Mozy’s unlimited cloud backup service is decidedly less unlimited today. As the company has retired it’s $4.95 plan in favor of new tiers of service (shown above) with data overages running $2/month per 20GB. While quite a few seemed riled up, I don’t particularly mind. Mozy needs to make money and it’s easy to see how the top few percent of users could impact the bottom line. A Mozy VP responds on CNET:
We do not take this on lightly…I don’t expect everybody to be happy about it. But if they take a look at what we’re doing and why, it’ll at least be understandable.
As I told photographer Thomas Hawk, you generally get what you pay for. And Mozy is owned by industry giant EMC… something I take comfort in. I’d say they’re much less likely to lose his data than Flickr – a photo sharing service that operates without a backup or un-delete option. There continues to be an unreasonable expectation that everything on the Internet be free or inexpensive. The sooner we collectively get beyond that, the sooner we’ll have higher quality services and support.
As for me, I recently put Mom on Mozy to ensure her documents and iTunes are backed up. But I’ve been rethinking my (her) strategy after reader Daniel B. encouraged me to take another look at CrashPlan. Instead of her backing up to Mozy’s cloud, by using CrashPlan, her files in Florida could be copied here in Virginia onto my gear. Given I’d be the one handling restoration duties, it’d make sense to have that data local where I can verify at will and restore as needed.
ZNF is backed up and secured by VaultPress ($40/month) and it’s become very clear to me that the expense of these services probably isn’t actually the data transfer and storage but, rather, funding the humans who design and support the solution. Related to ZNF, I have untapped bandwidth and storage via my provider (MediaTemple) that I’ve been meaning to leverage to back up my digital photos to the (my) cloud.
Assuming you are on OS X, the clear solution is Arq, a piece of well-written and highly configurable OS X software that backs up to Amazon S3.
As always, it pays over the long run to “keep ’em separated”. Your backup software should be sourced from a different company than your online storage is sourced from.
And given that I trust both the Arq developer and Amazon, it’s an easy decision to make.
“Daniel B. encouraged me to take another look at CrashPlan … her files in Florida could be copied here in Virginia onto my gear”
Dunno how recent your mom’s hardware is, but at least on OS X – dunno about Windows – CrashPlan is a RAM and CPU hog.
Thanks for the tip, I’ll check it out. And my mom has a rather sluggish Mac Mini.
Depending what the iPad 2 looks like, her computer days might be numbered tho. She mostly writes documents, browses the web, and plays Scrabble. And totes her Kindle everywhere. So she might be a good candidate for a 3G iPad 2 (with keyboard dock at home and a Kindle retirement). We’ll see…
“Depending what the iPad 2 looks like, her computer days might be numbered tho. She mostly writes documents, browses the web, and plays Scrabble. And totes her Kindle everywhere. So she might be a good candidate for a 3G iPad 2 (with keyboard dock at home and a Kindle retirement). We’ll see…”
I continue be utterly alone in thinking that 2011 will be The Year of the Chromium Netbook. A $500 Chrome only laptop would solve the problems of a lot of light computing users, and would sell like hotcakes.
Who knows if I’ll be right or not, but I do think there would be a huge market for ’em.
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But if your Mom stays on her sluggish Mini, at least test the resource usage of CrashPlan on her performance before heading that way…
Good points Dave. Still going to try and check out crashplan though instead. At $6/month it seems to represent better value.
Storage should be getting cheaper and cheaper. Since 99.9% of users will likely never need to restore all of their files back, these providers really only have the original upload bandwidth cost and storage cost. Both of which are going down not up.
I was already sort of peeved at Mozy when I found out that switching from a PC to a Mac requires you to reupload all of your data with them all over again. Also, Mozy did hype the hell out of that unlimited upload thing. Sort of feels like bait and switch to me to see them hype the unlimted nature so much then change their terms of service after the fact. If unlimited wasn’t sustainable then maybe they shouldn’t have been hyping it as hard in the first place.
@chucky – I challenge your statements on RAM and CPU hog though they be subjective. HEre’s why:
1)You’re in control over how much CPU & Disk crashplan uses. It’s in settings/general.
2)CrashPlan only uses idle CPU and idle IO within the governing settings you established in point 1 above.
3)While we do use ram, on average we’re less than 200MB. For me personally (I just checked) I’m using 100MB of ram and backed up with two sets to two destinations.
