Google Cloud

[ILLMAS]

Is anybody using Google Cloud to backup their computers?  I just found out from an IT person, that Google offers inexpensive packages.

[schirallicpa]

Having everything in someone's cloud makes me nervous.  I still want a little hard piece of plastic and metal to back up on.  Need to find out how much access google has to your info.  My google knows when I sneeze.  What will my google cloud know?

[ILLMAS]

1 minute ago, schirallicpa said:

Having everything in someone's cloud makes me nervous.  I still want a little hard piece of plastic and metal to back up on.  Need to find out how much access google has to your info.  My google knows when I sneeze.  What will my google cloud know?

Good point, the IT person I spoke told me something that is probably common sense but one is not aware of it because IT is not my forte, he said me, how would I restore a backup if my office was to burn down?  I was like from external drive Hard drive  connected to my computer....  Then I got his message.

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

2 minutes ago, ILLMAS said:

Good point, the IT person I spoke told me something that is probably common sense but one is not aware of it because IT is not my forte, he said me, how would I restore a backup if my office was to burn down?  I was like from external drive Hard drive  connected to my computer....  Then I got his message.

A veteran IT person would have also said "are you sure you can restore from any source, have you ever tried?"

Looking at my mess of a desk, I have 4 local backups of various timings. SD, USB, portable drive, and on a second computer. Those handle the day to day issues, like stupid human actions. Two of the locals are triggered every half hour, and the other two are daily. While I don't like doing the same work twice, I can live with half hour of rework.

For remote, I use two commercial locations, in separate areas of the country. I use two locations of my own control, also in separate locations of the country.

I worry zip about compromise. I encrypt before saving in any manner, and the commercial services encrypt again.

For most here, something similar to what I do is not out of line, since you also have data which must be kept secure, and must be able to be recovered from scratch.

My sad fav backup story is someone who paid someone to setup an overnight backup for their system (server). All was coded correctly, other than no one paid attention to the storage location being turned off every day at closing, so there was never a backup made. Lousy power setup had the storage decive in a light switch. The Paul Harvey was the main data was lost when someone hit an on the floor cheap power strip.

[Abby Normal]

I use Backblaze. It's fast, works well and it's reasonably priced.

But I've heard that a database like ATX might be unusable when using an online backup because of the way both databases and online backups work. Some online service have a separate database backup option.

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

6 minutes ago, Abby Normal said:

I use Backblaze. It's fast, works well and it's reasonably priced.

But I've heard that a database like ATX might be unusable when using an online backup because of the way both databases and online backups work. Some online service have a separate database backup option.

Create the data to be backed up yourself.  meaning gather, compress, and encrypt on your end (and test it!), then have the resulting file(s) backed up online.

DO NOT rely on any backup service to "gather" and store all needed files "for" you. For instance, one I tried defaulted to some common data folders in Windows, but missed, and did not even suggest, including other locations. Then there is the issue of user level controls on your computer, and the backup not being able to get data from every user.

So use some tool locally to gather, compress, and encrypt.  Then try restoring.  Once you have that working, send the created files to your storage locations. I use Cobian Reflector, and have for years. It allows me to compile the data I want to backup (multiple jobs if desired) and to send the results to nearly anywhere I wish.