Off site automated backups

[Alex Dean]

On May 21, 2010, at 9:42 AM, Taylor, Kaia wrote:

> I'm just starting to play with 2G free storage space at  
> dropbox.com.  So far, it looks like viable free offsite storage.  Of  
> course you can pay them for more storage if you want; I'm just  
> thinking of using it more for daily/incremental backup for critical  
> config & data that I may want to retrieve under a different OS than  
> the one I used to back it up.
>
> Does anyone else use any other free storage and wants to comment on  
> how that has worked out?
>
I'd be very reluctant to store important data in any repository I  
don't physically control, especially a free one.  You can deal with  
privacy/security problems by encrypting your data before sending it to  
the backup location, but where will you be if they decide to close up  
shop?

"Customers of other now-defunct storage sites, Omnidrive and MediaMax,  
were not as fortunate in claiming their critical data. Those sites  
went down without warning for financial and technical reasons, leaving  
their customers in the lurch and their files merely cloud vapor."
http://blog.laptopmag.com/throwing-caution-to-the-cloud-the-risk-of-online-storage

Lest I sound too curmudgeonly, I will say that online backup probably  
works just fine for lots of purposes.  There's definitely a lot of  
convenience to be had, and it may fit the budget better than buying  
and managing your own hardware.  But when you ask about storing  
'critical config & data', I think you have to give these kinds of  
stability, accessibility, and control issues a long hard look.

alex