BACKUP! ARE YOU SAFE?

Crosstown member Brian Billadeau has written an article concerning the use of an internet service to backup all of your valuable photographs and personal information to the "Cloud". It provides valuable information about the all-important need to protect your images and data from possible disaster. Excerpts are reprinted below:

BACKUP TERMS

ONSITE – backup to a hard drive, network drive, CDs or DVDs kept at same location as computer.

OFFSITE – same as onsite, but storage devices are kept at different physical location.

ONLINE – files are copied over the internet directly to a storage destination.

INCREMENTAL BACKUP – running a recurring scheduled backup (continuous, hourly, daily, weekly).

CLONING – using a utility application to make an exact duplicate of a hard drive.

ENCRYPTION – securing data with a scrambling algorithm between source and destination.

VERSIONING – retention of multiple states of a given file.

Onsite backups cannot protect you from disasters such as fire, flood, or theft. The best protection is in the CLOUD today's buzzword for online storage and computing. With the growth of broadband and the low-cost of storage, it's no longer just for business. Home users can now get unlimited online storage space for as little as $50 per year, making this a smart and cheap technology investment.

This new consumer market for online storage is exploding with new companies popping-up regularly. So you have to be careful to consider the service that best meets your needs. Some block certain file formats, have different storage limits, poor security, or poor infrastructure. And of course you may worry about whether the company you chose will be in business years from now. After months of research, testing and comparisons, I have narrowed down my choices for Cloud backups to three sources:

CARBONITE

PROS: Unlimited Space • Automated Software • 128-bit Security • Remote Access to Files • Mac/PC

CONS: Does not automatically backup certain file types • File size limits • No external drive support • Power features not available on Mac • Speed Throttling

PRICE: Single User/Computer = $55 per year

MOZY

PROS: Unlimited Space • Automated Software • 128-bit Security • External Drive Support • Up To 30-Day File Versioning • DVD Restore Option • Mac/PC

CONS: Does not automatically backup certain file types • Possible file size limits • No remote access to files • 2x Protect feature Windows only

PRICE: Single User/Computer = $55 per year

CRASHPLAN+

PROS: Unlimited Space • Automated Software • Onsite, Offsite & Online Options with Multiple backup Sets • 256/448-bit Security • External Drive Support • Flexible File Versioning • Retains Deleted Files • No Auto File Type or Size Restrictions • Pre-Seeding Option • Hard Drive Restore Option • Mac/PC/Linux/Solaris

CONS: No remote access to files at this time

PRICE: Single User/Computer with 10GB storage = $25 per year, or Unlimited storage = $50 per year/Family Plan (2-10 users) unlimited storage for $120 per year

After testing all three, I went with CrashPlan+ because it best fit my needs. Carbonite and Mozy are good services, but CrashPlan+ software gives me the flexibility to take care of both my onsite and online backup with a single application solution, with features the other two don't have plus greater security. I do highly recommend CrashPlan+, but you should determine for yourself what service works best for your situation.

While an online backup could replace your onsite backup, I still feel the onsite backup is important as your first-line for recovery. Doing a full recovery from an online backup may take days or weeks to complete, or be expensive using their delivered drives or DVDs (to your location), whereas onsite recovery is measured in hours with no additional fees. It also gives you redundancy just in case your online service has problems.

Brian Billadeau