Cloud storage/back-up/archive

[VTech]

Hi all,

which cloud service do you use for permanent storage/back-up/archive?

I have 2 HDD's (will add an extra third one soon) that are clones. I only use these to back-up / archive. So these are only sometimes connected.
I'd like to make use of a cloud service on top of this to be safer. I've looked into Backblaze and iDrive. I would prefer to really select the folders that should be copied/backed-up/stored. Something that does not really seem possible with Backblaze (Personal + option of 1 year revision)

Any recommendations?

 

[usm]

Mega.nz is running here

 

[VTech]

Thank you for your response.
Could you elaborate a bit? Why Mega? Were there any others you were considering back when you chose Mega?
Are you happy with Mega? Is useable as an archive solution? Can you choose which folders?

Any others running Mega?

 

[usm]

I use it for syncing shared folders (3 people are working on one project). You can do backups from specific folders. Sharing a link to a folder for clients (they don't need a mega account). I tried google and dropbox but the syncing worked best with mega. They have fixed plans but also offer flexible rates and multi user accounts.
It's very simple - what I like.

And you can try it for free with 20GB.

I am not in their business.

 

[MGrayson]

I use Dropbox for syncing my various machines and backup of a "selects library". Backblaze does everything (offsite - bunch of networked drives scattered around). I have no working folders shared with others.

 

[VTech]

So you use Dropbox as a temp backup and Backblaze as archive? Did you only select your NAS with Backblaze or everything? Your NAS or NAS'es are probably always connected I assume?

 

[MGrayson]

The NAS consist purely of backups, so I don't send it to Backblaze. Only the desktop and laptop. That probably means an extra copy or two of Dropbox, but you can't have too many backups!

 

[dj may]

I use a NAS (RAID 1) as the private cloud for three computers and phone. The NAS is backed up every night to a connected drive. Once a week I make a second backup. This second drive is then connected to my main computer, which is backed up to Backblaze every night.

 

[anwarp]

Backblaze is my off-site backup solution.
I work off a separate file server which provides me huge amounts of storage at very good speeds. It’s connected to my workstation with 40Gb network cards I picked up on eBay.
The file server makes daily read only snapshots to protect against accidents and ransomware.
A daily script copies the data from the file server into a “spinning rust “ high capacity drive on the workstation to allow automatic backup to backblaze.

 

[algrove]

Why NAS? Advantages for a photographer?

 

[MGrayson]

Why NAS? Advantages for a photographer?

NAS is just storage that more than one computer can access (Network Attached Storage, after all). If you had only one machine, you wouldn't need it. (Or, if you want backup storage in another room connected to its own computer, e.g., NAS box, old laptop - Mac Minis are popular.)

 

[KC_2020]

A dedicated NAS system, not a re-purposed computer, is the safest way to store files for 1 computer or many. The file storage system is separate from your workstation OS and its vulnerabilities. You have the option once you get to 4 drives or more to run RAID 5 or 6. In RAID 6 even if 2 of the 4 drives fail you won't loose files. You can connect by ethernet or Wi-Fi and remotely. Direct backup to your cloud service of choice allows off site redundancy and true backup.

If you're using Backblaze or another AWS type service due diligence would be to restore files and verify integrity. Particularly if you're backing up a workstation for a bare metal restore. Cloud servers are agnostic and backups may include hidden files, caches and other unwanted data that can bloat and slow backups/restores.

I use a Synology NAS populated with HDs designed for NAS use in RAID 6 and backup off site to Synology's C2 and Backblaze B2 daily. I'm able to verify backups and scrub data for integrity with the built in apps. I do periodic restores and run Beyond Compare to verify source files and directories against the restored versions.

 

[MGrayson]

Backblaze is my off-site backup solution.
I work off a separate file server which provides me huge amounts of storage at very good speeds. It’s connected to my workstation with 40Gb network cards I picked up on eBay.
The file server makes daily read only snapshots to protect against accidents and ransomware.
A daily script copies the data from the file server into a “spinning rust “ high capacity drive on the workstation to allow automatic backup to backblaze.

If you don't mind my asking, how do you implement read only snapshots? (I take it you mean WORM....). I never re-use SD cards for that reason - they make extra backups. But it would be nice to have something more structured. Hard disks have gotten much bigger than my data!

 

[anwarp]

@MGrayson - I run a separate computer as a file server running FreeBSD on it. You can install a more user friendly option called freeNAS that gives you the same functionality.
FreeBSD, FreeNAS, Linux etc support a file system called zfs, that can be configured to create read only snapshots.
The way it works is that the filly system uses Copy on Write. So when you modify a snapshotted file, a fresh copy of the file is made instead of modifying the original.
The system can be configured to periodically remove old snapshots.
This cannot be initiated from my workstation.

 

[algrove]

It seems that I am an old timer since I prefer multiple (4) RAID 1 devices mainly 2x18TB (C1 Sessions by date/C1 Sessions by location/RAW by location/RAW by date) PLUS multiple 8TB SSD's with same aforementioned data that I rotate into and out of bank safe monthly + additional 8 TB external NVMe drives that I can carry with me with last 3 years of C1 Sessions and the last 3 years of RAW data + additional two 4TB external MVMe drives with last 3 years of RAW data and current years C1 Sessions at a minimum. Then I have 2TB MVMe drives that contain only last years RAW files and the current years C1 Sessions of course folders by locations as with all of my data.
Sorry this got so long rather than just saying NAS.

 

[VTech]

Ok I'm not going to use a cloud service. It all seems plug and play and safe, but actually you're never sure. Each brand/service has some horrible reviews.
Algrove's option looks interesting, well a bit modified. I'm not only taking photo's, I also have video files. Those add up quickly to a substantial amount of data.
But the main part of his method, using a bank safe. The thing is that it's a simple solution, but practicality is another story. This would need a serious schedule, and well a lot of trips to the bank...
A NAS on two different places on the other hand, is not very simple, but very practical afterwards.

 

[buildbot]

Ok I'm not going to use a cloud service. It all seems plug and play and safe, but actually you're never sure. Each brand/service has some horrible reviews.
Algrove's option looks interesting, well a bit modified. I'm not only taking photo's, I also have video files. Those add up quickly to a substantial amount of data.
But the main part of his method, using a bank safe. The thing is that it's a simple solution, but practicality is another story. This would need a serious schedule, and well a lot of trips to the bank...
A NAS on two different places on the other hand, is not very simple, but very practical afterwards.

A NAS in two places seems easier than a bank vault, for me at least! If you use the ZFS filesystem for the NAS, you can use zfs-send/zfs-recv to sync incremental snapshots of the primary nas to a backup. Or directly to this cloud provider: https://www.rsync.net/products/zfsintro.html as a tertiary backup.

If you really wanted to be cloud free but not self host in possibly multiple locations, you can find fairly cheap colocation for servers these days in real datacenters.

 

[dj may]

Think of commercial cloud-based backup as a worst case disaster recovery when everything else fails (war, earthquake, fire etc.). Multiple physical backups will be much faster to restore.