Carbonite or equivalent for Linux?

[StephenH]

I have been listening to the commercials for Carbonite.com for a while now, and I think the idea of a secure off-site storage of irreplaceable files is a good idea. However, Carbonite currently serves MS offerings only with a Mac OSX version due out later this year. Linux isn't even on the horizon.

Is there a service like Carbonite available at a reasonable price that will work for Linux based systems? I have been thinking of a networked storage device (or recycling an old system into a file repository), but that still leaves my data in one potentially vulnerable location.

What type of secure off-site storage solutions have others successfully used?

StephenH

[Zotter]

Not that I know of. Most of us just do it ourselves with an external drive, other server or some other media.

Services like Carbonite are 'consumer' services - not really marketed to those that do more with their PCs than AOL and MySpace.

[StephenH]

Originally Posted by Zotter

Not that I know of. Most of us just do it ourselves with an external drive, other server or some other media.

Services like Carbonite are 'consumer' services - not really marketed to those that do more with their PCs than AOL and MySpace.

True, but the storage is in a separate physical location. I do have backups, but since they are also in this house, if something were to happen, all of my eggs would still be in the same basket, so to speak.

That is why I was inquiring how other forum members deal with this.

StephenH

[bill_mcgonigle]

Wound up here on a search for linux and carbonite. After looking around at the options, for 'large' amounts of data my bank's safe deposit box at $75/yr seems like a pretty good deal. I have 400GB of data to keep backed up, and that would run $80/mo on S3, while a new 500GB drive can be had on special for $50. Removable sleds will run you under $50 with an extra tray, so one can have a heck of a nice backup solution for under $200 and some free rsnapshot scripts. Carbonite's unlimited plan looked tasty until I calculated the initial backup time on a T1 at almost a month, if the connection held. Travel is free for me since the bank is on the way to work.

[jwooton]

You could use something like this: www.datastorageunit.com
it's less expensive at only 2.99 a month for the basic starter plan at 100 Gigabytes...and you can use RSYNC or SFTP.

[StephenH]

Originally Posted by jwooton

You could use something like this: www.datastorageunit.com
it's less expensive at only 2.99 a month for unlimited storage...and you can use whatever client you like...so long as it supports SFTP.

Interesting idea but I won't do so for a couple of very good reasons.

The first reason is that I have no information on this company. Who are they? Where are they located? Is there any independent information that would reassure me that they are a legitimate business? How long have they been in business? How strong are they and how long are they likely to be a viable business? The web site is rather sparse in that type of information.

The second and more important reason is that they do not encrypt the data placed on their servers. Admittedly, I could (and would) do so before sending it, but there is no default to do so. Instead, the site claims that they won't "peek" at the customer's data. In this day of identity theft, a little paranoia can be a good thing.

I will look more closely at them and any others I can find, but reason #2 is sufficient enough for me to hold off on jumping into their boat at this time.

Stephen

[dtpucci]

I found that 1TB of Western Digital "Book" storage is very good.
One can also take it with you when travelling.

[jwooton]

Originally Posted by StephenH

Interesting idea but I won't do so for a couple of very good reasons.

The first reason is that I have no information on this company. Who are they? Where are they located? Is there any independent information that would reassure me that they are a legitimate business? How long have they been in business? How strong are they and how long are they likely to be a viable business? The web site is rather sparse in that type of information.

The second and more important reason is that they do not encrypt the data placed on their servers. Admittedly, I could (and would) do so before sending it, but there is no default to do so. Instead, the site claims that they won't "peek" at the customer's data. In this day of identity theft, a little paranoia can be a good thing.

I will look more closely at them and any others I can find, but reason #2 is sufficient enough for me to hold off on jumping into their boat at this time.

Stephen

It's a small time company yes.
About wondering if your data will be there when you need it...
- This is an offsite backup service...not meant to be your primary storage

Last of all...about encrypting the data: http://duplicity.nongnu.org/
Duplicity does a good job of encrypting the data before transferring it.
Some folks prefer not to encrypt their data as it's just added overhead.

Are you taking a chance...sure, you take a chance with anything...whether it be mozy, carbonite, or whatever. Also, I'm no expert on mozy...but if they are doing the encrypting for you....then they are supplying the encryption key...which means they can also decrypt the data.

If you supply your own...only you can decrypt it. Something to think about.

[StephenH]

It has been a while since I first posted about this subject. I finally settled on SpiderOak as an off-site backup for a couple of reasons.

1. I generate the key. I keep the key. They don't have it and can't access my data.
2. Cost is fairly reasonable. 2 Gib storage is free. 100 Gib is $10/month or $100/year (two extra months included which brings the monthly cost down to $8.33).
3. Cross platform and synchronization. This is really nice as my desktop system and netbook can have a synchronized folder so I can work on documents on the move and have them synchronize with the desktop at the next opportunity. This is working out quite well, and gives me the assurance that if something happened to my home or my netbook, I would not lose important documents. Also, since it is cross-platform, I can have SpiderOak installed on Linux as well as Windows and have an effective backup for both. I can't talk about OSX because I don't own one of those to try.

The remark above about a slow initial upload does apply. However, it can be paused when the overhead is not wanted and then resumed. After all, I can reinstall operating systems. I can't recover documents, music files, or photographs if the computer was the only place they had been stored. Other people may have a different solution which works for them. This one had the right balance of price, features, and security so that I felt it prudent to start using it.

[pete_1967]

Why not buy a shared hosting plan, a virtual dedicated or a dedicated server and use that for backups? Nothing stops you from doing that but you get the freedom to control what and how the backups are done and ability to move your data elsewhere if and when you want to. Another alternative is to use Amazon's cloud.

Pretty much all hosting companies offer daily backups as well so your data is twice safe.

[StephenH]

Originally Posted by pete_1967

Why not buy a shared hosting plan, a virtual dedicated or a dedicated server and use that for backups? Nothing stops you from doing that but you get the freedom to control what and how the backups are done and ability to move your data elsewhere if and when you want to. Another alternative is to use Amazon's cloud.

Pretty much all hosting companies offer daily backups as well so your data is twice safe.

SpiderOak had the right combination of price, features (especially sync) and cross-platform compatibility along with ease-of-use. Like I said, others may find a solution with works better for them. This is the one I chose.

The solutions you outlined each have their advantages and limitations. It is nice to have options.