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Cloud Backup Solutions?

Waylander

By Waylander
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Waylander Newbie

Waylander

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Team
One thing the recent pc snafu has (re)taught me:
1) No point having an external 2tb hdd if you don't actually sync to it for ages - Synctoy current deployed as I type
2) get a blooming cloud storage soution sorted

Now I use OneDrive for my important docs but I still use it in a very inefficient manner as I copy across files rather and actually have it so it auto-syncs or incorpotates any folder on my desktop (yes I know I have the OneDrive Folder on my desktop but I mean I haven't worked out of it until this week)

BUT I need something I can set-up for all the family's stuff
Photos is being taken care of as well speak painfully slowly with Google Photo and its unlimited storage but what about something I can sync everyone various "my documents" folders with?

Free would be good otherwise cheap but with low performance overheads?

Thanks

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CarMad Explorer

CarMad

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I'm still using CrashPlan is this one better / different in any way. Not had any issues so far other than it was a memory hog for a while but that seems to have fixed itself now. 

 

I'm due to renew in the next few months I think. I use it to backup to an HD and into the cloud and it seems fine but I've not tried to restore anything I have to admit. 

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burble Newbie

burble

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I was using Crashplan but go fed up with the crappy upload speeds.  Not a problem when you're just uploading incremental backups but a real pain when you've got a couple of Tb to upload and it won't go above 3Mbps.  If you disable to dedup then it improved it a lot, but it still wasn't great.

Since switching to Backblaze I'm able to hit the full 20Mbps.  I also find that when the backup is running my VoIP phone doesn't suffer even though the backup is using more bandwidth than it was on Crashplan.

 

I'm due to renew in the next few months I think. I use it to backup to an HD and into the cloud and it seems fine but I've not tried to restore anything I have to admit. 

 

I'd suggest you try a restore, it should work just fine but it's good to know how the restore works in advance of having to use it in anger.

 

I know of people that have had problems doing a restore with Crashplan, I had no such problems.

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Mac Apprentice

Mac

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Crashplan - so, so many issues. Firstly, terrible upload. Next, none of my test restores worked. Also, support was ridiculously slow to respond and closed calls without actually talking to you. I.e. This is a problem your end //call closed.

 

Wouldn't touch them with Riz's.

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Mac Apprentice

Mac

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They're backup solutions so point in time store. You can download individual files.

 

OneDrive/DropBox/Google Docs can be set up in this way - I.e. Setup a PIT store and copy stuff in - but they're really file sync mechanisms.

 

Back blaze = install/forget/relax

 

Sync service - you have to manage stuff. 

 

Honestly I use a combination of the above. Back blaze backs up all the important stuff constantly, and then I have PIT stores in my Office365 account.

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Mac Apprentice

Mac

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Also, it's worth pointing out your online backups should be your backup of last resort. Ideally, managed properly, you should never need it. I always have at least THREE copies of my important stuff in addition to my live store. Important stuff being things you can't recreate of course - photos/videos etc.

 

Work stuff gets the same attention, but hell, at a push, I can recreate most of that. Lose my photos though I'd be crying for a month.

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CarMad Explorer

CarMad

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Ditto, this is only as a belt and braces which is why I've not restored anything from it. 

 

I have two other copies in the house and I still use crash plan to create an external backup of everything as well. When I did weddings I wouldn't remove the photos from the original media until I knew it was in at least 2 other places one of which was offsite. +++

 

Telling clients and companies that they need to think about disaster recovery and not doing the same myself would be a little silly of me to say the least.  :uhoh:

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NewNiceMrMe Newbie

NewNiceMrMe

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I dropped CrashPlan years ago for all the reasons mentioned above.

 

For what Waylander is talking about I use the Dropbox solution Mac has referenced.

 

We use a single Dropbox Pro account on all machines and all docs sync to it.  Nice and easy, swift access from mobile devices, etc. 

 

It is 1 Tb of storage but that is more than ample when all our photos are going elsewere (Amazon Photo's and now Google Photo's too).

 

As a footnote, if you're an Amazon Prime customer you'll find that Amazon Photo's also comes with Cloud Drive.  This gives you 5gb of storage space for documents free (photos is unlimited but it detects other kinds of documents and they count towards your use of Cloud Drive).   Beyond 5gb, you can upgrade your plan to 20gb for £6 a year, or 100gb for £32 a year - but that is expensive compared to other plans elsewhere. 

 

I find that our 'documents' use is very low.

 

From a critical back-up perspective I use Time Machine and a 2 Tb local drive that I plug in every now and again.  Almost all my business related stuff is covered by either Dropbox or OneDrive under my Office 365 subscription anyway. 

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burble Newbie

burble

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Ditto, this is only as a belt and braces which is why I've not restored anything from it.

 

What's the point of the belt and braces stuff if you're not 100% sure it works?  To get to the stage where you need to restore from an offsite backup is bad enough but to get that far and find you can't restore would be pretty sickening.  I'd really suggest you check you can restore from your Crashplan backup.

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Waylander Newbie

Waylander

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Great.

My is currently churning away backing up all the pix to Google Photo (I am sure it will take yonks)

I really need to use OneDrive properly too - in that at the moment the Folder isn't even mapped to "My Documents" (easily added I agree) so when I start any new work locally I add the file to One Drive - rather than using it as my default save location

 

btw peeps - for wife/kids: leave them with Google Docs or set up Live Accounts for One Drive too? (former seems more sensible as they are Android users)

 

Mac/NNMM - you guys both use Office 365 I know. I may well in due course also have a licence for this (via work). How does than change things in terms of storing and syncing MS Office files etc etc?

