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Is it worth buying a few extra terabytes to backup? I simply don't have enough free space to even begin backing anything up.

by t0 14y ago

w1ntermute 14y ago
You can get a 2 TB external HDD with USB 3.0 for $100[0]. I don't see why not. 0: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178116 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178...
pinwale 14y ago
Having that much data probably has some worth to you. 3TB external hard drives goes for only ~$120 nowadays.
ghshephard 14y ago
For $50/year you can have unlimited backup of your local drives through the various players (I use backblaze, others say good things about crashplan).
- derekp7 14y ago
  Is there a service about as cheap as Backblaze, but lets you use your own backup client, and doesn't limit which file types you can backup? I would love to find something that gave me a remote Linux account (even on a shared host), where I can put my home-grown backup package, and a half TB or so of storage.
ValentineC 14y ago
I use CrashPlan, though there were some issues when I tried to restore deleted files (my fault, really). They offer a 30-day trial. If you try it, like it enough and are willing to wait, they often have promotions for the first year (for Black Friday last year, it was a tiered discount depending on how early you signed up).
- varikin 14y ago
  There is a promotion for World Backup Day as well (or Reddit?) 40% off. http://www.crashplan.com/backupreddit http://www.crashplan.com/backupreddit
aw3c2 14y ago
Imagine losing all your data and thinking "dammit, I would give X of money to get my data back". Find X and decide for yourself.
- ComputerGuru 14y ago
  Not even remotely correct. I crash my 100k dollar car, and I think, damn, I'd give 100k to get it back. But when insuring it, I don't pay 100k for insurance! You have to take value x probability of loss to arrive at your X.
  - cdjk 14y ago
    Corrected for your risk tolerance, of course. Suppose my data is worth $10k, and and there is a 1/100 chance of data loss (making those numbers up). I'd gladly pay $500 for "data loss insurance" (i.e. backups) to avoid the chance of data loss, even though $500 > (1/100)*$10k. Just multiplying by the probability is what's known as "risk neutral" - it works and is a very good approximation when the dollar amounts amounts are small compared to your net worth. It tends not to be a good approximation when the dollar amounts are higher. Of course, a realistic analysis would also account for the fact the the "data loss insurance" itself is probabilistic, but this is a start.
DanBC 14y ago
Some stuff is more important than others. You really need to sort out something for passwords; software registrations; and logins. This is a tiny bit of backup, but it'll make life easier if your drive dies.

Is it worth buying a few extra terabytes to backup? I simply don't have enough free space to even begin backing anything up.

by t0 14y ago

Is it worth buying a few extra terabytes to backup? I simply don't have enough free space to even begin backing anything up.

w1ntermute 14y ago

You can get a 2 TB external HDD with USB 3.0 for $100[0]. I don't see why not. 0: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178116 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178...

pinwale 14y ago

Having that much data probably has some worth to you. 3TB external hard drives goes for only ~$120 nowadays.

ghshephard 14y ago

For $50/year you can have unlimited backup of your local drives through the various players (I use backblaze, others say good things about crashplan).

derekp7 14y ago
Is there a service about as cheap as Backblaze, but lets you use your own backup client, and doesn't limit which file types you can backup? I would love to find something that gave me a remote Linux account (even on a shared host), where I can put my home-grown backup package, and a half TB or so of storage.

ValentineC 14y ago

I use CrashPlan, though there were some issues when I tried to restore deleted files (my fault, really). They offer a 30-day trial. If you try it, like it enough and are willing to wait, they often have promotions for the first year (for Black Friday last year, it was a tiered discount depending on how early you signed up).

varikin 14y ago
There is a promotion for World Backup Day as well (or Reddit?) 40% off. http://www.crashplan.com/backupreddit http://www.crashplan.com/backupreddit

aw3c2 14y ago

Imagine losing all your data and thinking "dammit, I would give X of money to get my data back". Find X and decide for yourself.

ComputerGuru 14y ago
Not even remotely correct. I crash my 100k dollar car, and I think, damn, I'd give 100k to get it back. But when insuring it, I don't pay 100k for insurance! You have to take value x probability of loss to arrive at your X.
- cdjk 14y ago
  Corrected for your risk tolerance, of course. Suppose my data is worth $10k, and and there is a 1/100 chance of data loss (making those numbers up). I'd gladly pay $500 for "data loss insurance" (i.e. backups) to avoid the chance of data loss, even though $500 > (1/100)*$10k. Just multiplying by the probability is what's known as "risk neutral" - it works and is a very good approximation when the dollar amounts amounts are small compared to your net worth. It tends not to be a good approximation when the dollar amounts are higher. Of course, a realistic analysis would also account for the fact the the "data loss insurance" itself is probabilistic, but this is a start.

DanBC 14y ago

Some stuff is more important than others. You really need to sort out something for passwords; software registrations; and logins. This is a tiny bit of backup, but it'll make life easier if your drive dies.