Finally, you can always set “screensaver” backup to true. 0% CPU while present, 80-100% while away. This way, backup only runs when you’re not using your machine (after interval you specify, e.g. 15 minutes)
“Still going to try and check out crashplan though instead. At $6/month it seems to represent better value … Since 99.9% of users will likely never need to restore all of their files back…”
If you don’t care about the restore function of your backup solution, I’ll be happy to offer you UNLIMITED backup for only $20/yr. You can pay me via PayPal. One bonus is that there is absolutely no software to install on your end. And I guarantee that everything will work perfectly, just as long as you don’t need the restore function…
Michael Tsai, a happy customer of yours, who also happens to be an OS X developer whom I greatly trust, wrote a month ago:
“I’m quite happy with CrashPlan. Aside from the formerly lacking support for xattrs, my main complaint is its resource use. It consistently uses more than 500 MB of private memory on my Mac, and with a regular notebook hard drive its scans would significantly slow down normal operations. Now that my Mac has 8 GB of RAM and an SSD, the performance impact is negligible.”
I’m not a customer of yours, as I prefer the Arq/S3 solution for a wide variety of reasons, so I have no personal experience with the matter. But I’ve heard versions of Tsai’s account from various other sources as well.
Good luck with your business. If I were in the market for an integrated solution, I’d likely choose you over Mozy or the others. But I think most folks would be even happier with Arq/S3 for a variety of reasons, including resource usage.
The above comment was for Matthew Dornquast…
I’m trying out Crashplan right now. Having my $4.99 unlimited plan changed to a $9.99 125GB plan doesn’t sit well with me. My storage is centralized, so I don’t need it on multiple computers.
I’ll probably also give Backblaze a shot. Both are offering a discount right now.
Crashplan.com/mozyonover for 15% off
Coupon byemozy at Backblaze 10% off
John
The problem is that plenty of other reputable services still offer unlimited backup at a much more affordable price. I’ve been a Backblaze customer for over a year now. I routinely test restores. It costs me $50/yr. It’s a no brainer.
My cloud backup is a last resort (though sometimes a convenience – get files from my home machine anywhere!). I’m not willing to pay a ton of money for something that will only be used in the case of catastrophic failure (primary HD failing while time machine disk also fails) or natural disaster.
The point I had was “Why depend on others to store your data?” If you have machines of your own away from each other, you can use CrashPlan to back up between them for $0, Free, Gratis.
I personally use both their “Friends” feature and their Online feature. Being the “Family Tech Support” person, the ability to have all the files local to my house if/when the time comes to restore makes it MUCH faster to recover the data.
Also, I have used it on Windows machines exclusively at this point. (Sorry Dave, didn’t realize she was on a Mac Mini) I will try it on my old Mac Mini as well, but the latest version of CrashPlan has not been the resource hog that some previous versions had been. One of the things I had to do in the past was to change the backups to “off-peak” times, but have not had to do that for a while.
One other thing to take into consideration. If you use any VoIP or other bandwidth sensitive applications, you might want to do some basic QoS (Quality of Service) at your router or ensure that you have made changes to your backup application of choice so that it does not eat all your bandwidth.
Oh, I just noticed this when I went to get the Mac software…
Mozy Switcher 15% Discount
http://crashplan.com/mozyonover
I remember older version of JungleDisk could have enabled what I want to do for myself – backup from local PC (Macbook) to my ZNF virtual server in the cloud. Does Crashplan support sftp or some other similar remote connectivity? Do I need a client piece of software on the other side? Wondering if I can actually point it to a server… I could roll my own, but would rather have a polished app guiding the way.
I got their e-mail and it reminded me that I needed to cancel before they charged me a renewal premium. The no servers rule was kind of arbitrary and kind of a pain for my laptop that had a small hard drive.
“I remember older version of JungleDisk could have enabled what I want to do for myself – backup from local PC (Macbook) to my ZNF virtual server in the cloud. Does Crashplan support sftp or some other similar remote connectivity? Do I need a client piece of software on the other side? Wondering if I can actually point it to a server… I could roll my own, but would rather have a polished app guiding the way.”
Crashplan may or may not support that. I’m not a user.
But that gets to the heart of why I love Arq. It’s a nicely polished app that backs up to a cheap and reliable server.
My backup of 88GB of data has completed at Crashpoint. Took about 16 hours which is pretty good (FIOS). The memory and cpu footprint looks good on this old 512MB machine. It’s just a file and print server though.
