After doing all the math, I settled on CrashPlan, and CrashPlan Central. I trialed it and Mozy, and while I preferred Mozy software on the Mac from a usability standpoint, I felt CrashPlan had just a tiny more configurability.
CrashPlan allows me to set upload speeds, set on different times of day and whether the computer is being used. When I do set it on maximum, it does interfere with my VOIP line, but that is simply a bit of QoS tweaking on my part.
The most important aspect of CrashPlan and CrashPlan Central is that it both supports external drives AND will simply resume backups when a drive is reconnected. Mozy tags files for deletion if it does not find an external drive at each backup event. Mozy tags them for 30 days, but I don't want any tagging at all, in case I do not have my harddrive up in 30 days. CrashPlan does not tag for deletion. This way I can backup a harddrive and archive it, without needing to connect it every 30 days. (or months/years).
Note that CrashPlan is somewhat confusing: CrashPlan is software you install, and it allows you to backup to other PCs, local harddrives and even a friends PC for free. It does this by including ads in the software. To remove the ads, and get a few minor features, you purchase CrashPlan +, a onetime software charge of $60. If you want online backup, then you purchase CrashPlan Central, for $54 per year, with other plans available. CrashPlan Central works with CrashPlan or CrashPlan +.
I use CrashPlan and purchased CrashPlan Central, and choose to ignore the ads, saving $60.
I have 150GB to upload and at my TimeWarner limited upload speed of 384k, it is going to take at least a month to get it all there. While they offer a service to upload from a shipped harddrive for $100, I am going to be cheap and patient, and wait the month or more it will take to do it online.
The nice thing is that once I have all my pics uploaded, it will only upload when there are changes, so additional uploads should be hours or mins after this first big blast.
Just something for people to keep in mind when looking for backup software is what types of files your images are stored in, and what types of wholesale changes you may make to metadata.
Since I store my RAW files as DNG, every time that I make a change as simple as a keyword update to the file most services see this as a file change and re-upload the entire file. So if I were to make an update to filename or something on all of my photos it would re-upload every single file!
What you need to look for in this case is called Block-Level backup. This looks at eachy block of data (not sure of the block size) and only uploads blocks that change, not whole files. So if I add a keyword it would only result in an upload of several KB, instead of several MB.
Another feature I looked for was de-duplication. If I have two images that are exactly the same but one has a different filename, most services will backup both complete files. I searched around until I found a service that only uploads the different blocks. So if a filename is all that is different it will track that the rest of the file is the same and only upload that part one time.
Ultimately I went with SpiderOak. They offer both Block-level uploading as well as de-duplication. They are a little more expensive at $10 per 100GB, but that is still a lot less than Amazon S3 would be. They also offer syncing between multiple computers, and share directories.
Check it out at http://spideroak.com, and no, I don't work for them, I have jsut been using them for awhile and feel they are a really great service.
What you need to look for in this case is called Block-Level backup.
Another feature I looked for was de-duplication.
Thanks, that is good info, and while I was not looking for these, it seems Crashplan does in fact do de-dupe prior to upload, and does do block-level updating. From their FAQ: "For the technically savvy: CrashPlan does incremental deltas by block within the file. "
Whew. (you had me worried.)
Spideroak is included in the review I linked to above from MacWorld.
Thanks, that is good info, and while I was not looking for these, it seems Crashplan does in fact do de-dupe prior to upload, and does do block-level updating. From their FAQ: "For the technically savvy: CrashPlan does incremental deltas by block within the file. "
Whew. (you had me worried.)
Spideroak is included in the review I linked to above from MacWorld.
Thanks, that is good info, and while I was not looking for these, it seems Crashplan does in fact do de-dupe prior to upload, and does do block-level updating. From their FAQ: "For the technically savvy: CrashPlan does incremental deltas by block within the file. "
Whew. (you had me worried.)
Spideroak is included in the review I linked to above from MacWorld.
Glad I could help! Yeah, it was quite a surprise when I changed the file names on 60GB of photos, and suddenly Mozy started uploading EVERYTHING!!! That was when I did alot more research into it!
