Backup Solutions - which is better, online solutions or FTP using backup software

[jackyah333]

I run a small home business and I am looking for a good backup solution for off-site storage.

What are the pro's and con's of going for an online backup solution like SpiderOak, Backblaze, Crashplan or Dropbox and backup software like Todo Backup, Genie Backup Manager, FBackup or NovaBackup, that backs up your data via FTP to your domain?

Online backup solutions seems to be hugely popular, but why would anyone pay $5-$10 per month for this when they can use freeware such as Todo Backup and FTP it to your own domain - which only costs R99 per year in my case?? Am I missing something?

I would really like to hear some opinions.

 

[Al P]

A lot depends on the amount of data you want to backup and your line speed. It can take hours or days to run your first backup. The subsequent backups - if only backing up what has changed - may be quick and then the "cloud" service is useful. You can use an assortment of online backup companies and if your data requirements are small, back it up for free (Drop box, Skydrive, etc). The problem is data security - you have no control over where the data is stored and you might contravene some laws by storing sensitive data in another country, plus if you need to restore something quickly, that might not always be possible.

Yes use open source/freeware software to backup up to your own domain, but beware there may be hidden costs associated with this, plus the added traffic might push your monthly bandwidth into another pricing threshold.

Take a look at mrbackup.co.za they might have a solution for you.

 

[kissingmybbgoodbye]

Your R99,00 hosting will probably come with AUP that forbids you to use it as a online storage solution. E.G. They will only host files which have a direct relationship to the website you're hosting. If you backup your C: drive you will break that policy unless you want to share it with the rest of the world. There is a big security risk as well storing data on shared hosting servers

 

[jackyah333]

A lot depends on the amount of data you want to backup and your line speed. It can take hours or days to run your first backup. The subsequent backups - if only backing up what has changed - may be quick and then the "cloud" service is useful. You can use an assortment of online backup companies and if your data requirements are small, back it up for free (Drop box, Skydrive, etc). The problem is data security - you have no control over where the data is stored and you might contravene some laws by storing sensitive data in another country, plus if you need to restore something quickly, that might not always be possible.

Yes use open source/freeware software to backup up to your own domain, but beware there may be hidden costs associated with this, plus the added traffic might push your monthly bandwidth into another pricing threshold.

Take a look at mrbackup.co.za they might have a solution for you.

I have about 120GB data to backup so dropbox and skydrive wont do the trick. I will have a look at mrbackup, thank you very much

 

[jackyah333]

Your R99,00 hosting will probably come with AUP that forbids you to use it as a online storage solution. E.G. They will only host files which have a direct relationship to the website you're hosting. If you backup your C: drive you will break that policy unless you want to share it with the rest of the world. There is a big security risk as well storing data on shared hosting servers

Hmmmm, you have a good point there, I will have to check out Afrihost's policies on this, but I suspect you are right. thanks for pointing this out, it never occurred to me.......

 

[jackyah333]

Hmmmm, you have a good point there, I will have to check out Afrihost's policies on this, but I suspect you are right. thanks for pointing this out, it never occurred to me.......

Yep, suppose I should have saved myself all the trouble and checked out Afrihost first. Backing up to my domain is definitely out of the question - they make sure of that Apart from their policies which I haven't even started to investigate, their largest pro package R400 pm, you only get 50GB space.

And even more clever, they offer their OWN backup solution to their clients. And the cost for only 100GB storage space is a whopping R399 pm! Comparing that to SpiderOak's online backup solution - 100GB for $10 pm - its a no brainer where I'll be going for backups.

 

[bekdik]

Probably the simplest solution is to get a couple of USB drives and to back up a week at a time to a drive. The unused drive can be stored off site to cover fire or flood.

Obviously you could backup & swap daily if required.

A great way of making a copy of a folder and its subfolders is a program called ROBOCOPY which is free from microsoft. It will only copy new or changed data.