I cancelled my Mozy account and started a month to month with CrashPoint.
Dave, it doesn’t look like crashpoint has settings for a SFTP server. It looks like you need to install the client on the PC if you’re backing up to another computer.
John
I do not know of anything that would allow you do use a server without a client on it, but if you look they have the software for Windows, Mac, Linux, and even Solaris. Depending on your provider, you might even be able to run the client there.
I believe the software requirement is due to the encryption that they use to store the data the other machines.
Also, I believe they now allow you to backup to a local drive, another computer, and their servers as long as you have their CrashPlan+ software. (requires the subscription)
However, I have not used their Pro software but I am looking at it for a friend’s small business. They are currently using MozyPro but he is not happy about their pricing change for Mozy Home.
My server is Linux… but I’m not sure how much flexibility I have in terms of what I can install and run. More importantly, given that the blog lives there, I’m ultraconservative and wouldn’t want to load anything. Dropping off and grabbing encrypted files, data sets is one thing – a continually running third party app is another. Hm.
By the way, John Biggs posted an article over on Techcrunch today with some insight from a disgruntled Mozy employee. Along with advice to vote with your wallet if you don’t support their practices. I should have included similar guidance.
Am I the only one here who doesn’t feel comfortable uploading my files to the cloud?
I have a ssd that I run my os on, internal sata disk for files, then Drobo external storage for large files, archive, and I also place a backup of important files ( docs, fotos, iTunes) on there. The Drobo is resistant to single drive failure so in my home set up it would take simultainus triple drive failure for me to loose data. I then use a 500gb portable external to backup the most important and store that in my safe deposit box offsite. I retrieve and update the off site data about once every 4-6 weeks.
I’ve had good luck with CrashPlan over the last 15 months or so. I like the ability to backup locally, to a friend over the Internet, and to their centralized Vault. You can start with the free options, and upgrade later if you want to use their centralized services, or more features in the software.
I’ve not been bothered by its resource usage.
John
“Am I the only one here who doesn’t feel comfortable uploading my files to the cloud?”
It’s best thought of as a second or third line of defense.
I have a platter drive stored off-site, but I obviously don’t rotate my off-site drive every day.
Arq/S3 gives me a cheap and user-friendly way of keeping up-to-date snapshots of my most crucial data in case my house catches on fire or is burglarized, in which case otherwise, I’d lose everything since I last did a platter drive off-site rotation. Since I can finely configure what gets backed up, Arq/S3 is cheap enough to use as a third line of defense…
“Am I the only one here who doesn’t feel comfortable uploading my files to the cloud?”
I’m most concerned with backing up my digital photos and am willing to trade a big of security or privacy for insurance. Most folks would find the pics boring or possibly inspiring, but not at all revealing.
Chucky, is Arq only Amazon storage? I took a quick look at the website and didn’t get the sense I could offload to my server.
“Arq/S3 gives me a cheap and user-friendly way of keeping up-to-date snapshots of my most crucial data in case my house catches on fire or is burglarized, in which case otherwise, I’d lose everything since I last did a platter drive off-site rotation. Since I can finely configure what gets backed up, Arq/S3 is cheap enough to use as a third line of defense…”
i get this, but i still don’t see the security… what most up to date files? to me the most important would be financial / work related…
same thing to you Dave… you make a valid point… indeed your pictures accidentally being accessed are probably no big deal… however what about people in my boat (or your other data for that matter)…
financial data (taxes, bank statements, ect) and work related items (i work for a fortune 100 company, even though i’m no where near the top, i still at any time can have crucial ground level training and planning tools that would be considered top secret as well as financial statements from my local area, which would be useful due to the fact that i am in one of the largest markets in the country)
i simply can not risk putting these items to the cloud… and I doubt any company would make me feel comfortable.
“Chucky, is Arq only Amazon storage?”
Yup. But Amazon is pretty cheap storage, as long as you’re not sending up a video library. You’d need a pretty massive photo library, (which you may well have), for it to get un-cheap.
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“i get this, but i still don’t see the security… what most up to date files? to me the most important would be financial / work related … financial data (taxes, bank statements, ect) and work related items “
Arq encrypts the data prior to it leaving your machine via acceptably secure methods, and your encryption password is not transmitted to the Arq developer or Amazon in any way. So neither Arq nor Amazon is able to decrypt your data without your password.
