Cloud backup and restoration processes Ensure data is safely stored and can be recovered when needed.
Cloud backup and restoration processes Ensure data is safely stored and can be recovered when needed.
Avoid free cloud storage services; they are known for instability and lack of security. Backup solutions like Backblaze are preferable. A personal plan costs around $5 per month or $50 annually. Cloud backups come with drawbacks such as expense and slower upload/recovery times. You'll also need a fast internet connection with ample data allowance. Consider using cloud backups only as a backup for offsite drives, or better yet, combine them with traditional onsite and offsite storage methods.
Another choice is CrashPlan Small Business. They bill per machine but if you own one Linux or Windows system, you can store everything locally and transfer it to CrashPlan. They also provide the possibility of sending a few drives for faster large backups, and they handle recovery similarly.
I first used CrashPlan small business a few months after its release and stayed with it for a while before becoming frustrated with their poor performance. The uploads were extremely slow, the interface wasn’t user-friendly, and updates were often unexpected and sometimes caused crashes or data loss. Their support team felt unhelpful rather than knowledgeable. I might consider trying them again later, but right now it’s best to avoid them completely.
Yeah, I have gigabit speeds and saw the client capping at 50Mbps even though their hardware could handle more. The main reasons I stay are the Linux client support and the ability to mount my NAS directly on the Linux server for backups—something Backblaze doesn’t let me do. It’s understandable they restrict it, but it’s still a bit frustrating.
Linux support motivated my attempt at CrashPlan Small Business Plan. I intended to move to Linux before Windows 7 reached its end-of-life, but I found it largely ineffective. The turning point came when they lost my account ID after a failed update and provided confusing instructions for recovery—why restore it? Why couldn’t they help? Their tech support was frustrating, especially since I had to rely on them repeatedly. It was even more irritating when agents clashed with each other or themselves, and response times were slow, sometimes days long. I also noted their frequent system outages lasting from a few hours to several days.