Glad I could help! Yeah, it was quite a surprise when I changed the file names on 60GB of photos, and suddenly Mozy started uploading EVERYTHING!!! That was when I did alot more research into it!
I ran into this two days ago and I won't be renewing Mozy for another year (though I'm only at the beginning of this one!). I turned my external drive off for a few days and when I turned it back on it got a new drive letter. Even when I manually changed the drive letter back to the old one Mozy still decided to reupload all 94 GB, which will take another month. :cry
After doing all the math, I settled on CrashPlan...
Thanks for this. I've been using Amazon S3 with Jungledisk for (what feels like) a couple of years now. The cost has been creeping up, and I've been keeping an eye out for another solution. The thing that kept me away from the other products mentioned in this thread was the lack of archive ability, the automatic deletion of files in the backup if they were no longer visible on the connected drives on your computer.
I think I'll be switching to CrashPlan soon - once I figure out if I should go with the external drive upload (which, hang the cost, makes more sense to me than waiting weeks or months for the initial upload to complete).
ANyone have any opinions on CrashPlan vs SpiderOak? SpiderOak is more expensive at $10 per 100GB, so I'm trying to figure out what, if any, advantage SpiderOak has.
ANyone have any opinions on CrashPlan vs SpiderOak? SpiderOak is more expensive at $10 per 100GB, so I'm trying to figure out what, if any, advantage SpiderOak has.
Opinions are welcome!
They've very different, no? CrashPlan is automated backup software. SpiderOak is really a remote location you can store stuff. Synchronizing files up there is your job, I think? SpiderOak I believe is more like DropBox, which is not really a backup service; if you delete the files they're gone.
ANyone have any opinions on CrashPlan vs SpiderOak? SpiderOak is more expensive at $10 per 100GB, so I'm trying to figure out what, if any, advantage SpiderOak has.
Opinions are welcome!
The MacWorld article does a good job comparing them all , including SpiderOak. there is a good summary table too:
CrashPlan cloud backup for business files
One of the things that was an issue for me was that CrashPlan and some other cloud backup providers inexpensive, so called personal, plans do not allow any business files to be backed up. So for example in my case I couldn't use the personal plan to backup QuickBooks files or the myiad of project files I'm working on for clients or even the images I make for my training videos. In other words you really can't use their personal plan to backup home office files... both CrashPlan and Mozy are pretty clear about this.
In fact at present the CrashPlan site provides no way to sign up for a home office cloud plan even though though their site implies they have one.
Anyhow, CrashPlan got back to me and they will soon have a cloud backup plan that can be used by home offices. Right now you can't sign up on line, you have to call them. However in the end this plan will charge about 30 cents per GB for storage with a minimum of 50GB.
As far as I can tell the JungleDisk backup service is half that cost.
Comments
After doing all the math, I settled on CrashPlan, and CrashPlan Central. I trialed it and Mozy, and while I preferred Mozy software on the Mac from a usability standpoint, I felt CrashPlan had just a tiny more configurability.
CrashPlan allows me to set upload speeds, set on different times of day and whether the computer is being used. When I do set it on maximum, it does interfere with my VOIP line, but that is simply a bit of QoS tweaking on my part.
The most important aspect of CrashPlan and CrashPlan Central is that it both supports external drives AND will simply resume backups when a drive is reconnected. Mozy tags files for deletion if it does not find an external drive at each backup event. Mozy tags them for 30 days, but I don't want any tagging at all, in case I do not have my harddrive up in 30 days. CrashPlan does not tag for deletion. This way I can backup a harddrive and archive it, without needing to connect it every 30 days. (or months/years).
Note that CrashPlan is somewhat confusing: CrashPlan is software you install, and it allows you to backup to other PCs, local harddrives and even a friends PC for free. It does this by including ads in the software. To remove the ads, and get a few minor features, you purchase CrashPlan +, a onetime software charge of $60. If you want online backup, then you purchase CrashPlan Central, for $54 per year, with other plans available. CrashPlan Central works with CrashPlan or CrashPlan +.
I use CrashPlan and purchased CrashPlan Central, and choose to ignore the ads, saving $60.