Stuff like that is one of several reasons why I like sourcing my cloud storage software separately from where I source from my actual cloud storage. It’s a bit easier to “audit” security that way.
So, that’s “pretty good privacy” by my lights. Nobody is touching my password but me. Of course, if you work for a Fortune 100 company, your company may well have different corporate policies about how you handle their data. But I highly value my security, (I use FileVault on my personal OS X rig and fully encrypt all off-site backups emerging from my household), and Arq seems like reasonable security to me.
JoN, if your work documents are considered “top secret” they probably shouldn’t reside on your personal computing gear. It’s less likely to be as secure as your work systems and potentially makes you more liable for any data compromise.
As Chucky says, one way to amp up the security of your offsite storage is to decouple the providers. Arq doesn’t know Chucky’s data encryption keys, they just sell the software, and neither does Amazon’s cloud storage where he drops the data. Of course, you have to assume the files are properly encrypted in the first place.
With something like Mozy, you’re trusting that they encrypt as they say, securely and before transmission, and that they haven’t harvested your encryption keys and will protect your data appropriately. Like I said, the fact that they’re owned by EMC gives me a certain amount of comfort as these are services they provide to large corporate customers.
Beyond the security yourself, you have to ask what the real risk is. And balance that against your goals in having offsite storage. I’m willing to give up a little bit of control for that extra insurance. And chances are EMC’s data centers are more secure than my home, home network, and computers. But if you’re not comfortable with that, then you’re not.
I should add, beyond the blog I’ve done a decent amount professionally in information assurance, data encryption, etc. In certain environments, compromised “top secret” data could pose a threat to national security or the safety of individuals. In JoN’s environment, it sounds like valuable trade secrets which could harm his business if obtained by competitors. So, in balance, while my tax statements going public would make me uncomfortable, there’s no real danger to me or my family.
Crashplan also allows you to encrypt your data with a password (that Crashplan doesn’t have access to) before being sent to the cloud.
Like the others, this isn’t my only backup solution. Its just another, offsite, option.
John
“As Chucky says, one way to amp up the security of your offsite storage is to decouple the providers.”
I can even verify (using Little Snitch) that the the Arq app is not talking to anyone but the S3 servers.
“Of course, you have to assume the files are properly encrypted in the first place.”
Yup. At some point it comes down to a matter of trust. The Arq developer seems to show his work and have the correct attitude, and he seems to have some respect from other indie OS X developers.
“Like I said, the fact that (Mozy is) owned by EMC gives me a certain amount of comfort as these are services they provide to large corporate customers.”
Counterintuitively, I tend to distrust large scale providers on this count. The bigger the provider, the more likelihood that there is the government would pressure them to put in a backdoor, or that they would become a target for an organized data harvesting attack.
Similarly, I rely on Apple’s system encryption services, but wonder if a company the size of Apple can resist government pressure to put in a backdoor. I don’t lose any sleep over the matter, but I do think there is a risk there.
In a strange way, the fact that Arq is “too small to matter” gives me some comfort in security matters. It’s yet another form of security via obscurity.
Dave,
“Does Crashplan support sftp or some other similar remote connectivity?”
Have you considered using Transmit? I don’t use the software myself, but it is highly regarded.
It wouldn’t be a fully automated backup solution, but it might be the easiest way of backing up your photo library to your own remote server.
Chucky, you and I have a similar perspective on security – “pretty good” and “security through obscurity”. I agree a larger entity is a larger target. Which is how my blog got hacked twice (I’m on a prominent host with many, many blogs).
A buddy of mine did a SSL backup solution. Forget the specifics, but I can roll my own in that way if I need to. Still would prefer a nicely packaged solution. Maybe I’ll reach out to the Arq guy and see if he’s considered allowing/supporting additional hosts (of our choosing).
Also another buddy of mine swears by Transmit. I think she may even use it for work (Hollywood digital effects – cool sh*t).
“A buddy of mine did a SSL backup solution. Forget the specifics, but I can roll my own in that way if I need to. Still would prefer a nicely packaged solution.”
If I were in your shoes, I’d try Transmit first.
Like I said, I’m not a customer, but they advertise easy SFTP and sync capabilities, which seem like it would take care of your situation. You’d just have to remember to launch it however often you want to backup, though even that could be automated via other means with reasonably little work.