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Hi Guys,
I’ve been doing backups to tape on a daily basis, but would like to find a way I can dump my business’ files down to an off site server. My ISP offers 5 meg as part of it’s package but I really need about 100 meg total for drawing, and other larger files. I know there are companies that do this work. Does anyone have any recommendations?
Thanks for your help.
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Replies
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Kim, I would highly recommend getting a R-RW CD Rom. I got one on my new computer upgrade last month and I can now make quick copies of files up to 650MB. I haven't tried the option of overwriting some previous files but I think that's possible also.
*I'm with the other Ron on this one. I once tried installing a "remote control" program at home, and backing up files from work on my home computer. But it takes b tonsof time to transfer 10 megs of stuff. A writable CD-Rom can write up to 4 megs a minute (I think) and will last a heck of a long time. The Cds are only about a buck apiece, maybe double that if you buy the re-writable ones.
*http://backup.com $100 a yearwww.connected.com $15 monthlywww.driveway.comwww.I-drive.comwww.xdrive.com
*I definitely agree with Ron & Ron that a CD-R or CD-RW recorder would serve you well. As the latest recorders will utilize either CD-R (recordable) or CD-RW (rewritable), I would probably go with the CD-R. While you can't reuse them or correct your mistakes like you can with CD-RW disks, the CD-R's are most likely more archival and can be read from a wider variety of older CD-ROM drives if the need should ever arise - and the disks are also cheaper at about a buck apiece. Current CD-R/RW drives run from about $170 up to $350 or so; although if you only wanted to do CD-R you could probably find an older CD-R only recording drive for much cheaper.Burning your own CD-R's would not only likely be faster than sending it on-line, but you wouldn't have to worry about your on-line archive going belly up or having a service outage with your ISP. A hundred megs is not all that much data so you could also store it on a Zip drive, which goes for under $100 these days. However, the CD-R would definitely be much more archival and could be cheaper in the long run if you wanted to hold onto all of those old files forever, as I tend to do. You can check out the comparison tests of CD-R/RW at PC Magazine and PC World at:http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/stories/reviews/0,6755,2448917,00.htmlhttp://www.pcworld.com/top400/article/0,1361,15906,00.html
*I love my Fujitsu 600Mb MO (magneto-optical) drive that I picked up cheap. Fast and reliable -- even applications can execute directly from the disk! -- and the easier the backup system is to use the more often you will use it. Perhaps paranoia, but I don''t trust magnetic media for archival storage. The technology is changing quick and I would definitely look at CD-RW and DVD-RAM now. Over the web would only make sense if you have aT-1/DSL/cable modem or other high-speed connection. The obvious advantages would be getting your archives off-site (in case of fire, flood, theft), and accessing them from elsewhere. Don't forget encryption if the data is sensitive!
*Beautiful furniture, Kim! (I don't have an answer for you.)
*Kim, I don't have an answer either but did go to your web site.Very fine work and you've sure found your market. Vince
*Hi Guys,Thanks for all your good advise. Please no more. What I found out follows, for other people's information.First of all I'd like to address two concerns that people have voiced about Internet backup.Long Transfer Times: First of all I don't need to transfer 100 meg on a daily basis - I only need to transfer those files that change (do incremental backups). Typically changed files represent a much smaller number than total data. In my case 500K max. This is essentially zero time even with a standard modem. However I do need 100 meg of storage to accommodate all my "user data" - drawings, Photoshop files, accounting data etc. If I was a big enough business that I had 100meg that needed backup on a daily basis I could afford a T1 line, which would still make this issue moot.Security: Maybe I'm naive but I just don't think this is an issue. No one wants my drawings, my accounting data. And if they do, I'm just not going to worry about it. But this said, the services I've found use strong encryption on the client side prior to transfer. At the host the files stay encrypted. So unless you believe "pretty good security" isn't this issue is also moot.Advantages to internet backup over "keeping it in house."Off Site Storage: I'm not just worried about my hard drive failing. I'm worried about theft, fire, virus, hacking in addition to hardware failure. Off Site backup addresses these issues.Portability: Since this is essentially an encrypt: zip: FTP process, it is hardware independent. This makes disaster recovery trivial. I backed up my files at the shop onto the server and then loaded them up to my home platform last night to test DR. If I was on the road with a laptop and forgot my name and address file, I could simply download it from the backup.Fire and Forget: Why not use CDRW? This was actually the other alternative I considered because tapes are really not portable between platforms. But my experience with CDRW is that it takes a lot of manual intervention to do the write. I want a process that I can schedule and forget. Once designed and architected the process should run itself without my intervention. I also don't want to have to keep track of all the backup files. That process should also be automated. Proper backup should be fully automated even for small shops like mine.I've found a couple of services that provide what I need and I'm in the process of testing them: http://www.backup.com and http://www.safeguard.com. Both these products cost about $100 per year and can be fully automated. You simply select the files and folders you want backed up, schedule the backup and leave your machine on. The product wakes up at the appointed time, selects those files that have changed since the last backup, encrypts them, dials your ISP, downloads the backups, logs off, and writes you a report. You can tailor what you want done, e.g. take incrementals daily and full backups weekly. You can keep multiple generations going back as long as you want. So far I've tested backup.com and it seems to work just fine. I'm going to test safeguard next. Both offer 30-day free trial periods. Kim Carleton GravesCarleton Woodworking
*If you need no more than 300 mg space, the website http://www.myspace.com gives it to you free! I am using it and it works super. You can connect with it from everywhere you can connect with the internet and free is a good thing, I think! Good luck....
*It was mentioned, but not expanded upon, but anything recorded on a CD-RW must be played back on a compatible CD-RW drive -- same software. This creates the same disadvantage as a Zip drive, that is, you need the same equipment at both sites. On the other hand, write-only CD-ROMs are pretty cheap, and if you don't need or wish to re-use the CD, then it can be recorded upon and read in any CD-ROM drive.
*Another standards war. If you are just intent on short-term backup, then a unit that will be Betamaxed -- obsolescent standard -- 5 years from now is not such a big deal. I've seen CD-RW, CD-R/W, DVD-RAM, DVD-R/W, DVD+RW ... (no kidding, alphabet soup) ... i'm interested in the DVD-RAM ... up to 5 gigs(!) ... price is determinative if interchangeability is not.