How do you guys manage your data backups? In the past I have just backed up to an external hard drive manually (key folders like pictures, documents, and videos). I kept the external drive in a fire box. But that meant I wasn’t backing up as regularly as I should due to the hassle. I’ve recently moved my external hard drive to attach it to my computer and scheduled automatic backups every Sunday night. But since both drives sit there together, they are pretty susceptible to simultaneous catastrophic loss or theft. So, I want to also purchase a cloud backup service. Does anyone use one? I was looking at iDrive, Backblaze, and Carbonite. Any advantages or disadvantages? Clever ways of tying it all together? I only have one box I need to backup (PC) - about 500 GB. Also, what’s the best way to tie my iPhones into my data management? Do I have to make sure I’m uploading photos every week, or is there an automatic way I can take care of it? iCloud seems volume limited and I only used that on my old Mac. Not even sure if it’s an option on a PC. My phone recently forced an update fried the phone - I wasn’t able to update plugged in the next morning and had to factory reset. I restored from a backup but it didn’t help with a few months worth of photos that I lost. Need to get a better solution for those.
No. But one day I did arrive to have the staff all freaking out because none of the computers could connect to our system or access the internet. I go to check the server and all the files are gone and the desktop background is a picture of Taliban soldiers. It was a great day.
For documents and photos, I put them on my google drive. Could probably compress videos too. That's free. What amount of data are we talking, here? There are remote services that could be imaging your PC at regularly scheduled intervals, if it is a large amount.
Okay, so you are in the "gonna have to pay" range. So you want either a cloud service, or to be able to backup to another personal hard drive somewhere else remotely?
Look into idrive. I know a person who uses it and seems to think it is good. It's certainly affordable to try. I think there are cheaper ones overall though. https://www.idrive.com/idrive/signup/el/tomsguide80
All backups should follow 3-2-1, offline. 3 copies. 2 mediums. 1 off-site. At least one offline. (Ransomeware can’t hit it) Backblaze/cloud takes care of 1 copy, 1 medium, and 1 off-site. Buy an external usb and copy data to it regularly, and take it offline. Now you have 3-2-1 offline achieved.
Thanks. Backblaze was in the running, as was iDrive that IP mentioned. Sounds like the part I’m not capturing with my current setup/plan is the offline component. Basically unplugging the external hard drive from the computer unless I’m backing up would solve that (but the reason I currently have it connected with automatic backup is because I wasn’t backing up often enough).
Maybe you can just start scheduling a calendar reminder of when to do it and leave it unplugged otherwise (in addition to a cloud backup).
If you aren’t opposed to spending a little money, or have an older desktop you can use, you can spin up a FreeNAS (old desktop) and run owncloud. If buy a Synology, I think Nextcloud has a docker app. Then just do your USB external/offline off the NAS. There also also apps for the iPhone that will upload to a shared drive, so can always go that route, but gotta remember to run the app.
As a follow up, either way you choose, you can pick up 2TB white label drives on eBay for like $40 a pop. And these are quality drives, usually relabeled Enterprise drives. Some guy did a work up on them several years ago (https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/review-of-white-label-4tb-drives.3559/) that showed really low failure rate over several hundred drives that they were using in their sever farms. But anyway, pop 2 of those guys in a 2 bay NAS on raid 1 (mirror, so about 1.8 TB total issuable soace) and set up your syncing and you’ll be set. Or you could be @InVolNerable and go umpteen bay, 5 Tb drives in raid 6 and have 20 Tb of space, with 2 drives for parity...
Amazon lets Prime members store all photos, including Live Photos, for free. They don’t count against the data cap, which is what reeled me in. Then I added an actual data plan to store the videos. I think I have 1 TB for $5/mth. iCloud makes sense if you’re the whole Apple ecosystem, as it integrates with all Apple products seemlessly. The lower tiers a little more costly compared to competitors, but it starts to even out around 2 TB. You're paying the standard Apple tax/convenience fee.
