Offsite Backups

For the past decade or so, I've backed up my data to an offsite location. The varieties of solutions I've employed range from renting a dedicated server to using commercial software like Backblaze or Wuala. Currently I do a mix of both solutions. In addition, I run my own git repositories for backup, automated with Sparkleshare. It's a working solution, but spreads my data around to various places. I'm not sure if that's better or not. On the one hand, it reduces the chance of all of my data being lost should both the source and backup disappear. On the other hand, it increases the chances of me losing control of the data if some 3rd party were to be bought, sold, or hacked. In theory, the data is all encrypted at the offsite locations. I know my git repositories are, but I don't know how well my other solutions will fare against an attacker. I've been blindly following along with this model for a few years now. I figure it's time
to revisit the solutions and make new decisions.

I spend around $50/mo for the current solutions. This seems pretty expensive to me for backup. I started to look at the alternatives for the 1 terabyte of data I need to store offsite. THe parameters for a good solution are:

1. Needs to work with Linux, OSX, and Windows.
2. Needs to use redundant disks to spread the data across at least two drives somewhere.
3. Needs to allow for encrypted data.

The options I've found are:

- Rsync.net around $1,800/year.
- SpiderOak around $1,200/year.
- Wuala around $1,340/year.
- Hostgator Dedicated around $2,640/year.
- Alpine DC Eco Server around $1,100/year.
- Hetzner EX40 Server around $790/year.
- Crashplan Family around $150/year.
- AltDrive Platinum around $120/year.

Clearly, Crashplan and AltDrive are the cheapest options. However, I need to investigate their encryption more, or just assume I'm encrypting everything myself first. Hetzner seems a pretty attractive offer as well.

To be continued...

originally published at wiki.lewman.is