 

(thanks again re Back Blaze - will go off to purchase)

 

Photos - I synctoy them to 2 external HDDs (locally connected) and now will also be in cloud

 

I might sometime in the future get my sh*t together and install a home server (mainly for media stuff) so that will be a potential solution too

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Tipex Newbie

Tipex

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Is there any software that can search through my computer and find all the photos, and separate duplicates?

Over the years, many memory card dumps on to the laptop have happened in to files all over the shop, sometimes I've then not deleted the files off the card before adding more to it, and then dumping the contents on to the laptop again a month later.

Daft I know, but when I'm in a rush...

It'll take me forever to manually go through all the files and sort out what to back up, what to delete etc.

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CarMad Explorer

CarMad

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What's the point of the belt and braces stuff if you're not 100% sure it works?  To get to the stage where you need to restore from an offsite backup is bad enough but to get that far and find you can't restore would be pretty sickening.  I'd really suggest you check you can restore from your Crashplan backup.

;) To truly really need it two houses would need to have burnt down to the ground, possible but unlikely.  +++

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NewNiceMrMe Newbie

NewNiceMrMe

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Mac/NNMM - you guys both use Office 365 I know. I may well in due course also have a licence for this (via work). How does than change things in terms of storing and syncing MS Office files etc etc?

 

 

It doesn't in my case.

 

I have a very specific way of working that works for me.

 

It is this:

 

Create document

Save document to Dropbox

 

Done. :roflmao:

 

Every now and again I'll set off a transfer to OneDrive if I can be bothered.  The reason I use this method is because it has never let me down and I stick with what I know works instead of exploring new opportunities if I don't need to.  There is certainly an element of cost inefficiency to it (after all, I get OneDrive as part of my subscription, so why pay for Dropbox?) but I'm happy to accept that when it works so fantastically with all my Apple devices.

 

I did have a mess around with OneDrive in terms of looking at using it as my first port of call but I found it clunky by comparison.  I will try again in the future but I just love the simplicity of Dropbox and how ultra reliable it is (and again I know OneDrive is hyper reliable too).

 

I think you have to bear in mind that my use of these systems isn't really for back-up, it is for mobile working because that constitutes the most critical part of what I do.  When it comes to that and daily access to documents from any device, Dropbox gets my vote.+++

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Mac Apprentice

Mac

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OneDrive in '365 is in no way related to the Consumer OneDrive platform so don't get them mixed up. It's OneDrive for Business, which is effectively SharePoint. It's utterly terrible from a sync client perspective, and is shortly about to be replaced.

 

It's a great dumping ground, or if your company actually uses this method of doc management, but it's not a DropBox/OneDrive(Consumer) replacement.

 

I have a 100Gb 'free' OneDrive Consumer offering, and I use that over DropBox. No particular reason, just started using it, it's free, never got around to changing...Nor do I have any particular drive to.

Edited by Mac
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Waylander Newbie

Waylander

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Lol

Thanks Both that is a useful perspective. Conversely I found dropbox a little clunky and so didn't bother trying to get more adept at it as OneDrive seemed so straight forward to use.

100gb - I vaguely recall MS were offering that for free in the US while we got 5gb(?) here in the UK but clearly you're not the standard consumer anyway +++

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NewNiceMrMe Newbie

NewNiceMrMe

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Mac makes a good point - OneDrive for Business is Sharepoint in effect and they even use the Sharepoint logo in various places and in the settings.

 

I've just logged in to look at some of the settings and spotted something I'd not noticed before - Sway.  What is that all about?  Presentation related in some way but I can't be bothered to look in detail at the moment.

 

Oh and the Exchange service is showing as "degraded".  Sort it out.  :roflmao:

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Waylander Newbie

Waylander

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Is there any software that can search through my computer and find all the photos, and separate duplicates?

Over the years, many memory card dumps on to the laptop have happened in to files all over the shop, sometimes I've then not deleted the files off the card before adding more to it, and then dumping the contents on to the laptop again a month later.

Daft I know, but when I'm in a rush...

It'll take me forever to manually go through all the files and sort out what to back up, what to delete etc.

http://www.howtogeek.com/200962/how-to-find-and-remove-duplicate-files-on-windows/?PageSpeed=noscript

 

Ive just installed and run duplicate file finder and managed to delete 5gb of duplicates over the past 20mins while doing some work

It is very basic but you can spot patterns and delete entire duplicate folders

Still leave 320 pix with 1 duplicate each but that is under 400mb so i'll live!!

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chasdrury Newbie

chasdrury

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OneDrive in '365 is in no way related to the Consumer OneDrive platform so don't get them mixed up. It's OneDrive for Business, which is effectively SharePoint. It's utterly terrible from a sync client perspective, and is shortly about to be replaced.

It's a great dumping ground, or if your company actually uses this method of doc management, but it's not a DropBox/OneDrive(Consumer) replacement.

I have a 100Gb 'free' OneDrive Consumer offering, and I use that over DropBox. No particular reason, just started using it, it's free, never got around to changing...Nor do I have any particular drive to.

I'm using OneDrive for business and have no issues, but what's it being replaced with, and when?

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