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Internet Backup

I rsync files down from my websites to my local machines and from there back up them and other local files to removable media. I also spread copies of important files around to various machines in my office so that the loss of one box can't hurt me much. I have not, however, sent local files to an internet destination for safe storage. I should do that, because it obviously increases my depth of backup and we all know that you just can't be too rich, too skinny or have too much backup. Having given up on the first two, maybe it's time to do something about the third.

Ideally, I'd like a large RAID Linux server that sits somewhere in the cloud with a few hundred gigabytes of storage that I could rsync my stuff to. I guess I could have that if I wanted it: it's not ridiculously expensive to co-locate a server somewhere, though it is more money than I can justify spending.

If my backup needs were smaller, I could sign up for one of the cheap Linux web hosting services and use the box for storage instead of hosting, but those tend not to give you much storage.

Where the heck is Gdrive?

Well, Amazon does offer something similar in their S3 (Simple Storage Service). The cost isn't half bad: basically 15 cents per month for each GB stored plus 10 cents per GB for transfers in (and 18 cents to get it back). I've got roughly 100GB I'd like to store, so that might run me $20.00 a month or so.. not bad. Jeremy Zawodny makes the case that a home server costs about the same.. Jeremy helpfully compiled a list of tools that use S3. A command line helper is http://s3tools.org/s3cmd.

In scratching around, I also came across Mozy.No support for Linux, unfortunately, but they do have a beta Mac client. They offer 2GB of free storage to home users, or "unlimited" for $4.95 a month. Of course there are "gotcha's" with that, but they do have a plan for business use: $3.95 per machine plus 50 cents per month for each GB stored.. no transfer charges, but 50 cents a GB does add up fast. At least one Linux user has suggested that they could do better by opening up, but it doesn't look promising. I did try both their Windows version and the Mac beta; I was able to upload approximately a GB per hour. The Mac interface is very bare bones compared to the Windows client, but it did get the job done. I think S3 would obviously be better for my needs, but Mozy might be just the thing for some home users.

Oh, yeah: where the heck is Gdrive? Sorry to keep asking, but this seems right up Google's alley - what's the hold up?

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Thu Sep 20 12:15:00 2007:   Gazzer


I do the same but I have a problem with rysnc if a folder has too many files (Wordpress MU!). I have a folder with ten of thousands of files in it and rysnc simply takes forever. I think I left it running overnight and it hadn't started the actually download so I gave up. Is there a way to deal with this problem I wonder?



Thu Sep 20 13:06:05 2007:   TonyLawrence


Large directories slow everything down..



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