Octopus Overlords

You can do that with CrashPlan.

You can also back up to external drives or friends with CrashPlan for free--what they charge for is backing up to them as well as their 'real-time' backup (the free service is once per day or on a schedule that you set).

Also, I need my car detailed, a few things picked up from the store, and my feet rubbed.

(Since every question in this thread has resulted in 'CrashPlan can do that', I figured I'd ask.)

Blackhawk wrote:Also, I need my car detailed, a few things picked up from the store, and my feet rubbed.

(Since every question in this thread has resulted in 'CrashPlan can do that', I figured I'd ask.)

CrashPlan can...

Wait, I see what you did there.

I work for Code 42 now, by the way. We make CrashPlan.

ChrisGwinn wrote:I work for Code 42 now, by the way. We make CrashPlan.

Solid. I haven't had to restore anything yet, but it certainly appears to be doing everything I want it to do.

ChrisGwinn wrote:I work for Code 42 now, by the way. We make CrashPlan.

And we are all his alts.

This thread is a bit old - is Crashplan still the method of choice for backing up a computer and external drive to the cloud?

stessier wrote:This thread is a bit old - is Crashplan still the method of choice for backing up a computer and external drive to the cloud?

It's mine.

I use carbonite.. I like it and it is unlimited online storage for a yearly subscription.
I also manually backup locally to externals..

Punisher wrote:I use carbonite.. I like it and it is unlimited online storage for a yearly subscription.
I also manually backup locally to externals..

I've got a client that uses Carbonite. It's OK but I prefer Crashplan. Crashplan Pro is our preferred solution at work and I use Crashplan at home to backup my PC and my NAS.

Ok, time to get this ball rolling. I have an external drive now, and plan to keep backups of a variety of personal stuff. The overwhelming answer is Crashplan, and I'll be using the free version (I can't take on any more subscriptions these days), but I have a couple of specific questions.

~The site says the backup is daily, but I intend that the external drive be completely disconnected from my network and stored. I want to take it out once every week or two, hook it up, and run the backup. Is that an issue with Crashplan free?

~Does it store the files on the external drive in a readable format, or in an encrypted Crashplan-only format? IE, can I stick the drive on another system and simply access my files? Is the portion of the external drive not used by Crashplan available for other use, such as simple file storage?

~And just to clarify a question I asked before, can I give Crashplan a set of specific directories to back up when I hit the 'go' button?

1) Yes, you can pull it without issue.

2) It stores the files in an encrypted blob, for lack of a better term. They're not readable except through the CrashPlan app. At least, that's how mine is. I don't think it's different with the free version.

3) Yes, you can set up specific directories and different backup sets with different options.

If you want the cheap way of doing offsite backup, I've got space and you can set CrashPlan friends as backup destinations if you so desire. (Also stored as blobs, so those friends don't have access to your files.)

Ugh, I hate #1. If I were backing up to the cloud or something accessible to a third party, I'd absolutely be in favor of it, but I don't need that for a drive that's simply sitting on a shelf.

If I backup 300gb of data, and need to get a specific 2mb file, do I have to retrieve the entire 'blob?'

No, CrashPlan has an index of your destination locations, and when you pick to do a restore, you pick the backup destination (eg CrashPlan Central, a hard drive, a friend), the file(s)/folder(s) to restore, what instance (most recent, etc), and restore-to destination. The app then pulls just what you selected. Aside from knowing that the data is encrypted on the back end, the storage format is transparent to the user.

I know I'm being a pain. It seems to be a pattern with me. Thanks for answering the five hundred overly-specific questions without throwing goats at me.

Is there an option to access without restoring? In my earlier example, if I just want to *look* at the 2mb file and not replace the current version, or if I want to make a copy of the 2mb file for some other reason (perhaps to use an earlier version as a template), can I do that?

No problem, and I'm out of goats, anyway.

No, you cannot access without restoring, but yes, you can restore to an alternate location in order to access the file without actually restoring over the current copy.

Damn, that seems like a lot of hassle to work around features I don't need. It seems like a fantastic tool if you have a lot of high-value data that you need backed up constantly, but for making sure that family photos, password lists, and D&D prep work survive a lightning strike? It feels like overkill.

I may still look into getting a copy for a small handful of important local files, but for what I need, I almost feel like I'd be better off just setting up a batch file to copy everything from a list of directories to a folder on the external drive once every couple of weeks. Plug in the external, double-click the batch file, have lunch, done.

Of course, I don't know the first thing about creating a batch file other than 'open in notepad, change extension', but I do know it is free!

Check out FreeFileSync. Open-source, and will probably handle what you're looking to do more reliably than a simple copy/xcopy.

How much storage are you looking to need? If you want accessible, Google Drive or Dropbox might be better. My Google Drive has 17 GB available. Dropbox will give you 2GB for free. Much more than that, and you're looking at subscription costs.

For the overall thing? Quite a bit. That's why I have an external drive sitting here, ready to go.

Zaxxon wrote:Check out FreeFileSync. Open-source, and will probably handle what you're looking to do more reliably than a simple copy/xcopy.

I love FreeFileSync, I use it to make backup copies of my music, audiobooks and e-books between 2 internal drives.

gilraen wrote:

Zaxxon wrote:Check out FreeFileSync. Open-source, and will probably handle what you're looking to do more reliably than a simple copy/xcopy.

