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I control the encryption algorithms, the compression scheme, the file chunking strategy, the encryption keys, the encryption of archive/file names, the file na

by natch 11y ago

I control the encryption algorithms, the compression scheme, the file chunking strategy, the encryption keys, the encryption of archive/file names, the file naming scheme, the addition of Par2 files, everything. And I don't pay the overhead of an add-on service. Also I back up stuff that's not on my hard drive (only on external USB drives) and I'm not sure how the services handle that. If the services give me some of these points, that's not sufficient; they would have to give me all of these points. Only then would I consider them. All things being equal I'd be willing to pay for some convenience but my current solution is all scripted so it's pretty darn convenient.

alkonaut 11y ago
> I control the encryption algorithms, the compression scheme, the file chunking strategy, the encryption keys, the encryption of archive/file names, the file naming scheme, the addition of Par2 files, everything. I can see why detailed control would be one reason, but you could still just have a very controlled backup to your own storage location(s) as a first step and just let a backup service bulk store your already named and encrypted files? It's only the last-resort you need to go to so if it's a huge blob of encrypted data that shouldn't matter too much -- you only need to access that in case of a total disaster where you lost all your own backup endpoints first. > And I don't pay the overhead of an add-on service. The reason I'm asking is because I was under the impression that backup services are much cheaper than pure storage, while still offering some conveniences such as versioning/backup apps. Glacier charges $0.007 per GB per month, that's $7/month just for a single 1TB machine, just for a single version (If my math is correct, it's early)! If you have dozens of versions it quickly adds up. I do 10 machines at around 1TB on average, unlimited storage in unlimited versions, at $1.25 per machine per month (flat rate, regardless of storage volume). I have tried building my own machines, tried looking at storage providers etc., but can't get near. Even if I did only 1-2 machines, the cost in Glacier would break the backup service cost already at a couple of TB total storage.
- natch 11y ago
  Great analysis, but why "per machine"? I back up data, not machines. I would prefer that third party backup software not have access to the unencrypted files on my machines. The pricing you mention is compelling. Which service is that? Does your model work if the data is on multiple external drives? Getting down to a specific example, say I have one laptop and three external drives. Do the backup services you have in mind work with this setup? How would they charge?
  - alkonaut 11y ago
    The service I use is the CrashPlan "family" plan. If I would just gather all the data to one machine instead it would work too (could just keep it on a file server with a directory per machine or whatever). The only reason "machines" are useful is for having separate easy restores -- basically my parents or mother in law can restore their machines from the other side of the country. As long as you just keep the external drives connected to the same machine during backup, the backup application doesn't care where the file set to backup is mounted. its just a directory list per machine. I used to backup "data" too, by using a first step of backup of multiple machines to a NAS and then only backup that data to the cloud. However, I sacrificed that extra security for the added convenience of direct restore of individual files and machines. It also reduced the risk of me having done a mistake in the backup config of the first step (which I estimated to be a way higher risk than hardware failure, fire or a data breach at the cloud provider, since I have basically never configured anything right). Being able to easily fetch an individual file from 1 day or 1 week ago can really save time. Edit: also remember that the backup client on Linux uses ram proportional to the backup size so on my cheapo NAS I also outgrew its ram and would have had to get a faster one or a file server, that was also partly why I left it. The good thing about the backup pricing is that it doesn't increase with aggregated backups like normal storage. It's 150/year so to be competitive you need a few TB, but you can very easily backup your parents machines too and save some time around Christmas... Note though that people sharing the same plan can see each others data (or so I presume)

by natch 11y ago

alkonaut 11y ago

> I control the encryption algorithms, the compression scheme, the file chunking strategy, the encryption keys, the encryption of archive/file names, the file naming scheme, the addition of Par2 files, everything. I can see why detailed control would be one reason, but you could still just have a very controlled backup to your own storage location(s) as a first step and just let a backup service bulk store your already named and encrypted files? It's only the last-resort you need to go to so if it's a huge blob of encrypted data that shouldn't matter too much -- you only need to access that in case of a total disaster where you lost all your own backup endpoints first. > And I don't pay the overhead of an add-on service. The reason I'm asking is because I was under the impression that backup services are much cheaper than pure storage, while still offering some conveniences such as versioning/backup apps. Glacier charges $0.007 per GB per month, that's $7/month just for a single 1TB machine, just for a single version (If my math is correct, it's early)! If you have dozens of versions it quickly adds up. I do 10 machines at around 1TB on average, unlimited storage in unlimited versions, at $1.25 per machine per month (flat rate, regardless of storage volume). I have tried building my own machines, tried looking at storage providers etc., but can't get near. Even if I did only 1-2 machines, the cost in Glacier would break the backup service cost already at a couple of TB total storage.

natch 11y ago
Great analysis, but why "per machine"? I back up data, not machines. I would prefer that third party backup software not have access to the unencrypted files on my machines. The pricing you mention is compelling. Which service is that? Does your model work if the data is on multiple external drives? Getting down to a specific example, say I have one laptop and three external drives. Do the backup services you have in mind work with this setup? How would they charge?
- alkonaut 11y ago
  The service I use is the CrashPlan "family" plan. If I would just gather all the data to one machine instead it would work too (could just keep it on a file server with a directory per machine or whatever). The only reason "machines" are useful is for having separate easy restores -- basically my parents or mother in law can restore their machines from the other side of the country. As long as you just keep the external drives connected to the same machine during backup, the backup application doesn't care where the file set to backup is mounted. its just a directory list per machine. I used to backup "data" too, by using a first step of backup of multiple machines to a NAS and then only backup that data to the cloud. However, I sacrificed that extra security for the added convenience of direct restore of individual files and machines. It also reduced the risk of me having done a mistake in the backup config of the first step (which I estimated to be a way higher risk than hardware failure, fire or a data breach at the cloud provider, since I have basically never configured anything right). Being able to easily fetch an individual file from 1 day or 1 week ago can really save time. Edit: also remember that the backup client on Linux uses ram proportional to the backup size so on my cheapo NAS I also outgrew its ram and would have had to get a faster one or a file server, that was also partly why I left it. The good thing about the backup pricing is that it doesn't increase with aggregated backups like normal storage. It's 150/year so to be competitive you need a few TB, but you can very easily backup your parents machines too and save some time around Christmas... Note though that people sharing the same plan can see each others data (or so I presume)