Do you consider cloud storage like Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, etc a backup solution.

[RMerlin]

My proofs:
1) the encryption for transfers is not the encryption for storage, in most all US service providers.

If you encrypt data on your end with a private key that you aren't sharing, then that data stays encrypted once stored. Carbonite cannot decrypt it, period. To be able to store the unencrypted version, they would need to have a copy of your private key - which they don't.

2) there have been breaches in access to stored data at Drop Box, Open Drive and others. In the public news. Often due to disgruntled employees or contractors.

Didn't I said repeatedly that since Carbonite does NOT have your key, nobody there can decrypt it?

 

[stevech]

If you encrypt data on your end with a private key that you aren't sharing, then that data stays encrypted once stored. Carbonite cannot decrypt it, period. To be able to store the unencrypted version, they would need to have a copy of your private key - which they don't.



Didn't I said repeatedly that since Carbonite does NOT have your key, nobody there can decrypt it?

You did. But my point is that the encryption key for transmission is usually not the key used for storage. Some let you choose the latter. Some obfuscate the fact that they re-encrypt for storage. And they try to control access to the storage keys to a few trusted employees in order to comply with US laws for legal intercept court orders.

If you upload sensitive personal information or material covered under a non-disclosure agreement, they encrypt it yourself, with independent means, before it gets backed up or manually uploaded. If you wish.

They have the usual disclaimer for a US operation:

Carbonite will not view the contents of Your Account. Carbonite may view Your file system information (file folder names, file extensions, sizes etc., but not Your file contents) to provide incremental backups and file comparisons, quality control and technical support.

Carbonite will not disclose Your personal information, including the contents of Your Account, to third parties unless disclosure is necessary to comply with the law.

We need not discuss this further. We may agree to disagree.

 

[Nullity]

I use these services for personal backups. I have not lost any files yet. I even use GMail as a half-assed online backup. Of course, these are probably bad practices but I am cheap and lazy.

Encryption, security, etc is a different topic worthy of it's own thread (or sub-forum).

 

[ICTShifu]

No. Security issues. As stevech mentioned, encryption doesn't help in many situations.

 

[ICTShifu]

unless disclosure is necessary to comply with the law.

And that can get tricky since data usually exists in multiple jurisdictions. We don't know what "the law" is. As disturbing as it sounds, the U.S. has secret laws covering data acquisition. This might be true of other countries as well. Also, it's rare data that never crosses geographical boundaries where less understood laws exist. Finally, the rate at which governments are granting themselves "lawful access" is accelerating. Security plans based on today's law won't help you as early as tomorrow.

 

[stevech]

US Federal law prevails, I think, for companies doing interstate business.

I'm far more concerned about identity theft by an employee of a data center or network operator, than I am about NSA or FBI having a rogue employee.

 

[ICTShifu]

US Law is designed primarily to penetrate privacy; protection of privacy is also mentioned somewhere in the footnotes. But US law probably will not come into play if for instance Maltese law has quietly authorized access to and permanent storage of data. Well I don't know but, I think locally created and locally stored data is in the extreme minority. It's pretty ordinary for hypersensitive info to zip all over the world. Globalization you know.

 

[sfx2000]

Hi. I'm revamping my backup strategy as the amount of data I need to hold has increased over the last couple of years. In a search for an "off-site" location for my backup, do you consider cloud storage providers such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, Skydrive, etc, a viable cloud backup solution where they would contend with more traditional backup services like Crashplan and Mozy Pro?

Late into the thread...

Dropbox/Skydrive/Google Drive are great for file sync across different devices...

This does not replace long term backup...

Going into the cloud - Carbonite/Backblaze/Mozy/Crashplan are great personal backup platforms - going into small biz even these are probably not appropriate depending on location and regulations, along with contractual obligations...

(as a consultant at one time a few years back - I still need to keep an Iron Mountain archive for project docs)

Anything one puts into the cloud - need to fully understand what the provider can and cannot do - and how the secure the data will be maintained - and from a legal perspective, remedies when/if the data is compromised..

I don't back up into the cloud - I do sync transient files into the cloud, but only for personal items that I feel are ok - anything business related - nope... just basic good sense.

 

[Shabbir Rao]

@ sfx2000 - May I ask why you do not feel OK to use Dropbox e.t.c. for business purpose?

 

[Chrysalis]

its better than things like raid1, its also arguably better in some ways than a local backup on different media because offsite stays intact e.g. in a local fire.

But usually I use cloud services as a secondary backup with another backup also primary.

 

[Shabbir Rao]

DropBox or others you have mentioned above are actually not meant to be for back up, they are actually for file sharing/sync.

 

[stevech]

I used OpenDrive the most, but a year now I've used Adrive because it is also easy to automate backups AND they have the lowest prices.