I love FreeFileSync, I use it to make backup copies of my music, audiobooks and e-books between 2 internal drives.

I've used it in my day job to assist with initial migration to replacement file servers. It's been a great help.

I need my own backup solution after I f***ed up my 3TB desktop external drive and then f***ed up my Win10 install when I tried to install an old game... forgetting it has crappy Starforce protection on it. I'm kinda rebuilding my Win10 from scratch, but it's a good way to clean my HD as well. Now I don't have so much crap installed.

Out of curiosity (and caution), did StarForce actually screw up your install, or is it just its presence that offends?

Once I installed Brothers In Arms, it insisted on installing Starfoce. I rebooted, and Window stopped booting, and it cannot automatically recover, and NONE of the boot manager steps would work (no safe mode, no nothing). No restore from last settings. Even restore point restore from a month ago failed to cure it.

I ended up "resetting" the install.

I accidentally bumped over my external drive and it's just making clacking noises. My previous external drive seems to have died. The internal electronics no longer worked.

Now I think I'll buy an external SATA dock (a dual) and one 3TB HD for about $100. When I need more I can buy a bigger drive and put it in the 2nd slot.

Redoing my Win10 from scratch has both benefits and problems.

A lot of the hardware I had plugged in no longer seems to work. I had to break out my backup scanner when my primary scanner stopped working. I haven't tried every piece of hardware I had plugged either.

OTOH, I can go on a serious HD cleaning and reclaim a ton of space from my hard drives.

Microsoft Synctoy is not a bad tool to use either if you are targeting specific files - docs, photo, and media.

Edit: Really should say folders. If you use the Mys - Documents, Photos, Video, Music etc it is very easy to keep your stuff backed up.

My external SATA Dock and Drive was supposed to arrive yesterday, but last update was 4/24 and it's already in San Francisco being delivered by USPS. Seems USPS is behind on its deliveries, as I'm not getting a delivered notification yet.

And it seems someone shipped my new laptop battery fast as it's arriving by Friday.

So we are auditioning the roll your own CrashPlan to backup several servers at work and suddenly the backup frequency and versioning setting sliders are greyed-out and have a link that says "CrashPlan Plus" that then takes me to a store page that only offers the non-self hosted plans. Did they remove these settings from the free self-hosted version? Online searches are surprisingly not turning up much and support has not responded to emails.

Currently we are using Symantec BackupExec and love the data dedupe but while moving to a new backup server are looking at other options (hopefully moving to a free or open source/free solution). Any other ideas of backup solutions that include data deduplication that would play well in a server environment (both virtualized and bare metal)?

Edit: please share paid solutions as well if you really like them. We don't want to do cloud backup. Our new backup server is a Synology DS1815+ and we are retiring an older Dell Windows Server with 2012 on it.

CrashPlan Free was always reasonably limited and not just in terms of cloud storage. You were limited in the number and kinds of backup sets you could create, and definitely limited in the frequency of backups.

When you buy CrashPlan Plus you get the full backup options as well as cloud hosting (which you can use or not).

I've used CrashPlan Plus I should add and it's reasonably affordable and with the Plus features it's pretty good (and I didn't find the cost burdensome at the time). You don't need to use the cloud elements if you don't want to. You can still target backup sets to local storage and friends.

My only complaint was that I couldn't backup to NAS without jumping through hoops that I never got working.

Amazon and USPS seems to have lost my package. The tracking number says the package is between Amazon and USPS, but Amazon's tracking info says USPS has received the package. And in any case, it was 4 days ago.

Was it sent through USPS or through one of the middle-man shippers (UPS Mail Innovations, FedEx Smartpost?) If so, google the tracking number and check directly. I find that Amazon's tracking info is often behind what the company itself offers.

And USPS tracking is about the most useless thing in the industry. It's decent at telling you it was delivered, and that's about it.

The funny part is USPS (not vendor, USPS itself) says their last update was 4/23 where they're awaiting transfer from partner facility in Newark (which is 1 hour south). But Amazon's last update says the package is in San Francisco awaiting USPS delivery as of 4/24. And there had been no more updates since.

I just requested a refund of the entire order and order the dock / drive combo again. ARGH. That's $100 in limbo.

I would like to back up an external hard drive to the cloud. Will Crash Plan let me do this?

stessier wrote:I would like to back up an external hard drive to the cloud. Will Crash Plan let me do this?

Yes, but you will have to give them the monies for that (the cloud is only available as an option to CrashPlan Plus.

I'm good with that - thanks. Has anyone used Carbonite? That looks like the premium version will do it as well.

stessier wrote:I'm good with that - thanks. Has anyone used Carbonite? That looks like the premium version will do it as well.

I haven't used it, but know enough people that do. It's the same basic service, same price (for a single PC). This thread reminded me that I never really made good on my plan to manually back shit up. So I turned Crashplan back on for local and cloud storage. The unlimited data is great. It takes an awfully long time to push hundreds of GB to the cloud though.

Apparently USPS dropped the ball on delivery notification. The item is here.

I need to plug it in now and try to get the HD working. I need the backup space, and I need to recover my media from my other HD's.

On the other hand, my new replacement battery doesn't work. Gives me flashing yellow lights. Dell message board confirms it's sign of a DOA battery.