my data even when I'm away
from home, it's "off-site" and it would be easy to automate a regular
backup using an FTP server. Are their any companies out there people
can recommend?

I looked at this a year ago a,d the prices I found were astronomical.
I ended up getting a vserver, as it was cheaper that all the
offsite offers. Not that I now really use it for backup.

I estimate my data requirements would be about 10GB for now, but I
would like the option to allow this to grow. I would rather pay a flat
fee and get lots of space, rather the paying by the gigabyte, as this
just discourages making the backups in the first place.

For your backup size, possibly the best solution is to get at least
two 40-80GB external 2.5" drives and backup to them alternatingly.
Better use three disks in rotation.

Arno

 

[Rod Speed]

Hello. Further to a previous post, I have basically learnt a hard lesson
about backing up my data, so now my hard drive is being dealt with my
professionals, I'm looking to the future and how I will do my backing up.

I want something that is convenient, but also offers good
capacity as my work data continues to grow in size. To that
end, I've been looking at either getting an external hard drive

Thats generally the best approach for most.

or looking for more "off-site" methods.

How viable that is really depends on the volume of NEW data you
produce and how feasible it is for the backup system to just copy
the NEW data offsite, and whether you have broadband etc.

It's probably overkill, but if something were to happen here at home
it would be good to have a backup that is at a different location.

Yes, you do need to protect against fire, flood, theft etc, even
if thats done at a lower frequency than the normal backups.

To that end, finding a company that provides online storage
space could be a good solution as I could access my data
even when I'm away from home, it's "off-site" and it would
be easy to automate a regular backup using an FTP server.
Are their any companies out there people can recommend?

You havent supplied enough data on the rate of
new data and what you have broadband wise etc.

I estimate my data requirements would be about 10GB for now,

Do you really have that much data that is irreplaceable ?

but I would like the option to allow this to grow. I would rather pay
a flat fee and get lots of space, rather the paying by the gigabyte,
as this just discourages making the backups in the first place.

Its not likely to be anything like as cheap as a DVD
burner and taking a DVD offsite occassionally.

Has your financial situation changed enough to be able to afford anything better than DVDs ?

 

[iws]

Hello. Further to a previous post, I have basically learnt a hard
lesson about backing up my data, so now my hard drive is being dealt
with my professionals, I'm looking to the future and how I will do my
backing up.

I want something that is convenient, but also offers good capacity as
my work data continues to grow in size. To that end, I've been looking
at either getting an external hard drive or looking for more "off-
site" methods. It's probably overkill, but if something were to happen
here at home it would be good to have a backup that is at a different
location.

To that end, finding a company that provides online storage space
could be a good solution as I could access my data even when I'm away
from home, it's "off-site" and it would be easy to automate a regular
backup using an FTP server. Are their any companies out there people
can recommend?

I estimate my data requirements would be about 10GB for now, but I
would like the option to allow this to grow. I would rather pay a flat
fee and get lots of space, rather the paying by the gigabyte, as this
just discourages making the backups in the first place.

Kind Regards,

Matt

For convenience and to guard against data loss due to hard drive failure as
you experienced, you need a frequent automated backup to either another
drive within your PC or an atttached USB type hard drive or DVD writer. I
like having a second internal hard drive with daily data backups scheduled.
Then there's another protection that you want against data loss due to fire,
flood etc. destroying your computer. That could be anything from a small
portable 2.5" drive to even a flash drive - Newegg has 16 GB USB flash
drives as low as $55. The latter you could keep around your neck on a
lanyard so you'd always have your data with you. It would be up to you as to
how often to back that up - maybe every week would suffice. IMHO, your risk
of data loss is far greater from hard drive failure than from some external
hazard.

 

[mscotgrove]

For convenience and to guard against data loss due to hard drive failure as
you experienced, you need a frequent automated backup to either another
drive within your PC or an atttached USB type hard drive or DVD writer. I
like having a second internal hard drive with daily data backups scheduled..
Then there's another protection that you want against data loss due to fire,
flood etc. destroying your computer. That could be anything from a small
portable 2.5" drive to even a flash drive - Newegg has 16 GB USB flash
drives as low as $55. The latter you could keep around your neck on a
lanyard so you'd always have your data with you. It would be up to you as to
how often to back that up - maybe every week would suffice. IMHO, your risk
of data loss is far greater from hard drive failure than from some external
hazard.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Over broadband, I use www.carbonite.com for $50 a year, and it has
unlimited backup capacity. It is automatic. All files are backed up
either within minutes, or within 24 hours if they are being edited
every 10 minutes. The worst one will loose is 24 hours work, and not
4 years

I've just renewed my contract after 12 months, as I am happy with it.
I have used it to access my data from another computer, but this is
not the easiest method.

Norton 360 (an maybe other ones) have 10GB backup, but this is not as
seamless as Carbonite.

I think there are other packages, but have not investigated in the
past 12 months.

I also have local physical backup, and copying critical files to
different PCs on my local network.


Michael
www.cnwrecovery.com

 

[Arno Wagner]

Over broadband, I use www.carbonite.com for $50 a year, and it has
unlimited backup capacity. It is automatic. All files are backed up
either within minutes, or within 24 hours if they are being edited
every 10 minutes. The worst one will loose is 24 hours work, and not
4 years

I've just renewed my contract after 12 months, as I am happy with it.
I have used it to access my data from another computer, but this is
not the easiest method.

