[Ardour-Users] [OT] Archive media

[Chooch Schubert]

On Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 11:05 PM, Kevin Cosgrove <kevinc at cosgroves.us> wrote:
> How did you decide on CrashPlan versus any other number of cloud
> backup solutions?  How did you decide whether to opt for a free
> plan or opt for a certain level of paid backup plans?

In the past I was backing up to my local server via rsync and a script
to do hard symlinks in a rotation scheme to have a history of
revisions with minimal disk usage. This worked pretty well, but didn't
give off-site backups and was a pain in the ass if there were Samba
connection issues. So, I started looking at other solutions.

My primary requirement was cross-platform support which immediately
ruled out some of the solutions that were Windows/Mac only (Carbonite,
etc.). Between my wife and I, we use Linux, Mac, and PC on a daily
basis, though Mac is giving way to Linux shortly. Unfortunately she
has software that requires Windows to stay around.

Secondary I looked at pricing for large amounts of data since we are
backing up podcast episodes, music, and video projects. Most of the
services I found have limits on either bandwidth or disk space (Mozy,
SpiderOak, etc.)

CrashPlan covers all of the platforms, and is free if you are backing
up locally or remotely to a friend so it was a simple answer for me. I
didn't have anybody that I could swap drives with so I went ahead and
paid for a family plan. This gives unlimited bandwidth and disk space
for up to 10 computers at about $12 a month. This is a business
expense for us, so it's something we can write off on our taxes and
don't mind paying the fee. The convenience is well worth the money.

All of our computers backup locally to my server every 15 minutes,
keeping deleted files and document revisions for quick restores if
needed. They also backup to the Crashplan cloud in case our house
burns down, floods, or metal eating alien locusts descend from space.

The server backs up to the Crashplan cloud. Though, it only backs up
its config files and data that we've moved out of our primary working
directories (ie: long term archives) so as not to duplicate the stuff
that's already getting backed up.

It's all very simple to configure, select, and view status and I can
actually download a copy of any files no matter where I am in the
world through the Crashplan website (like you can with Dropbox) which
is an added bit of convenience. All at a flat rate without giving a
moments notice to disk space or bandwidth.

 {c}