Experience with Carbonite? Other choices.
I'm considering Carbonite to back up images and other computer files. Advertising and websites always look good. Would appreciate any eperiences and if there are other choices that are available. T...
Forum Discussion
I treat cloud storage just as I do burning to CDs, hard disks, and tape. It is a type of media with its upsides and downsides.
There are a few downsides to any cloud provider:
1: Here in the US, their servers can be seized if there is an investigation of some drug dealer or other criminal and there is a need to go through their data with forensic tools. Even if your stuff has nothing to do with a bad guy's data, you will lose access to it, perhaps for good.
2: A cloud provider can go bankrupt. The data -should- be erased before the servers go up for auction, but lets be real... businesses cheap out, so the next owner would end up with all the data from the cloud provider. To boot, that data is free and clear. A bank's records can be posted online, and there would be nothing, criminal, or civil, anyone can do. Same with private documents.
3: A cloud provider can be hacked. Just like any other business. Plus, cloud storage providers are big, juicy targets, because they have so many eggs in one basket.
This doesn't mean cloud providers are useless. You just have to take some precautions:
1: Don't depend on the cloud for everything. I use Google Drive as storage, but the Gdrive partition gets backed up nightly to my Windows server. That way, if I lose access or files are deleted from the drive, I can restore them.
2: Use decent security. I use a TrueCrypt container and stash all my goodies in that. I use both a password and a keyfile so if my cloud storage account is hacked, brute force password guessing won't work.
3: Keep at least two external drives for backups and change them out every so often.
There are a few downsides to any cloud provider:
1: Here in the US, their servers can be seized if there is an investigation of some drug dealer or other criminal and there is a need to go through their data with forensic tools. Even if your stuff has nothing to do with a bad guy's data, you will lose access to it, perhaps for good.
2: A cloud provider can go bankrupt. The data -should- be erased before the servers go up for auction, but lets be real... businesses cheap out, so the next owner would end up with all the data from the cloud provider. To boot, that data is free and clear. A bank's records can be posted online, and there would be nothing, criminal, or civil, anyone can do. Same with private documents.
3: A cloud provider can be hacked. Just like any other business. Plus, cloud storage providers are big, juicy targets, because they have so many eggs in one basket.
This doesn't mean cloud providers are useless. You just have to take some precautions:
1: Don't depend on the cloud for everything. I use Google Drive as storage, but the Gdrive partition gets backed up nightly to my Windows server. That way, if I lose access or files are deleted from the drive, I can restore them.
2: Use decent security. I use a TrueCrypt container and stash all my goodies in that. I use both a password and a keyfile so if my cloud storage account is hacked, brute force password guessing won't work.
3: Keep at least two external drives for backups and change them out every so often.
