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On 10/25/10 09:58, Jesse Howard wrote:

I am looking at using Backblaze as an off-site storage solution for server and possibly workstation backups. Would anyone with experience running backups to the cloud like to comment on the pluses and minuses of these services? I would be looking to do about 500 gb a week from a single PC to start.

 

Jesse Howard
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I'm probably going to be the Black Sheep again, but I have a lot of serious
questions about storing data elsewhere (the cloud).

What is the guarantee for your data being there when you need it?  I
rather doubt that the contract you will have to sign to use a service is
going to put them at much risk if things go wrong.

What happens to your data if the company goes bankrupt?  What
happens to your data if the company gets gobbled up by a larger
company?

What happens to your backups if you decide to leave that service?
What kind of guarantee is there that your backups, and *their*
backups of your backups are removed?

What policies does the company have with regard to requests from
law enforcement etc about obtaining your data?   No on can refuse
a court order, but some places have gleefully given out data when
simply asked.

How is the data encrypted before it's send to the capture machine?
If the company supplies it to you, is it open source?  Unless you *know*
what the method is you have no idea what it is that you are using, AND
you have no idea if there is some kind of mechanism to quietly peer
into your data.

All this is not to say that things cannot be done correctly.  There is a
site, http://tarsnap.com that seems to deal with things correctly.  Note
that I have not used tarsnap, but I think it deserves a look.

The attitude I see about "the cloud" makes me uneasy.  I see
significant risks with it.  I'm sure it can be done safely, but I'm not
sure I've seen many examples of it being done intelligently.

--STeve Andre'