Online Data Backup........

[mazz]

Anyone have any experience with this?I found this company and was wondering if anyone was using them or a comparable service (scroll down to unlimited data storage)?http://www.hiwired.com/services/Default.aspxLiving in earthquake country and starting to write professionally makes me think I need to protect my assets (and my ass!! ) and this company's price looks pretty darn good for unlimited storage.Another New Year's Resolution to add to the list!Cheers,Mazz

[gitarrero]

hey mazz,I'm currently going over the whole backup-thing as well - in times of bits and bytes it's just necessary.I've just checked out the offer of this company, but I think it's not very suitable for me personally:* my backup data would be something around 120 gb. it'd take a long time to upload that...* beside that theres an automatic upload (and maybe only uploading the files that have chanced) I don't really see a benefit compared to do it by myself: why not upload it to a secured folder of my webserver? files get stored there in a 3-way system and get backed up daily.* last but not least I don't like an internet connection and/or software with automatical timers on my music studio-PC. I'm not an expert in that, but as far as I know it can easely influence the reliability of the system.I think I'll continue with backups via the standard 3-way system (portable harddrive, another harddrive, dvds). blueray-disc would help, though cheers,martin

[mazz]

Hi Martin,Thanks for the reply. I hear what you are saying. I do backups the way you do too but I'm looking for something offsite in case something happens to my physical backups.I have an older Mac I could use as a "backup server", in other words, I could transfer a portable hard drive with the backups on it and let the old mac put the stuff up on line without bogging down my main computer.Anyone else thinking about this or doing this?Mazz

[matto]

It sounds great in theory. The problem I see is that in order to get back up and working quickly after a fatal system failure (whether caused by a natural disaster, house fire or simply a computer blowing up) I would need to store several hundred GBs remotely.How long would it take to retrieve, say, 600GB over the internet? My guess is too long to be getting back up and working "quickly"... matto

[ckbarlow]

Quote:Hi Martin,...I have an older Mac I could use as a "backup server", in other words, I could transfer a portable hard drive with the backups on it and let the old mac put the stuff up on line without bogging down my main computer....MazzSince you specifically said "off site" I won't go down the Time Machine route. (If you have a day job it might make sense - take the backup with you every day so it's effectively off site. I routinely leave backup drives at my office when I leave town -- I've suffered too many break-ins at home.)But for an upload-based service, I think you're on the right track with your older Mac as a server. Taking the server idea a step further, rather than a portable hard drive would you be up for networking your old Mac with your current studio Mac, and perhaps using a combination of Time Machine or other automated local backup app, and then use the upload service from the old Mac?I understand Martin's concern about automated backups wreaking havoc, but maybe you can schedule them so that they won't interfere. For example, set your working Mac to wake up at 2 a.m. (or whenever you're definitely not working) and run a backup to Old Mac, then Old Mac gets going on the upload after that's completed....?

[ckbarlow]

and BTW... I'm not claiming to know how to network 'em! Just seems like the logical next idea. If memory serves, I've seen many articles in Elec. Musician over the years on networking Macs for various reasons.

[mazz]

Networking is cool but both computers are still in the same physical location (or at least the same building). That kind of defeats my purpose although I hadn't thought about bringing a portable drive to the day gig. At least until I don't need the day gig anymore!! I agree that internet retrieval is going to be slow but I'm not working on 600G of material at any one time. Some of it will be cold storage, which means I don't need it right away, it's archived. But it does take a long time to get even 1G downloaded!I'm not talking about backing up my samples and applications although that might not be a bad idea in case the original discs are destroyed. That would suck pretty bad too!I'm not trying to be doom and gloom here but it's a concern with the growing collection of DVDs and hard drives I'm acquiring.Mazz

[sgs4u]

C K, you're a heckuva lot more than a pretty face. Great solution. Welcome to the Forum. Mazz, I hate to say it, but don't quit your day job quite yet, you still need a decent place to store back-ups...Quote:If you have a day job it might make sense - take the backup with you every day so it's effectively off site. I routinely leave backup drives at my office when I leave town -- I've suffered too many break-ins at home.

[anne]

Wow, C K - you live nearby AND your a mac user I just picked up a 500gb hard drive so I can keep one copy of all music in my house and in the studio in case of a break in or accident in one location. Mazz - do you have a mac? why not just get a .mac account as that supplies all your remote storage needs as well as some other functions for $99/ yr. I didn't remember what platform use for your music.

[ckbarlow]

Quote:Networking is cool but both computers are still in the same physical location (or at least the same building). That kind of defeats my purposenetworking is just step 1: get working files from Current Mac to Old Mac.step 2: old Mac uploads to offsite backup service without disrupting Current Mac.