Cloud Storage Suggestions

config t · August 02, 2016, 11:41:57 PM

Does anyone use cloud services for data backup?

I'm researching an affordable and scalable solution for a friend of mine who runs a photography business. It's small data.. about 2TB.

Right now all roads are pointing to Google and Amazon. Between labs I will be researching what is out there.

Dieselboy · August 03, 2016, 12:50:19 AM

We used to use AWS Glacier. It's cheap to store data but they charge you if you want to remove it, ie charge for storage and delete. Unless theyve changed that now.

wintermute000 · August 03, 2016, 12:56:16 AM

Quote from: config t on August 02, 2016, 11:41:57 PM
Does anyone use cloud services for data backup?

I'm researching an affordable and scalable solution for a friend of mine who runs a photography business. It's small data.. about 2TB.

Right now all roads are pointing to Google and Amazon. Between labs I will be researching what is out there.

For small business how about buying two 3Tb enclosures (that's 2 extra enclosures in addition to his 'normal' storage) and rotating them? One at work, one at home.
How long will it take him to upload 2Tb to any provider? and ditto for extracting the data when he needs it? You'd be looking @ at least 100Mb and even that would take over 48 hours at full pelt.

config t · August 03, 2016, 02:27:16 AM

Google Drive wants $99.99/mo for unlimited storage/extraction in the 10TB range. Convenient for them.. because 1TB is the next lowest tier. So if you want to store anything from 1.001TB - 10TB+ you pay that outrageous rate. Nope.

AWS Glacier (excluding the insignificant freebies):

Storage
$0.011 per GB/mo.

Upload
Free - Thanks Glacier

Extraction:
Up to 10 TB/mo. - $0.090 per GB

So to store 2TB - $264/yr (approx)
Complete Extraction - $180 (approx)

Quote from: wintermute000 on August 03, 2016, 12:56:16 AM
For small business how about buying two 3Tb enclosures (that's 2 extra enclosures in addition to his 'normal' storage) and rotating them? One at work, one at home.
How long will it take him to upload 2Tb to any provider? and ditto for extracting the data when he needs it? You'd be looking @ at least 100Mb and even that would take over 48 hours at full pelt.

It's a home office, hence the fear of total loss and desire for cloud storage. But seriously.. that data transfer rate. Ew.

Personally I would do the extra enclosures and figure out somewhere offsite yet convenient to store them.. I will recommend that first, and if I can't find something cheaper than AWS Glacier leave that as a second recommendation.

Dieselboy · August 03, 2016, 06:10:39 AM

If it's archiving / DR they want, then what about a few cheapy, 2 or 3 or more TB HDD into a caddy type thing. Copy the data one day. When they visit their family, take the HDD over and leave it there. Repeat.

3TB disks are about $150.

The problem is, how to simply, effectively and ensure that the copy is completed. I find all the time that if you try and copy a lot at once, Windows does not like it and will crap out halfway through, leaving you confused as to what has and has not been copied. Making you start again. 2TB at USB2 speeds wont be rapid either.

You can run SATA power and DATA extension cables from inside a computer, I have a rear plate on my computer that lets me plug in sata directly into the back like it was usb. All that is, is extensions to the motherboard from the plate. But means you can get 3gbps or 6gbps compared to 400mbps or so.

I think some of these external hdd products have backup managers included with them? I've seen them but never used any of them before. May be I should have given it a go

wintermute000 · August 03, 2016, 07:08:31 AM

1.) USB3 all the way. eSATA is getting rare.
2.) Just use any archival/copy program that has verification for extra safety. That on top of having multiple backups in different locations should suffice. e.g. 1 copy on main PC, 1 backup on USB at work, 1 backup on USB at home. For extra paranoia, get dual enclosures and run RAID1 so your backups have drive redundancy. Still way cheaper than 100 a month and you're not hamstrung by upload speeds - you can get gigabit speeds on USB3 no problem

Its really the only way that makes sense IMO given the size of the business and the fact that any cloud backup relies on super fast links for it to be workable (for 2Tb of data)

that1guy15 · August 03, 2016, 12:45:12 PM

And this post just dropped like a minute ago.

http://blog.fosketts.net/2016/08/03/hello-freenas-goodbye-drobo-iomega/

Dieselboy · August 03, 2016, 09:43:34 PM

thanks for the linky

config t · August 04, 2016, 02:15:39 AM

She went with the cloud solution *shrug*

Thank you all for the input. This is a topic I had never really looked in to.

Quote from: that1guy15 on August 03, 2016, 12:45:12 PM
And this post just dropped like a minute ago.

http://blog.fosketts.net/2016/08/03/hello-freenas-goodbye-drobo-iomega/

Whenever I stop my "wander the world configuring networks" phase and buy a house I am sooo looking forward to having my own in-home NAS solution.. and in-home VoIP (because why not?).. and a kick@$$ lab setup..

mmcgurty · August 04, 2016, 07:42:37 AM

I am late to the game but I have used BackBlaze for a while on my home PC for backing up. I was a reddit gold user at one point and they offered like 1 year for free, so it was too good to pass up. I've just kept it, no reason not to. However, they also have a method like Amazon Glacier that is supposed to be cheaper called B2 Cloud Storage. So that might be an option to explore as well. I had a few years ago a Crashplan account (like BackBlaze) but they raised the prices for the family plan I was on and it didn't feel like it was worth it to me anymore.

My guess is that since they are a photographer they are using Apple products. If you really wanted to save yourself some time and trouble you could get a Synology box and use the Time Machine function in OSX. Then use something like Amazon Glacier or B2 Cloud Storage to backup that hard drive itself to the cloud. That is just my 2 cents.

deanwebb · August 04, 2016, 11:55:59 AM

If it's a business, $264 a year is pretty small potatoes for a storage solution that is fully backed up by a major player - Amazon - and which is on resilient gear that is maintained properly by their folks.

wintermute000 · August 05, 2016, 01:25:57 AM

how much is the cost for enough bandwidth to backup 2Tb and also restore in a reasonable time?

deanwebb · August 05, 2016, 10:22:30 AM

To me, it seems like it's more of a one-time full backup and then constant incremental, like a massive Dropbox folder. Restoration is needed only if the local copies are wiped out and, then, it's a big deal to rebuild/load to a new device the full complement. However, if all that is needed is one or two photos from the back archive, it's not a major data move.