[geeks] Cheap/reliable backup?

[Phil Stracchino]

On 12/02/13 14:48, microcode at zoho.com wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 02, 2013 at 02:20:19PM -0500, Mouse wrote:
>> For some purposes that doesn't matter and/or doesn't apply, and, if it
>> doesn't for yours, there's nothing wrong with that - but I'd recommend
>> at least giving the issue a few moments' thought.  Encryption can
>> sometimes help, but, like everything else, it's no panacea.
> 
> I guess I could pipe a dd of an entire drive through gpg and ssh it to some
> backup provider. I really didn't think of it but it may be the cheapest
> thing until they go out of business and/or charge ransom to get your own
> data. I'll have to think about that a little more. With my bandwidth it
> would take a few days for one drive.

For most people, the crippling bottleneck of remote backups is the
outgoing network connection.  Typical consumer and small-office
connections have about a 10:1 download/upload asymmetry.  Bandwidth has
never kept pace with data storage.  I did some calculations once on how
long it would take me to do a full backup to S3 cloud storage; if memory
serves, it was measured in weeks.


-- 
  Phil Stracchino
  Babylon Communications
  phils at caerllewys.net
  phil at co.ordinate.org
  Landline: 603.293.8485