Cloud Data Backup Considerations

Cloud based based backup services are very attractive. All you do is install a small client on your computer and all your data is mirrored to an off-site location to protect you in the event of a disaster. While this is an incredibly practical and useful model, there are a few considerations which have to be made before you subscribe to one of these services. Mainly the amount of data you have as well as your upload bandwidth speed.

As this article goes into good detail, but I will give the brief overview. When backing up data, you probably include everything in your “My Documents” folder as well as your respective email storage folders. If these folders are massive, then odds are it going to take a long time to sync. It is important to remember that your advertised internet speed is your download speed with upload speed typically being a fraction of that (test it here). Because of this, your initial sync may take upwards of weeks to complete. Remember, if your upload speed is 1 Mb/s, this means megabit (not megabyte) so the megabyte speed would be 1 Mb/s / 8 = 125 KB/s (.125 MB/s).

Just something to consider.

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Jase
this whole cloud computing thing concerns me a wee bit, speed is the least of the problem
1) whats to stop the owners of these sites theiving your personal data (despite whatever their privacy policy says!!) I’ve seen it happen in a major data warehouse before so you can’t try and tell me it doesn’t and/or wont,
2) what happens if your system/network/all your mates pc’s etc go belly up temporarily and you can no longer access ‘the cloud’ that holds your data when you need it and your only disked copy is corrupt/unreadable, what then?
I’ve heard that software shipped on physical media will soon be a thing of the past, this is a pretty major pitfall if they haven’t ironed this out.

http://kkomp.com Sharron Field
In answer to your questions: -
1. Data transferred is commonly encrypted by a 128 or 256-bit algorithm on your own computer by the small app that you initially installed when you started using the backup service. It is then transmitted as encrypted data to the company and stored as such on their servers until such time as you need it. At that point the encrypted data is transmitted to your computer and unencrypted by means of the same algorithm.
This is the case with both Backblaze and Carbonite anyway – Both of which I currently use.
2.This point that you make demonstrates the importance of not having all your eggs in one basket: More than one single backup is always a good idea.
I backup all my data both online and locally: My XP Pro comp uses Backblaze for online backup, and my Win 7 64-bit comp uses Carbonite. In addition to this I back up each computer to the other, and also copy these backups to external hard-drive.
A lot of extra hassle perhaps, but always better to be safe than sorry. Prevention (of data loss) is better than cure. (Panic, and end up starting from scratch again.)

Simon Young
Jase…you right on….there are concerns with data being compromised or worse the data backup companies failing altogether like carbonite with their 7500 customers the other year…they lost their data…..just lost it all….what I recommend is that you check to see the companies are replicating the data…and not just a snapshot replication every once in awhile they need to do both transactional and snapshot replications to ensure the data can be restored to a proper point in time….many of the big guys do this….its true they encrypt the data before is backed up….but as with any thing data can be compromised…its not quantum mechanics….take care