Computer backup strategies

All of the looking at new laptops and discussing storage options has me rethinking my computer backup options.

Right now I have a couple of external USB HDs that I have used to back up most of my important (and not so important) data, such as tax forms, photos, etc. I’ve got about 500 megs or so (and growing) of data and “stuff” I need to keep backed up and would not want to lose, and perhaps 1T of stuff that I’d really like to keep back up.

My current other approach is a subscription to Carbonite. I discovered some years ago this is a backup and not external storage, the difference being if I delete, say, a folder of work files on my notebook, that folder will also be deleted from my Carbonite backup. It’s purpose is to stay synced with the notebook storage, not save space.

But I am guessing there’s a better way to back up my "stuff’. Something I can do on a regular basis (e.g. once a week or so plus immediately when something important goes on the computer storage.)

What do you guys use? I’m looking for that ideal combination of affordable, secure, and relatively fast (for say 1 TB of data and files.) And reliable (I worry that one day my drives will crash and I’ll go to get my data from one of the external HDDs and they will go bad.)

Thanks

At work, combination of onsite and offsite external drives with multiple redundancies from server.

At home… get a Mac, hook up external disk. Done. Stick on in safe every couple months. If it must be kep safe at all costs, get a safe deposit box and switch it out every year

I don’t “trust” online storage though I’m sure it’s probably a better solution for most people. Trust as in I’m 99% sure it’s on the level but I’m not sure what happens to my data if company X running it goes bankrupt or is hacked.

One drive is what I use.

Onedrive is a fine option. Office365 is $90/year and includes 1TB of Onedrive storage. It’s not only pure backup, but also works as cloud storage. And you get Office too-- great value here if you use it.

Amazon cloud drive is $60/year for unlimited storage. I don’t love the service, but it is very cheap. Like Onedrive, it’s a real cloud drive.

Finally you come to the real backup solutions; I use and recommend Crashplan myself. It’s unlimited storage also, but you don’t get a “cloud drive”. It’s $60/year, or like $120 for 5 computers-- that’s what I pay for.

I use Actonis True Image with my WD NAS.

The great part about crashplan vs carbonite:

  • removing a path like an external drive doesn’t delete it from the cloud
  • you can backup network shares

Having said that I recently cancelled crashplan and moved to sync back pro + amazon cloud drive.
Turn on encryption and multiple file versions and then schedule it for nightly, weekly, and monthly backups depending on what data set I’m backing up. I’m having some fun with acd and now have 5.6TB uploaded so far.

Keep in mind, that 90/year for One Drive is only if you want 5 separate subscriptions, with 5 individual one drive clouds. 70 dollars a year for one person though.

Do you guys trust all your documents to OneDrive/Google Drive? Or is there stuff you don’t trust them with? I notice OneDrive has a “personal vault” with an added layer of security. But the amount of storage for free accounts is very low. An alternative would be to use something like encrypted ZIP files, but the large file sizes aren’t optimal for cloud storage.

So far, I put everything on One Drive. Never really thought to much about the extra security layer, because it’s Microsoft.

If its important, I usually stick a password on the files that I don’t want others to access, like my tax return forms.

It depends how illegal your activity is and/or whose eyes you want to keep the data from. The ‘personal vault’ my paid OneDrive keeps wanting to upsell me on (though it’s not an additional cost) isn’t going to be safe from a warrant, lawsuit or the feds. Use Cryptomator if you are worried.

I mean, it’s not like they roll over for the feds.

Of course the question is, if there is a legit warrant for your information (I know, what is legit these days) should you have the power to protect your information in the first place? I mean, if @YakAttack is doing something illegal, wouldn’t it be in societies best interest if a legitimate warrant was served?

BTW iCloud backups aren’t end-to-end encrypted. Local backups can be. Not sure why this is suddenly news but Reuters is reporting today that Apple rolled over for the FBI in not encrypting the iCloud backups.

This support article indicates what is E2E:

I’m not making judgments on “society’s interests” merely commenting on the level of likely privacy in that “personal vault” feature. Pedophiles and shit are bad but backdoors for law enforcement mean backdoors for everyone else too.

No, I just don’t want people snooping if I leave my computer logged in or am on campus or something. I just want things hidden behind an extra password instead of “logged in” whenever my computer is running. Sheesh. I guess regular OneDrive/Google Drive are okay then.

Yes, if there were any way to allow for that without compromising privacy for everybody. But there isn’t, so it’s a false argument. Once a backdoor exists, it’s open to bad guys too.

I don’t think back doors were mentioned or are part of this discussion.

In this case, it files that are saved in one drive. Which I assume Microsoft would have access to and probable scans for Pedophile stuff, by comparing it to known records.

ICloud backups are encrypted both in transit and at rest, but Apple has the keys. Same thing with Onedrive files. That’s the backdoor I was talking about.

I use rclone to encrypt files on Google Drive. It works with pretty much everything except iCloud Drive.

https://rclone.org/

@YakAttack asked about if I trust the “personal vault” in OneDrive. I don’t, because of its backdoor when it tries to sell itself as being “extra secure.”

Has anyone used Acronis True Image 2020? I have had a 2 year subscription to BackBlaze that is about to expire.

The Acronis is touting ransomware protection (this would be for my personal computer not sure how big this threat is these days).

So what is teh opinion of QT3? Best to have Cloud File by File Backup or Image Backup?

I prefer Macrium to Acronis nowadays.

Acronis went downhill years ago. The reviews really scared me off it because you don’t want that stuff to fail when it matters. I use whatever is in our externals, and manual back-ups myself.