Ask HN: What do you use for personal, offsite backup?

#1

Post by nopal » Wed, Aug 26, 2009, 12:25 AM UTC

What do other HN users use for personal, offsite backup?

I want to find an automated solution that doesn't cost a fortune.

With the number and size of files I have, buying storage somewhere and encrypting the files myself isn't very feasible.

My one requirement is that I be the only one that is able to decrypt my files.

The only service I've been able to find that allows self-management of the encryption key is Carbonite, but they don't allow it with the Mac client.

I just refuse to trust a company with all of my data.

Does anyone know of a good, hacker-friendly online backup service?

Re: Ask HN: What do you use for personal, offsite backup?

#2

Post by cperciva » Wed, Aug 26, 2009, 12:30 AM UTC

I use tarsnap. (Also, I wrote tarsnap.)

I feel bad about advertising my product here, so I'll stop there and let other HN readers tell you how fantastic tarsnap is. :-)

Re: Ask HN: What do you use for personal, offsite backup?

#3

Post by njharman » Wed, Aug 26, 2009, 12:43 AM UTC

S3

Re: Ask HN: What do you use for personal, offsite backup?

#4

Post by byoung2 » Wed, Aug 26, 2009, 12:50 AM UTC

Mozy

Sad but true story: I worked for a company that backed up email by printing them. They finally upgraded after a year of pleading...to a hard drive in a safe-deposit box at a bank down the street. And this was 2008!

Re: Ask HN: What do you use for personal, offsite backup?

#5

Post by I_got_fifty » Wed, Aug 26, 2009, 1:00 AM UTC

byoung2 wrote: post #4

Mozy Sad but true story: I worked for a company that backed up email by printing them. They finally upgraded after a year of pleading...to a hard drive in a safe-deposit box at a bank down the street. And this was 2008!

I'm sorry.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use for personal, offsite backup?

#6

Post by spitfire » Wed, Aug 26, 2009, 1:08 AM UTC

dotmac backup daily. (easy access) rsync to a remote system daily. (long term archival) An incremental DVD once a week, with monthly home folder backup. Copies stay here at my home and at an offsite.

Only the physical backups actually take any effort from me.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use for personal, offsite backup?

#7

Post by edw519 » Wed, Aug 26, 2009, 1:11 AM UTC

byoung2 wrote: post #4

Mozy Sad but true story: I worked for a company that backed up email by printing them. They finally upgraded after a year of pleading...to a hard drive in a safe-deposit box at a bank down the street. And this was 2008!

Sadder but true story: I worked for a company that backed up mission critical data to tape and stored the tape in the computer room! The building burnt down. No more system. No more business. And this was 2009!

Re: Ask HN: What do you use for personal, offsite backup?

#8

Post by cperciva » Wed, Aug 26, 2009, 1:12 AM UTC

edw519 wrote: post #7

byoung2 wrote: post #4

Mozy Sad but true story: I worked for a company that backed up email by printing them. They finally upgraded after a year of pleading...to a hard drive in a safe-deposit box at a bank down the street. And this was 2008!

Sadder but true story: I worked for a company that backed up mission critical data to tape and stored the tape in the computer room! The building burnt down. No more system. No more business. And this was 2009!

I worked for a company that backed up mission critical data to tape and stored the tape in the computer room! The building burnt down.

Another thing to remember, which several companies learned in 2001: "The other twin tower" doesn't qualify as an off-site backup.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use for personal, offsite backup?

#9

Post by soar » Wed, Aug 26, 2009, 1:13 AM UTC

Carbonite

Re: Ask HN: What do you use for personal, offsite backup?

#10

Post by esad » Wed, Aug 26, 2009, 1:17 AM UTC

I don't know if they allow that, but I was thinking of getting one of the advertised-as-unlimited-storage dreamhost account and using rsync to do my backups. Anyone using this already?