Suggestions for a cloud based backup service that is free or low cost (home use)

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lchiu7

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#113635 22-Jan-2013 21:58

Have a friend who has 120G/month which he hardly really uses. He doesn't back up his documents (well I did get him to backup to a USB drive) but a cloud based backup would be a good idea.

Anybody have any suggestions for a cloud based backup service they would recommend.

It should have about 10GB available.

It should sync a folder (s) on his XP computer with the cloud so that his documents are backed up regularly.

It should be easy and transparent to use and run in the background.

NZ or intl are okay.

Thanks

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#749180 22-Jan-2013 22:12

Backup or synchronisation?

Skydrive, Cubby, Google Drive, Dropbox can all sync folders. But if he deletes something then it's deleted from the online storage.

Crashplan, Carbonite and others backup files. If he deletes the file he can restore from the online backup. Crashplan is pretty cheap for a year subscription and now has an Australian datacenter making backups a bit faster than before.

You can obviously get third party programs and use them to backup to online storage such as Skydrive and Googke Drive instead of the default sync their own apps provide.

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nakedmolerat

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#749193 22-Jan-2013 22:26

You can retrieve your old/deleted files on Dropbox

Zeon

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#749199 22-Jan-2013 22:37

Sounds like a job for Mega

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PhantomNVD

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#749228 22-Jan-2013 23:58

Zeon: Sounds like a job for Mega

SHOULD be a job for mega, but there marketing seems to have killed their service at the moment, so maybe wait a feww weeks and see what the market looks like then... surely google/dropbox will also have to up their game once Mega gets its act together?

freitasm

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#749233 23-Jan-2013 00:18

Zeon: Sounds like a job for Mega

I hope you are joking. No one should be manually doing backups as Mega doesn't have a client or backup application yet.

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btrevarthen

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#749275 23-Jan-2013 08:39

You're welcome to beta test HomeDrive which is similar to DropBox but as with "all" of our services the data remains in NZ, the client is very rich in features (outlook integration, version control, collaboration alerts etc) and it keeps a trash can as well as history on files. We are releasing iOS, Android and Windows Phone clients soon too. Register and have a play on www.homedrive.co.nz

Alternatively if it is pure backup then you could use CloudSync Backup (CrashPlan Pro based) for $5 per month plus $0.14 per GB stored. This is incremental forever and the clients are feature rich only in a backup sense. This is also in beta but in a closed beta so ping me for an invite. Pricing is ex-GST since our offerings are business-centric --> nothing stopping home users from taking advantage though, especially as the UFB becomes a reality in the suburbs.

Cheers
Bruce

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lchiu7

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#749509 23-Jan-2013 13:02

I think he wants backup but unattended.

That being the case I might look at Skydrive with Gladinet as the front end.

I used it a bit myself (just forgot when I asked the question) and it seemed pretty easy to setup and use.

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freitasm

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#749518 23-Jan-2013 13:08

Yes, Gladinet is pretty cool. Having a local drive letter assigned to those services works well.

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btrevarthen

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#749523 23-Jan-2013 13:14

That's how HomeDrive works, shows up as a local drive. See screen shot of my PC client dashboard.
We also have collaboration features that I think will be popular, you can mark a file (or a folder) and request notification of updates. Plus the Outlook integration is cool.

Cheers
Bruce

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kiwitrc

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#749535 23-Jan-2013 13:30

btrevarthen: That's how HomeDrive works, shows up as a local drive. See screen shot of my PC client dashboard.
We also have collaboration features that I think will be popular, you can mark a file (or a folder) and request notification of updates. Plus the Outlook integration is cool.Cheers
Bruce

Bruce, will you have a client for Windows Server?

btrevarthen

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#749541 23-Jan-2013 13:40

The client for HomeDrive (file sync tool) will install, there is a known issue with Windows 8 and Server 2012 though and we are working on that.

The client for CloudSync Backup is actually CrashPlan Pro so this also is supported and works well.

Regards
Bruce

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dontpanic42

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#749546 23-Jan-2013 13:55

Duplicati is also worth a look.
Can be used with Google Drive, SkyDrive and others.
Provides client-side encryption.

http://www.duplicati.com/

PhantomNVD

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#749792 23-Jan-2013 19:52

btrevarthen: The client for HomeDrive (file sync tool) will install, there is a known issue with Windows 8 and Server 2012 though and we are working on that.

The client for CloudSync Backup is actually CrashPlan Pro so this also is supported and works well.

Regards
Bruce

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PhantomNVD

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#749796 23-Jan-2013 20:05

btrevarthen: The client for HomeDrive (file sync tool) will install, there is a known issue with Windows 8 and Server 2012 though and we are working on that.

The client for CloudSync Backup is actually CrashPlan Pro so this also is supported and works well.

Regards
Bruce

more on track, there's a 40 trial limit on the account i just signed up (why DO they need a landline number btw?) and the site is very thin on details of how it works or what it might cost once you have all my data and the trial expires? Also, does the content still belong to me, or is this one of those sign-your-rights-away services?

ARE there public domain answers for any of these questions?

btrevarthen

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#750021 24-Jan-2013 09:48

Appreciate that the public site is not live yet, apologies for that - we are just beta testing the solution rather that the marketing. At this stage.

The trial is set to 40 day expiry currently.

We will get the marketing site up within a week.

Pricing is expected to be in-line with DropBox, the biggest difference being that HomeDrive has some awesome collaboration features and all data is "in country".

Yeah I have not posted much huh, running five technology companies has a definite impact on spare time.

There is currently an "initial logon" issue with the windows client, we expect a fix to be in place this morning.

Cheers
Bruce

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