I have 150GB to upload and at my TimeWarner limited upload speed of 384k, it is going to take at least a month to get it all there. While they offer a service to upload from a shipped harddrive for $100, I am going to be cheap and patient, and wait the month or more it will take to do it online.
The nice thing is that once I have all my pics uploaded, it will only upload when there are changes, so additional uploads should be hours or mins after this first big blast.
A few reviews were of help in my analysis:
http://www.macworld.com/article/142606/2009/09/online_backup.html
http://silvexis.com/2009/09/06/crashplan-central-the-perfect-online-backup-solution/
plus another one I can't find...
Since I store my RAW files as DNG, every time that I make a change as simple as a keyword update to the file most services see this as a file change and re-upload the entire file. So if I were to make an update to filename or something on all of my photos it would re-upload every single file!
What you need to look for in this case is called Block-Level backup. This looks at eachy block of data (not sure of the block size) and only uploads blocks that change, not whole files. So if I add a keyword it would only result in an upload of several KB, instead of several MB.
Another feature I looked for was de-duplication. If I have two images that are exactly the same but one has a different filename, most services will backup both complete files. I searched around until I found a service that only uploads the different blocks. So if a filename is all that is different it will track that the rest of the file is the same and only upload that part one time.
Ultimately I went with SpiderOak. They offer both Block-level uploading as well as de-duplication. They are a little more expensive at $10 per 100GB, but that is still a lot less than Amazon S3 would be. They also offer syncing between multiple computers, and share directories.
Check it out at http://spideroak.com, and no, I don't work for them, I have jsut been using them for awhile and feel they are a really great service.
Thanks, that is good info, and while I was not looking for these, it seems Crashplan does in fact do de-dupe prior to upload, and does do block-level updating. From their FAQ: "For the technically savvy: CrashPlan does incremental deltas by block within the file. "
Whew. (you had me worried.)
Spideroak is included in the review I linked to above from MacWorld.
Good stuff to think about. Thanks, guys!
Website: www.aaronbrownphotos.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/aaronbrownphotography
Twitter: www.twitter.com/abrownphotos
Glad I could help! Yeah, it was quite a surprise when I changed the file names on 60GB of photos, and suddenly Mozy started uploading EVERYTHING!!! That was when I did alot more research into it!
I ran into this two days ago and I won't be renewing Mozy for another year (though I'm only at the beginning of this one!). I turned my external drive off for a few days and when I turned it back on it got a new drive letter. Even when I manually changed the drive letter back to the old one Mozy still decided to reupload all 94 GB, which will take another month. :cry
I think I'll be switching to CrashPlan soon - once I figure out if I should go with the external drive upload (which, hang the cost, makes more sense to me than waiting weeks or months for the initial upload to complete).
Again, thanks for the info.
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
Opinions are welcome!
They've very different, no? CrashPlan is automated backup software. SpiderOak is really a remote location you can store stuff. Synchronizing files up there is your job, I think? SpiderOak I believe is more like DropBox, which is not really a backup service; if you delete the files they're gone.
The MacWorld article does a good job comparing them all , including SpiderOak. there is a good summary table too:
http://www.macworld.com/article/142606/2009/09/online_backup.html
One of the things that was an issue for me was that CrashPlan and some other cloud backup providers inexpensive, so called personal, plans do not allow any business files to be backed up. So for example in my case I couldn't use the personal plan to backup QuickBooks files or the myiad of project files I'm working on for clients or even the images I make for my training videos. In other words you really can't use their personal plan to backup home office files... both CrashPlan and Mozy are pretty clear about this.
In fact at present the CrashPlan site provides no way to sign up for a home office cloud plan even though though their site implies they have one.
Anyhow, CrashPlan got back to me and they will soon have a cloud backup plan that can be used by home offices. Right now you can't sign up on line, you have to call them. However in the end this plan will charge about 30 cents per GB for storage with a minimum of 50GB.
As far as I can tell the JungleDisk backup service is half that cost.
Dan
http://www.danalphotos.com
http://www.pluralsight.com
http://twitter.com/d114