Cloud Based Backup for Servers & Workstations | FerrariChat

Cloud Based Backup for Servers & Workstations

Discussion in 'Technology' started by Innovativethinker, Aug 11, 2013.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

  1. Innovativethinker

    Innovativethinker F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Aug 8, 2009
    8,657
    So Cal
    Full Name:
    Mark Smith
    #1 Innovativethinker, Aug 11, 2013
    In additional to two other backup methods, I just started using Carbonite to back up 3 servers and my home computer, 420 gigs in all. The cost was $599 a year for unlimited computers and servers (500 gig of space), both Mac and Windows.

    I have to say it works well, they have a very simple and effective interface. It also saves versions for up to 3 months and can backup while you work, so that file your worked on in the morning that someone overwrote in the afternoon can be recovered.

    It is also easy to add in a computer that you have some important files on but don't regularly back up.

    They have a free trial with no credit card needed. They have plans from $59 a year.

    One more additional level of backup...just in case.
     
  2. SCousineau

    SCousineau Guest

    Jul 17, 2004
    3,652
    Full Name:
    S Cousineau
    #2 SCousineau, Aug 11, 2013
    I tried Carbonite and left a very unhappy customer.

    1. Their backup system takes a long time and notably slowed the computer. It was not transparent as they advertised.

    2. If you completely lose your hard drive, it is impossible to regenerate the keys necessary to restore your data.

    3. When I told them that their product did not work as advertised and I wanted my money back--they refused. Their system did not even have a way to cancel mid year even though they advertised monthly rates.

    4. I had the credit card company charge it back.

    5. Carbonite continued to try to bill me for two additional cycles.

    I understand there are some customer who are happy with Carbonite. I am loathe to even consider giving them a second chance. They qualified for application of my three strike rule:

    1. They lost data as their system does not work as described.
    2. They denied their system has flaws.
    3. They continued to try to charge me after canceling their service.

    I am lucky that I did not rely solely on their backups as I would have been out several hundred GB.
     
  3. Innovativethinker

    Innovativethinker F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Aug 8, 2009
    8,657
    So Cal
    Full Name:
    Mark Smith
    #3 Innovativethinker, Aug 11, 2013
    Bummer it did not work out for you, nothing more frustrating than depending on a company for an important, singular task and have it fail.

    I looked at them a few years back and was not impressed, I looked recently and saw a much improved product. While 3 of the 4 computers are servers, on my home computer I did not notice any speed degradation, you can create settings to only back up after hours.

    It does take quite some time to do the original backup, but 400 gigs is allot of data, I knew this going in.

    If you are referring to Registry Keys on a windows server machine, there are few if any backup programs that I have experienced that work flawlessly.

    I would never depend on any one backup method, for me it is always at least two, and most times three or four.

    I am only using Carbonite to backup data, not the OS. I did random tests and was able to restore files to the same, and different locations.

    Most of the time the crisis is over lost data, in which case I think this is a good supplement to your backup practices.
     
  4. SCousineau

    SCousineau Guest

    Jul 17, 2004
    3,652
    Full Name:
    S Cousineau
    #4 SCousineau, Aug 13, 2013
    The key I am referring to is the key needed to pull the data off their sight.

    They asked me to generate a key and save it. I did per their instructions right on the drive they were backing up.

    That drive crashing taking the entire email file with it.

    No way to recover the key.

    Also, no way to recreate the key even using the old seeds.

    Bad system to rely upon if you really need to prepare for the worst.

    Luckily I was in the testing them stage and had other backups so I was able to recreate most of what was lost.
     
  5. Innovativethinker

    Innovativethinker F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Aug 8, 2009
    8,657
    So Cal
    Full Name:
    Mark Smith
    #5 Innovativethinker, Aug 13, 2013
    They now have an option for carbonite to keep the key, and to create more than one admin account.

    Glad you were able to recover your data using other means.
     
  6. Schimpf

    Schimpf Karting

    Jul 20, 2005
    137
    CO
    Full Name:
    Schimpf
    #6 Schimpf, Aug 14, 2013
    sounds like the key should be kept on the low use thumb drive
     
  7. Wade

    Wade Three Time F1 World Champ
    Owner

    Mar 31, 2006
    32,793
    East Central, FL
    Full Name:
    Wade O.
    #7 Wade, Aug 14, 2013
    When I was in the financial services industry I used EVault for our Enterprise backup and recovery solution. It had a central console to monitor/manage all servers, even those off-site. Included error reporting by email or text as well.

    All Users were scripted so that their "My Documents" were on each local server which, in turn, was included in the server backup. If someone "lost" a file I could restore it within minutes.

    As part of the disaster recovery plan, if a server was completely lost (tornado, hurricane, etc.) all I needed to do was install the Evault app into a new server and then complete the full data/file restore.

    Business Data Backup, Cloud Storage, and Recovery Solutions
     
  8. didimao0072000

    didimao0072000 Karting

    Nov 2, 2003
    205
    #8 didimao0072000, Aug 16, 2013
    that's kinda steep. for the same price, i get 1 terabyte from google drive
     
  9. SCousineau

    SCousineau Guest

    Jul 17, 2004
    3,652
    Full Name:
    S Cousineau
    #9 SCousineau, Aug 16, 2013
    I have a hard time giving Carbonite a second chance when the continued to attempt to charge me after canceling their service for several cycles. Their automated email system still spams with invitations to keep my backups up to date. Given their awkward customer service system, I cannot quite see my way to trusting them with the key.
     
  10. No Doubt

    No Doubt Seven Time F1 World Champ

    May 21, 2005
    72,740
    Vegas+Alabama
    Full Name:
    Mr. Sideways
    #10 No Doubt, Oct 10, 2017
  11. Innovativethinker

    Innovativethinker F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Aug 8, 2009
    8,657
    So Cal
    Full Name:
    Mark Smith
    #11 Innovativethinker, Oct 10, 2017
    No Doubt likes this.
  12. TheBigEasy

    TheBigEasy F1 World Champ
    Consultant

    Jun 21, 2005
    16,943
    California
    Full Name:
    Ethan Hunt
    #12 TheBigEasy, Oct 24, 2017
    Check out Amazon.... works great for us. (Small biz)
     
  13. Nader

    Nader Formula Junior

    Feb 12, 2011
    990
    East of Seattle
    #13 Nader, Oct 24, 2017
    Another way I know I’m getting older is from my distrust of this “cloud”. While computer shopping, I noticed the newer machines have less memory in their hard drives. I suppose they expect you to store the bulk of your files/data in the cloud. I’m not a fan of being roped into a subscription service to access your own virtual property.

    So I settled on an older Macbook Pro Retina with a 250 GB drive, and souped it up with a 1 TB SSD replacement drive. I back it up every so often on a 1 TB external drive that I keep in a fireproof safe. $600/year for 500 GB sounds crazy to me.
     

Share This Page