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Every so often when I’m out running errands on the weekends, I’ll catch a radio talk show dealing with technology (users call in with questions, etc.). I swear I can’t get through an hour of this show without the subject of data backup coming up at least once (or perhaps the entire hour will be spent covering different backup strategies). It’s safe to say that most people don’t properly backup their information and personal files, despite the myriad of available applications.
I think it’s because the solutions come in one of two forms:
- Too damn hard to use.
- Too damn expensive.
Sure, we all have those moments where we imagine our computer being caressed by a cup of OJ courtesy of the toddler of the house. We think “man, that would really suck - I should really backup my data somehow…”. The trouble is, that’s where it stops. Why? Because you’re either going to need an expensive piece of software or a frickin’ computer science degree to implement a proper backup solution. There really ought to be a middle ground that the average Aunt Mildred can figure out in a few minutes without having to sacrifice this week’s Mocha Mix. Well, folks, the happy medium has arrived.
Most folks don’t know it, but Amazon is just as much a software company as they are a purveyor of everything in the world ever. They have this nifty little service called S3 (short for Simple Storage Service) where you can store as much (or as little) data as you want for only $.15 per gigabyte (yes, that’s fifteen cents), plus $.18 per gigabyte that you transfer to/from their server. For example, I can store the entire contents of my iPod Video (60gb) for $9 per month. I can store all of my digital photos for less than a dollar per month (and spend just over a dollar putting them there).
The second half of this awesome solution comes in the form of a little application called JungleDisk. Essentially, it’s a front end for S3 that lets your storage look just like a folder in Windows or a mounted volume in OS X. There’s even a Linux version for all you neckbearded badasses out there.
Aside from the fact that it abstracts out all of the nitty gritty details of communicating with Amazon, it will also perform incremental backups of your data at scheduled times. So, say I upload 10gb of images yesterday and add another dozen new pictures tonight - JungleDisk will dutifully see what’s new in the “Pictures” folder and only copy up the new stuff. Pretty cool, eh?
JungleDisk will run you $20, but that gets you a license that’s good for life (and that you can install on as many computers as you want. This means that you can install JungleDisk on your work computer or laptop as well as any others and have all of your important information available anywhere you can connected to the Internet. Trust me, it’d be a bargain at double that price.
The beauty of this setup is two-fold: it’s dead simple to setup and use and it stores your data off-site. That last bit is an important factor that is rarely brought up in typical end-user backup discussions. You can have a stack of DVDs containing all of your digital photos and music, but unless they’re in a different physical structure, they’ll burn just easily if your house catches fire or be just as ruined if your house is flooded. With S3 + JungleDisk, your data is sitting comfortably in some datacenter (or probably multiple datacenters) throughout the US, far removed from most natural disasters.
Just to recap - if you want to store 5gb of data forever, it’ll cost you less than a dollar per month (along with the one-time JungleDisk license - did I mention in includes any future updates?). And your data is safe, secure (they encrypt everything) and available just about anywhere. And even if you’re one of these kids that loves to download all of the movies, television shows and music they can get their mitts on - you’ll find your monthly bill to be surprisingly low, as well.
So, if you want your data backed up regularly without spending a ton of cash, check out Amazon S3 and JungleDisk.
Technorati Tags: amazon, webservices, s3, jungledisk, data backup
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10 Responses to “How to Backup *All* of Your Data for Pennies per Month”
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Nice post, Brett. But I think I will stick with Mozy. Unlimited storage for $5/month and it just works in the background.
Mozy Unlimited Backup [affiliate link]
I agree with Jamie. Mozy works very smoothly in the background completely automagically. As with all incremental backups, the first backup can take days. But once a copy is in place, everything works quickly and smoothly. Of course the real test for any backup comes in play when you need it. That has not been tested yet in my case.
I may be the only one with this issue, but my broadband connection is only 512kbps, so a full backup takes over 24 hours.
On my personal PC I have Carbonite (http://www.carbonite.com/raf/signup.aspx?RAFUserUID=10773) installed, which has two important benefits over your method: first, it only costs $49.95 per year, with no limits or price changes on the amount of data stored and transferred (which is more expensive in case of your 5gb example, but far cheaper for the 60gb example).
Secondly, I can simply store my files in exactly the same location as always and the Carbonite software will back it up for me automatically!
@Jeroen-
Does the data get backed up to a remote location? Also, is your data available on other machines?
This mozy thing is interesting, I’ll need to give it a look…
Thanks for the mention! For folks who haven’t checked out Jungle Disk, it’s worth noting that it has automatic backup in the background - the mapped drive is just another way to use your remote storage. Those other services are great too, but Jungle Disk has a few advantages of its own - http://www.jungledisk.com/compare.shtml
We need to collaborate and create a online backup matrix of some sort, huh? Or did Jungle Dave do something like that already?
I was about to chime in with Jungle Dave talking about the automatic backup…and that compare link. I’m loving Jungle Disk Amazon S3.
@Jungle Dave: I’ll pay my $20 in a few days, don’t worry.
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[...] How to Backup *All* of Your Data for Pennies per Month [...]
Great info in case something ever goes wrong with my 500 year old PC. Thanks for sharing.