Who uses online Cloud Storage as one of their back up methods?

2014-01-24 08:30:52

Hi all

Have been thinking about this but not sure what the pros and cons are. So I wondered how many people are using online Cloud Storage for their music libraries?

I've seen it for less than a fiver for unlimited (companies such as Crash Plan). And to be honest it is these types I'm talking about for myself as the more expensive and well known "clouds" are well out of my price league. So if there are additional pit falls to using the cheaper options, then please let me know.

Many thanks

Max

Who uses online Cloud Storage as one of their back up methods?

Reply #1 – 2014-01-24 12:46:40

I loved CrashPlan. It was foolproof, nicely priced, and rick solid - backed up everything, boot and 2 other internals, never noticed the processes. Mac.

Only reason I quit is I retired and it's not as critical.

Who uses online Cloud Storage as one of their back up methods?

Reply #2 – 2014-01-24 14:23:29

I will put in another vote for Crashplan.  It is pretty much "set it and forget it type backup".

The main downside is that it is quite resource heavy.  You do not want to run it with under 4 GB of RAM and 8 GB is better.  It can also use a fair bit of CPU power doing de-duplication depending on how big your backup set is.

Who uses online Cloud Storage as one of their back up methods?

Reply #3 – 2014-01-24 16:15:00

Thanks for that.  I think I need to do some more research.  I thought the cloud was just like having an external HD, but on the internet instead.  So I'm not understanding how it would use such resources from the PC.  Clearly I have not got to grips with the concept of clouds yet!

Cheers

Who uses online Cloud Storage as one of their back up methods?

Reply #4 – 2014-01-24 18:59:31

"The cloud" is many things.  There are services that let you use cloud storage just like a (really slow) external drive.  There are services that leave your files on your drive, but sync them automatically.  Ex Dropbox. 

Backup services like Crashplan differ in that they do send (ie, upload) your files, they don't automatically download them.  If you install Crashplan on a second PC you won't magically get all your backed up files like you would with Dropbox.  The other important difference is that changed files don't overwrite old versions.  If you delete a file it is not deleted from the backup.  The cloud copy is a true backup, and you can restore your files to previous points in time.  Unless you pay extra, services like Dropbox will remove deleted/changed files permanently after a relatively short set period of time.  Some services don't even do that, they just mirror what you have in real time.

Crashplan's resource usage is caused by two factors.  First it compresses, de-duplicates and encrypts your files before sending them to the cloud.  In most cases this is a good thing because it reduces bandwidth usage and increases security.  The second is that it is written in Java.  This means it uses far more memory than a comparable program written in a more efficient language.  The Java thing is really the only major downside to Crashplan, it's other features make it worthwhile unless you are memory limited.