Personal backups on Dreamhost without violoating their TOS. wiki article with details

Before Dreamhost began offering personal backup space countless users were (in violation of Dreamhost’s Terms of Service) simply helping themselves. It was simply too easy for a Dreamhost customers to abuse the generous hard drive space provided buy the discount shared-hosting service.

Rather than continue to fight a growing, unpopular war with its customers, Dreamhost has offered up a sanctioned alternative for personal backups. The caveat is that personal backups may only be accessed from a separate FTP account and they can’t be accessed by a webserver.

This is likely to curb the amount of piracy taking place on Dreamhost’s servers and reduce the number of DMCA requests their office receives. Dreamhost should be commended for making the best of the situation for both their users and the copyright holders involved involved.

RSync is an open source program that provides incremental file transfer for both local and remote files. RSync comes pre-installed on most unix and linux based systems (including Mac OS X) but distributions are available for most popular operating systems including Microsoft Windows (e.g. cwrsync).

This article will focus on how to setup a personal backup using one of the suddenly ubiquitous shared hosting companies like DreamHost, LunarPages or BlueHost. If you already have a account with one of these companies it won’t cost you anything to start backing up your data to a remote server. If you don’t already have an account and want to setup online backup you have two choices:

1. Forget RSync, save yourself some trouble - sign up with one of the online backup services like Mozy which is priced nearly identically to a shared hosting account.
2. Buy a hosting account and forge ahead - if you’re reading this you probably want to get your hands a little dirty and a shared hosting account lets you do all sorts of neat things like host your own domain, web apps, etc.

(more…)

Carbonite was launched a little over a year ago as a photo backup service. Since then they have grown considerably, and launching international versions and expanding their services to include full-fledged backup.

Their pricing model @ $49.95 / year for unlimited backup is less expensive that most of their competitors. Carbonite’s software only runs on Windows XP and Windows Vista, so Mac users will need to look to another serivce, like Mozy. For Windows users, Carbonite offers a level of integration that its competitors can’t match. Their software allows you to see right from Windows Explorer (i.e. Desktop, My Documents, etc.) each file or folder’s backup status.

Carbonite’s security model is very similar to the other major players in the market, that is to say, very good. All files are encrypted twice; you may optionally manage your own private key to prevent even Carbonite employees from decrypting your data.

All-in-all Carbonite’s backup service is a very appealing one to Windows users who need simple online backup. The simplicity of their service combined with the depth of its integration into the Windows operating system and low price create a perfect storm for a great number of users. Odds are, one of those users is you.

Click the banner below to get started started with Carbonite.

I first heard about Mozy back in 2005 when it was in Beta but I didn’t try it until recently when I found out that they offered a Mac OS X version of their software. Apple users finally have access to the great backup service our Windows friends have been using for years. Signing up for the free 2GB Mozy account and installing the software couldn’t be simpler.

Installation on my Macbook Pro only took a few minutes. When it started up, it showed me a list of things I might like to backup. I simply checked the items I wished to backup, clicked start, and Mozy started backing me up.

Transfer rates were respectable, if not spectacular. The transfer rates would probably be higher if Mozy didn’t encrypt everything. Twice.

That’s right, your files are encrypted once locally with 448-bit Blowfish encryption and then again with 128 bit SSL when they are transferred. Mozy clearly wants you to feel that your data is safe. You have the option of using a Mozy encryption key, or a personal encryption key. If you go with a personal key, be sure to keep it somewhere safe because if you lose it you’re out of luck. Most people use the Mozy key, which in the event of an emergency means Mozy can help you decrypt your data.

If you outgrow your 2GB free account (easy to do for music or photo buffs) you can upgrade to an unlimited account for $4.95 / month. A steal when you consider the alternatives:

1. Praying that your hard drive won’t crash and you won’t get a virus (doesn’t work)
2. Backing up to hard drives or DVD-R and keeping them off-site. Safe from fires and burglars (works but a hassle)

I’ll be counting on my Mozy account to save my butt if (when) something bad happens to my computer.

Click the banner below to sign up for a free Mozy account.