Some of the ones I've used and rejected for one reason or another, in favor of the above. This is over a span of many years.
iDrive, CrashPlan, Amazon, Google Drive, Acronis on-line backup (I use Acronis for drive imaging), Dropbox, Carbonite, several in the EU/UK, SpiderOak, Mozy, SoS Backup, Backblaze.

 

[Shabbir Rao]

For file sharing I am using Synaman and it works great for me.

 

[Chrysalis]

I use them as a secondary backup occasionally but never primary backup, dropbox for me its most use has been to make transferring files to/from my phone easier and to share stuff with family and friends.

 

[some dude]

I've been using computers and social media since the 80s. My 2nd PC had a 250MB tape drive and 200MB HD on a 486DX33 16MB RAM, running my warez BBS with Fidonet. I do not trust anyone with my data and it's faster with my SSDs. 950 PROs. I have seen websites and ISPs go out of business and stop offering services (Google video - comcrap personal file storage / webspaces). I had a comcrap website for selling some collectible and had the files in the storage space. It's all gone and a waste.

Even the University of Michigan last year shut down their sitemaker.umich.edu platform where I and others had personal websites. It had been running for over 13 years I think.

 

[Nullity]

I've been using computers and social media since the 80s. My 2nd PC had a 250MB tape drive and 200MB HD on a 486DX33 16MB RAM, running my warez BBS with Fidonet. I do not trust anyone with my data and it's faster with my SSDs. 950 PROs. I have seen websites and ISPs go out of business and stop offering services (Google video - comcrap personal file storage / webspaces). I had a comcrap website for selling some collectible and had the files in the storage space. It's all gone and a waste.

Even the University of Michigan last year shut down their sitemaker.umich.edu platform where I and others had personal websites. It had been running for over 13 years I think.

When you say "trust" are you referring to security or reliability?

I dunno what sitemaker is, but I used Xoom years ago and it was sad to see them go along with many other prolific, free webhosting providers like geocities (which Archive.org archived reasonably well).

 

[some dude]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UM.SiteMaker It was easier to setup and use than your personal webspace, but they only gave you 100MB to start out with when your personal space was 1GB then they gave 10GB a while later. Sitemaker and comcrap shut down their services at nearly the same time last year. Synchronicity. Harvard also used it with one of their websites which I had a link to on mine. You could give a link to your files for 30 days then it would expire. Had some nice features.

Security and reliability. Just buy a fire proof safe.

 

[Nullity]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UM.SiteMaker It was easier to setup and use than your personal webspace, but they only gave you 100MB to start out with when your personal space was 1GB then they gave 10GB a while later. Sitemaker and comcrap shut down their services at nearly the same time last year. Synchronicity. Harvard also used it with one of their websites which I had a link to on mine. You could give a link to your files for 30 days then it would expire. Had some nice features.

Security and reliability. Just buy a fire proof safe.

Thanks for the link.


Just a random FYI, Comcast is not completely evil; AQMs for FreeBSD. (AQMs solve bufferbloat problems.)

Comcast's TechFund paid some programmers to implement codel, PIE, fq_codel, and fq_PIE in FreeBSD, which is awesome for FreeBSD/pfSense and cable-modem users. (PIE is a DOCSIS 3.1 requirement)

 

[some dude]

They're evil when they charge $300 for 2Gb when Google charges $70 for 1Gb. Comcrap charges $130 for 150Mb, that's close to double but 2Gb is 13x faster. They hide speed packages and overcharge. I found 75Mb for the SAME price I was paying for 15Mb. I bitched them out and went to 75, come to find out the speed is not available in my city anywhere so went with the 25Mb and lowered the cost by half. The SB6138 I bought instead of being gullible for another 10 years for renting, sped up the connection to 30. I could probably go with the 15 service and save even more and still get 30 with this modem.

Apparently they sent out emails telling people they were shutting down the webspace and storage and to save your files. I never got one. UM did the same thing but I had not checked my university email in years, and they sent it last minute instead of giving a lot of lead time to login and request your site to be archived so you can upload it to another provider. My email was filled with 1000 spam messages from my database guestbook I made using sitemaker. I have no idea how bots found it. They tried posting links but the database format doesn't allow it.

Anyway, I do not trust websites or ISPs. I had @Home and they went bankrupt. A lot of websites shut down that were made for letting people create personal spaces and guestbooks. It's simply faster and easier to backup to SSDs and keep them safe.

 

[stevech]

Adrive.com is my choice at 100GB for $25/yr. Enough for non-private info I upload.

iDrive is having a short sale, 1 year discount. Used to cost more than Adrive.

OpenDrive.. I used them for years but now not value priced.