Off site Backup Help for NEWB

[ATC4USMC]

Ok this is my first post and I am new at NAS and networking so please go easy.

Her goes:

I have a synology DS211j (2TB RAID 1) and would like to do off site back up at a friend/family members house via the internet to an external HDD. Is this easily possible for a newb? if so are there simple instructions etc...

My other option is that I could buy another external HDD and do manual back ups weekly or so and leave the HDD at my office.

I would prefer the off site via internet option if possible.

Working with Vista home premium PC.

Thanks and I look forward to the help!

 

[stevech]

I'd do the external drive or big thumb drive backup and store that offsite. Gee, 16 and 32GB thumb drives are getting inexpensive; I have a 32GB that was on sale.

Consumer Internet DSL/Cable modem upstream (from your home) is soooo slow.

How do you like the DS211j? It's modestly priced but doesn't have the fast CPU that other dual bay units have that cost more.

 

[claykin]

What is your current internet connection and speed? If you don't know real world bandwidth visit www.speedtest.net and click a couple different local servers near you to test.

How much data do you want to backup offsite? How much of that data changes on a daily/weekly basis?

 

[thiggins]

You might check out Buddy Backup. You need to run it on computers at both ends, though.

 

[ATC4USMC]

Thanks for the replies. I have Cox cable internet so it's pretty fast.

I could seed the external and then take it to a friends and only backup the changes.

I think I will use the manual back up and take the drive to work for now. I have read that you can install Crashplan on the synology by SSH but I am not very familiar with that.

As for the DS211J, I like it a lot! It does everything I need and want, I just need to figure how best to back up off site now!

I will give back up buddy a look, THanks! BTW can you back up from a NAS to a friends computer?

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Crashplan has a free peered backup package.
Or, just have them use one of the very inexpensive offsite backup packages like Mozy or Carbonite...that way you're not pounding your own internet connection with their data.

 

[ATC4USMC]

Stonecat: thanks for the info but I cannot get the crashplan to "pull" data from my Synology ds211J. I dont think you can use mapped drives with crash plan.

If you know how please let me know. I know I could install crashplan on the server via SSh but I am not that savvy.

 

[thiggins]

Stonecat: thanks for the info but I cannot get the crashplan to "pull" data from my Synology ds211J. I dont think you can use mapped drives with crash plan.

If you know how please let me know. I know I could install crashplan on the server via SSh but I am not that savvy.

Crashplan only backs up from internal or direct-attached drives. You can back up multiple computers on one account with the right subscription. But you can't back up networked or mapped drives.

I don't think any of the cloud backup services let you back up mapped / networked drives.

 

[claykin]

Crashplan will backup mapped drives if you use this supported workaround - http://support.crashplan.com/doku.php/recipe/back_up_windows_mapped_drives

Jungledisk has ALWAYS allowed backup of mapped and UNC paths. Try it!

 

[thiggins]

Claykin: Does your ReadyNAS know that you store things someplace else?
Thanks for the info.

 

[stevech]

Thanks for the replies. I have Cox cable internet so it's pretty fast.

The cable modems' uplink speed is typically 1/20th that of the downstream. Mine (TWC) is 20Mbps down and never more than 0.9Mbps up. They do this partly to discourage servers on residential services.

 

[stevech]

Crashplan will backup mapped drives if you use this supported workaround - http://support.crashplan.com/doku.php/recipe/back_up_windows_mapped_drives

Jungledisk has ALWAYS allowed backup of mapped and UNC paths. Try it!

Nice, but price per GB is double many others'.

 

[claykin]

Nice, but price per GB is double many others'.

Double? Of the other cloud vendors who else can provide the following:

Robust and secure (you hold the encryption keys and not them)
Backup of mapped, UNC paths, USB disks, etc..
backup of locked/inuse files
delta backup (and can successfully backup an Outlook PST file without corrupting it or failing the backup job
deduplication

Jungledisk is $3/month which includes 5GB storage. $0.15/GB for additional storage.

Crashplan is $5/mo for a single PC with unlimited storage and $12/mo for a family plan with unlimited storage up to 10 PCs. This is for a personal account. Commercial accounts are priced differently.

 

[stevech]

excluding UNC paths/drive letters, some like Acronis give you 250GB for $50/yr. OpenDrive is pretty economical, though they have folder synch and virtual drive for desktops. Both allow multiple PCs.

I'm talking the the context of a consumer, not a business.
In my home, all the PCs backup to drives on the home server, and that's the one that might use an offsite/cloud, so no need for UNC/driver letters.

But so far, with automated discipline via SecondCopy, I backup critical data (family photos, financial records (all secured by SafeHouse), etc) to a large thumb drive and a portable eSATA drive that is offsite/hidden.
This wouldn't be suitable for a business with 10's of GB per month.

 

[ATC4USMC]

Claykin, thanks! I will try crashplan that way and see how it works!