Experience with Carbonite? Other choices.

monkey44 wrote:
Even, how many have actually had a RV burn and lost all your data, AND your home, and your shop, and your work - or whatever. It's beyond my brain to imagine that happening all at once same day to a person, and if it does, you are the most unlucky person in the USA.

All these "online storage bins' just want the entire country to get so paranoid about "Data" that everyone will pay that monthly fee. AND, who's to say that server is safer than my safe? It's fireproof.
too.
Tragic events happen ... but the idea that virtual storage is safe? Not any safer than any other options available to everyone. And I'd for sure never, ever put my personal stuff up on some "cloud" that any employee (or tech miner) can get, copy, whatever ... Just seems very odd to me...

Paranoia is in the mind of the paranoiac. Yours appears to be about online services, while chastising others for being paranoid about buildings burning. You also act as if it's quite probable your data WILL be hacked. To me that's paranoia, to you, prudence.

Like the man said, why don't you keep your money at home? Of course, the answer is, you drew the line, somewhere. At some point you MUST trust something. You trust a hard drive in your house, I and many others trust online backups, but not necessarily as the only source.

What seems odd to me is the stuff people keep in storage, like bank statements, bill, receipts..stuff I'd toss almost immediately. And some have Terabytes of it! To me that's hoarding, to them, it's comfort. So be it.

Risk tolerance is quite different for each and every one of us.

Lantley wrote:
You must trust someone. Unless you keep your money under a mattress we all have our data and info on someones server or cloud.
The idea is to store the data somewhere other than your home or office

And tell me, for real. How many of us have had both an home and work burn down the same day, and lost all data in both 'saved storage' ...

Even, how many have actually had a RV burn and lost all your data, AND your home, and your shop, and your work - or whatever. It's beyond my brain to imagine that happening all at once same day to a person, and if it does, you are the most unlucky person in the USA.

All these "online storage bins' just want the entire country to get so paranoid about "Data" that everyone will pay that monthly fee. AND, who's to say that server is safer than my safe? It's fireproof.
too.

AND, how many of us copied all our personal papers earlier in life - before online data storage existed - and saved it at work, in our truck, on our office, and wherever - six back-ups? Can't imagine it then, can't imagine it now. Two data SSD back-ups will be safer than any other time in our existence. The really, really important stuff that can't be 'replaced' should be in the bank safe-deposit box. Otherwise, all this cloud virtual storage is just as likely to take a dive as any other storage spot.

Wonder what you all did before data storage emerged? I mean with your papers? And please do not take this as a 'personal attack' ... because I'm truly serious ... what did everyone do before this? I know my papers were all at home, my home never burned down, and my valuable personal stuff was in SD box my bank (Still is)...

Tragic events happen ... but the idea that virtual storage is safe? Not any safer than any other options available to everyone. And I'd for sure never, ever put my personal stuff up on some "cloud" that any employee (or tech miner) can get, copy, whatever ... Just seems very odd to me... Like the new "Word" and "Photo" programs now that you can't buy and own, you only RENT, and pay an annual fee forever to 'access' that program.

Technology developers want a piece of each earning life, forever. And then a piece of our retirement life too. :) :)

You must trust someone. Unless you keep your money under a mattress we all have our data and info on someones server or cloud.
The idea is to store the data somewhere other than your home or office

monkey44 wrote:
QUOTE: (edatlanta) "I full time and have no place to keep an external drive except with me,"

Well, that's the point - keep it with you. I'm always amazed in this day and age of everyone hawking privacy and ID theft, that anyone ever would put data in a "cloud" available to any employee or hacker ..

That's an interesting comment as to what is safe. Keeping it with you, as in an RV, is not smart. RVs burn. That's the whole point of cloud storage.. it's not in your home!

This question is a lot like using public wifi for banking. If it scares you, then don't do it.

QUOTE: "I full time and have no place to keep an external drive except with me,"

Well, that's the point - keep it with you. SSD back-ups with high storage capacity are inexpensive (only buy it once, not every month payment) and are very small. 4x5x1 inch ... and a ton of data. AND, only you have access.

I'm always amazed in this day and age of everyone hawking privacy and ID theft, that anyone ever would put data in a "cloud" available to any employee or hacker ... all of the above reasons mlts22 stated are valid for NOT storing in an accessible device, so won't repeat those.

I back up about once a week, or sometimes more, or less. Important stuff, immediately. AND use two identical HD drives ... if it's important enough to life, will just print it and store it (Twice and separate)

Whatever did we do with our "life data" before all these clouds and storms and mists and other intangible storage devices came into out lives. The issue is - be careful with your information and products ... just like we did five or ten years ago, and we survived just fine for centuries without all this hiding, storing, and protecting. If you don't put data where a thief can get it, he can't get it.

I full time and have no place to keep an external drive except with me, so cloud storage is the answer. I use Carbonite and have for the past 4 years. It works great for me and I have had to restore my data completely 2 times in the past two years. A cup of coffee on a laptop keyboard kills the laptop every time. Carbonite allowed you to choose which files to restore first so I can have my email and contacts back up first with photos last.

Works for me.

alid wrote:
That being said quoting Steve Gibson TNO Trust No One for cloud storage.

So here is what I do.
I do use carbonite but for my documents that I consider sensitive, Bills bank statements etc. I encrypt those documents with TrueCrypt. This way I keep the encryption key and the whole system get's backedup offsite automatically with Carbonite.

I use CloudBerry Backup. Here's one method of encrypting your backup data using TrueCrypt.

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.

Hi, I have a portable hard drive back up. But what happens when you are on the road. I lost files in China and down loaded them from Carbonite and the meeting went on. Yes your own back up disk is good but you have to have the discipline to backup periodically and take it with you wherever you go with your laptop or whatever other device you use. Check into Carbonite they do encrypt, etc.

To secure your data you need 3 copies,
one on the system your using,
one on a local back up like a usb drive
one that you keep offsite.
That offsite copy can either be another usb drive or a cloud backup system like carbonite (which I use).

That being said quoting Steve Gibson TNO Trust No One for cloud storage.

So here is what I do.
I do use carbonite but for my documents that I consider sensitive, Bills bank statements etc. I encrypt those documents with TrueCrypt. This way I keep the encryption key and the whole system get's backedup offsite automatically with Carbonite.