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abz1981

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 3, 2011
1,013
4
HI all
Dunno if this is the best place to post this. But does anyone here, actually solely use online back up sites, as there main back up?

Reason why I ask is, that for all my important files, I have used the dropbox service. Finding it good so far. However was considering buying a usb pen drive too, just to have an additional back up measure. No need for me to get an external HD or anything. So just wondering if anyone use a similar kinda set up?
 

abz1981

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 3, 2011
1,013
4
If you only need very little storage, then Dropbox or equivalent online storage is enough.

Thats what I thought. Then I also had the thought in my head, what happened if something went wrong with dropbox and couldn't access my files. Then I guess I can put the same question to, if that happened to a usb pen drive or external HD.

Thanks for your input though :)
 

mstrze

macrumors 68000
Nov 6, 2009
1,915
0
The more backups you have, the better. And a little flash drive is cheap. You can get them for less than a dollar a GB!

Sure, it can break, your internal drive could fail, Dropbox could be down or lose your data...the more locations you have important files stored, the better. :)
 

abz1981

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 3, 2011
1,013
4
The more backups you have, the better. And a little flash drive is cheap. You can get them for less than a dollar a GB!

Sure, it can break, your internal drive could fail, Dropbox could be down or lose your data...the more locations you have important files stored, the better. :)

True. Okay might get a little flash drive.

Thanks for that :)
 

Big D 51

macrumors 6502a
Jan 15, 2011
771
0
Mobile, AL
I use dropbox as my primary cloud service for important stuff (pictures, financial information, school work, business information, resumes, engineering spreadsheets, code books, etc.).

In addition, I use time capsule to back up MBA as well. I doubt I will ever use the back up hard drive, but you never know. As of now, I can fit all important stuff in dropbox. I haven't ran out of room yet. In fact, I have 50% left. What saves me the most room is I am not a movie or music guru. If I was, I would save that stuff on the hard drive anyways.
 

driftless

macrumors 65816
Sep 2, 2011
1,486
183
Chicago-area
I use Dropbox as a file transfer, travel drive rather than for storage. Crashplan.com is what I use for my on-line storage. I use TC/TM for my local back-up.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

turtle777

macrumors 6502a
Apr 30, 2004
686
30
Dunno if this is the best place to post this. But does anyone here, actually solely use online back up sites, as there main back up?

Nope.

ALL my stuff is backed up locally (TimeMachine).

All my IMPORTANT stuff is in addition, backed up online.

I would not trust online only. Also, I can't back up my whole Mac online, so the question for me if online is sufficient is clearly NO.

-t
 

MadMiller20

macrumors newbie
Jan 5, 2012
9
0
New here - but agree with the above posters. Definitely get a flash drive in addition to using a website like dropbox. Dropbox is great but, you can never be too careful. Having files backed up on a flash drive gives you a PHYSICAL back up drive & piece of mind!
 

turtle777

macrumors 6502a
Apr 30, 2004
686
30
Also, I encrypt my important stuff before backing up online. I don't trust teh intarwebs.

-t
 

skier777

macrumors 6502
Jul 3, 2010
325
6
Unless you only are backing up very select portions of your data, doesn't it take forever and cost a fortune to backup online? If you are only backing up select files, what would restore from if you HDD crashed? Or a glass of water was spilled into your computer?
 

turtle777

macrumors 6502a
Apr 30, 2004
686
30
Unless you only are backing up very select portions of your data, doesn't it take forever and cost a fortune to backup online? If you are only backing up select files, what would restore from if you HDD crashed? Or a glass of water was spilled into your computer?

I back up about 50GB of data online.

It doesn't cost me extra, it's part of my Dreamhost Storage.

I use Twin for the backups, it's encrypted and provides versioning, like TimeMachine.

-t
 

g4jsg

macrumors newbie
Feb 13, 2012
1
0
MonsterCloud.co.uk £9.99 Unlimited Online backup

I have just signed up with Monster Cloud on their £9.99 a year deal. You get Unlimited Online & backup space, you can backup your entire PC and then view the files on your smartphone/tablet or with a web browser.

http://www.monstercloud.co.uk and if you sign up let me know as they offer a recommendation scheme.

Thanks
John
 

reefoid

macrumors regular
Aug 5, 2011
136
77
UK
I use Dropbox to store my media. I don't really see the point in extra backups with Dropbox, if you use the desktop client it keeps a copy on the Dropbox servers and locally. So my media exists in three places (Dropbox servers, desktop, work desktop).

For important files, i.e. work stuff, I backup to my webserver.
 

rhett7660

macrumors G5
Jan 9, 2008
14,373
4,496
Sunny, Southern California
Nope.

ALL my stuff is backed up locally (TimeMachine).

All my IMPORTANT stuff is in addition, backed up online.

I would not trust online only. Also, I can't back up my whole Mac online, so the question for me if online is sufficient is clearly NO.

-t

This... others have mentioned it, also. Multipal backups across multipal devices. Safe bet!
 
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