Number 318 - November 2009

Online Storage
from Ask DACS, moderated by Jim Scheef, Danbury Area Computer Society, October 2009
Q - I would like to use an online storage service. I've looked at SugarSync , Mozy , DropBox , and Box.Net . Does anyone use one of these services and what has been your experience?    A - One member offered a good recommendation for Mozy. I related how another member uses Carbonite to back up a very large set of files (about 160GB) and was able to restore the entire set. Naturally this process did not happen in a heartbeat. The restore took more than two weeks to complete, but it did complete.    D - These services all offer slightly different features. Some are purely for backup. Some will backup all of your Windows settings and thus allow a full restore in the event of a disk failure from a bare Windows installation. Some offer a service where they will make DVDs of your data and send them overnight to you. This is the highest bandwidth method for a large restore. Mozy and Carbonite are in this category. I also have experience with iBackup.com, a true backup service. This product runs at a set time and performs a backup similar to the Windows backup program (ntbackup.exe). The cost is based on the amount of storage used and they can store multiple "generations" of a file which can chew up space pretty fast. iBackup.com uses the Windows shadow copy facility to allow it to backup open files and thus can interfere with a normal backup using ntbackup.exe.    Some services are oriented to collaboration (aka: file sharing, which is a bad word in some quarters) and file synchronization between	computers. DropBox and SugarSync are in this category. I use Box.Net to share files I want public. The DACS board was using drop.io to share files amongst the board but we found that email attachments were easier most of the time.    Anything that is "automatic" requires that you install software on one or more of your computers. This will run in the background and requires Internet access to operate. Constant or continuous backup implies a constant Internet connection.    Other pure backup alternatives are tape drives (costly but offer many generations of the entire computer and easy portability), external hard drives (low cost per gigabyte), optical media (DVD, CD - slow and low capacity).    A member mentioned that business requirements may dictate backup methods and handing. A health services provider, even a single doctor or therapist, must comply with applicable regulations. Even if regulations like HIPAA* do not apply, ethics would make security paramount.    One last thought, it might be a good idea to read the service agreement carefully before using a free online service to backup your Quicken file or anything of similar nature. Free services tend to be worth every penny.    * Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (1996)
Number 318 - November 2009