Setting up a personal cloud backup solution.

[11201ny]

Hello.
I am a photographer with about 9TB of photos, which i backup to Amazon Drive using Arq Backup software. It been great up until now, as Amazon has changed their pricing structure. Is there a way that a smart idiot like myself can create my own offsite backup server? Would i have to have a static ip / business internet account to do this? Is it worth it, to avoid paying Amazon $600/year?

Thanks!

 

[BrianBaughn]

For the average Joe...purchasing the gear, configuring something and maintaining it throughout OS upgrades is a bit daunting. Amazon is backing up their backup of your backups, so to speak, and you'll have a hard time matching the functionality and reliability.

Compare what Amazon or any other such cloud backup provider does to you yourself having a pair of backup NAS or similar devices, one at home and one in the office, that you swap out every week or so. I'm thinking you'd have to spend a minimum of $1000 for a pair of external devices big enough to handle 12TB each.

 

[11201ny]

For the average Joe...purchasing the gear, configuring something and maintaining it throughout OS upgrades is a bit daunting. Amazon is backing up their backup of your backups, so to speak, and you'll have a hard time matching the functionality and reliability.

Compare what Amazon or any other such cloud backup provider does to you yourself having a pair of backup NAS or similar devices, one at home and one in the office, that you swap out every week or so. I'm thinking you'd have to spend a minimum of $1000 for a pair of external devices big enough to handle 12TB each.

Thanks Brian. I already own all the stuff, i'm just not sure if i'm technically capable. I'm a savvy computer person, but no i.t. pro.

 

[jasnw]

I'd recommend what Brian suggested, or some variant thereof. Never underestimate the power of SneakerNet offsite backups. That's how I've handled my own offsite backups for years. Much easier than setting up your own cloud server, although at the cost of being slower to recover (you have to physically retrieve your backup if needed). While that's an unacceptable side-effect for 24x7 always-up services, it doesn't sound like you're in that situation.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Thanks Brian. I already own all the stuff, i'm just not sure if i'm technically capable. I'm a savvy computer person, but no i.t. pro.

I'd say I'm technically capable but I wouldn't want to do it. The equipment and software are constantly changing and there's too much that can go wrong.

Two backup devices, regular swaps and something like Carbon Copy Cloner for the backups would be very easy. You could store new and modified files in a cloud backup folder between swaps.

 

[Fishrrman]

If you go to cloud backup, it would advisable for you to keep and maintain PHYSICAL backups as well, under your possession and control.
But I'll guess you're probably doing this already.

In other words, don't put "all your faith" into "the cloud".
Others have done so, and have found themselves very let down...