Norton 360 (an maybe other ones) have 10GB backup, but this is not as
seamless as Carbonite.

I think there are other packages, but have not investigated in the
past 12 months.

I also have local physical backup, and copying critical files to
different PCs on my local network.

If you trust Carbonite (and you have to, despite their claims
of encryption, after all it is their software doing the encryption),
and you only need backups under Windows, it looks like a good deal.

Arno

 

[mscotgrove]

If you trust Carbonite (and you have to, despite their claims
of encryption, after all it is their software doing the encryption),
and you only need backups under Windows, it looks like a good deal.

Arno- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

If you are really worried about security, you can encrypt your files
first. It would be an extra stage, but if really worried/concerned/
paronoid, very possible. Carbonite only backs up files / directories
you want to to.

Personally, I am the only person interested in my (excellent) holiday
photos.

Michael

 

[Arno Wagner]

"Matt" <[email protected]> wrote in message

[...]
If you trust Carbonite (and you have to, despite their claims
of encryption, after all it is their software doing the encryption),
and you only need backups under Windows, it looks like a good deal.

Arno- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

If you are really worried about security, you can encrypt your files
first. It would be an extra stage, but if really worried/concerned/
paronoid, very possible. Carbonite only backs up files / directories
you want to to.

Personally, I am the only person interested in my (excellent) holiday
photos.

Well, for the really paranoid, this is again not enough, since you
are running their software on your system. For ordinary paranoia
levels, you approach should work well.

Arno

 

[sam]

Well, for the really paranoid, this is again not enough,
since you are running their software on your system.

Its easy to ensure that it cant do anything that matters to the system its run on.

For ordinary paranoia levels, you approach should work well.

And for the ultra paranoia too.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Its easy to ensure that it cant do anything that matters to the
system its run on.

I don't think so. Local attacks that allow privilege elevation
are notoriously easy on Windows. And even if you put it into
a virtual machine, there have been vulnerabilities, that
allowed breaking out.

And for the ultra paranoia too.

Definitely not.

Arno

 

[sam]

[...]
If you trust Carbonite (and you have to, despite their claims
of encryption, after all it is their software doing the
encryption), and you only need backups under Windows, it looks
like a good deal.

Arno- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

If you are really worried about security, you can encrypt your
files first. It would be an extra stage, but if really
worried/concerned/ paronoid, very possible. Carbonite only backs
up files / directories you want to to.

Personally, I am the only person interested in my (excellent)
holiday photos.
Well, for the really paranoid, this is again not enough,
since you are running their software on your system.

Its easy to ensure that it cant do anything that matters to the
system its run on.

I don't think so.

You're wrong.

Local attacks that allow privilege elevation are notoriously easy on Windows.

And its easy to check whether that is happening, and easy to
ensure that they cant do any damage to the system that its run on.

And even if you put it into a virtual machine, there
have been vulnerabilities, that allowed breaking out.

And its easy to check whether that is happening, and easy to
ensure that they cant do any damage to the system that its run on.

Definitely not.

Fraid so.

 

[Arno Wagner]

[...]
If you trust Carbonite (and you have to, despite their claims
of encryption, after all it is their software doing the
encryption), and you only need backups under Windows, it looks
like a good deal.

Arno- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

If you are really worried about security, you can encrypt your
files first. It would be an extra stage, but if really
worried/concerned/ paronoid, very possible. Carbonite only backs
up files / directories you want to to.

Personally, I am the only person interested in my (excellent)
holiday photos.

Well, for the really paranoid, this is again not enough,
since you are running their software on your system.

Its easy to ensure that it cant do anything that matters to the
system its run on.

I don't think so.

You're wrong.

And its easy to check whether that is happening, and easy to
ensure that they cant do any damage to the system that its run on.

And its easy to check whether that is happening, and easy to
ensure that they cant do any damage to the system that its run on.

Oh, so fighting malware is easy? I hadn't noticed. Better get rid of
that anti-virus company stock fast....

Honestly, neither of the two taks is easy, even for an expert.
The things that may prevent this attack is not that it is hard.
It is that a) it would kill the business if exposed and b) why
would the business invest money into creating this capability?

Arno

 

[sam]

[...]
If you trust Carbonite (and you have to, despite their claims
of encryption, after all it is their software doing the
encryption), and you only need backups under Windows, it looks
like a good deal.

Arno- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

If you are really worried about security, you can encrypt your
files first. It would be an extra stage, but if really
worried/concerned/ paronoid, very possible. Carbonite only backs
up files / directories you want to to.

Personally, I am the only person interested in my (excellent)
holiday photos.

Well, for the really paranoid, this is again not enough,
since you are running their software on your system.

Its easy to ensure that it cant do anything that matters to the
system its run on.
I don't think so.

You're wrong.

And its easy to check whether that is happening, and easy to
ensure that they cant do any damage to the system that its run on.

And its easy to check whether that is happening, and easy to
ensure that they cant do any damage to the system that its run on.

Oh, so fighting malware is easy?

Yep, if you know what you are doing.

I hadn't noticed. Better get rid of that anti-virus company stock fast....

Thats what you use to protect against malware.

Honestly, neither of the two taks is easy, even for an expert.
Wrong.

The things that may prevent this attack is not that it is hard.
It is that a) it would kill the business if exposed and b) why
would the business invest money into creating this capability?

Sure, but thats a separate issue to whether its perfectly possible to protect against that unlikely possibility.