SyncBackPro and cloud + offsite backups

[frostyofthenorth]

Hi there,

I'm a photographer contending with 15-20 TB of data to backup. That number increases monthly. For many years I've used SyncBackPro to backup to several Drobos at two locations for redundancy but now I want to revisit what I'm doing. Here's how my current setup looks:

At home:
1) Backup from laptop --> Drobo Mini device
2) Backup from Drobo Mini --> Drobo Desktop #1

At studio:
1) Backup from Drobo Mini --> Drobo Desktop #2
OR take Drobo Desktop #1 to studio and sync it to Drobo Desktop #2

Two things that I want to do:
- Add cloud storage as an additional backup level.
- Set up the synchronization between home and studio Drobo devices to be more intelligent. I don't want to physically move devices to sync anymore.

So a few questions:

1) Cloud storage. For the amount of data I have using cloud storage services like BackBlaze B2 would cost ~$1400/year. That's too steep for my scenario. Other services like CrashPlan, Carbonite, etc. are only $100-200/year for unlimited data but don't allow for drive mapping for syncing with SBP. Ideally I'd like to sync to the cloud from the home Drobo and have that data sync to my studio Drobo. I've looked at the big cloud storage companies and the trade off seems to always be pay a high premium for drive mapping/syncing or pay much less for much less flexibility. Are there any cloud services that offer that flexibility at a $200/year level for this amount of data?

2) Remote syncing. I think I'll set up a computer to run at my studio 24/7 for the sake of backups. To sync from home using SBP to a remote Windows machine, what do you suggest? I was just looking around the 2BrightSparks website and saw that SyncBack Touch may be able to do what I want, but I've also seen Mountain Duck and Netdrive, etc. Do any of you have experience comparing these options?

Thanks for any advice.

[frostyofthenorth]

Anyone here?

[frostyofthenorth]

Seems like there's nobody here. Not even 2BrightSparks?

[Merlin]

I'm no expert.
I bought the Office Home plan that has 1TB of space (for 5 users), and I use SBP to backup my Photos (136 GB)/Documents/odds and ends to the cloud that I can access from anywhere.
The reason I chose OneDrive is because you can actually see the images online, as opposed to just filenames (which many online backup companies do-Crashplan for ex.), which won't help if I'm trying to find something.
The amount you need is a ton.
Google Drive has a 20TB plan but it costs $200/month.
Amazon, Backblaze and Dropbox are other options, but you'd need to contact them given the size, and I don't know whether or not you can see thumbnails. I don't know if that's a requirement for you, it was for me.

[Swapna]

Hi,

To sync from home using SBP to a remote Windows machine, what do you suggest? I was just looking around the 2BrightSparks website and saw that SyncBack Touch may be able to do what I want

Yes, you can use SyncBack Touch with SyncBackPro to sync files between two Windows computers over the Internet. Please read this article for the settings to configure when using SyncBack Touch over the internet:

https://www.2brightsparks.com/resources ... ernet.html  

If you experience issues with the configuration/setup, please send a support ticket to [email protected] for assistance.

Thank you.

[frostyofthenorth]

I bought the Office Home plan that has 1TB of space (for 5 users), and I use SBP to backup my Photos (136 GB)/Documents/odds and ends to the cloud that I can access from anywhere.
The reason I chose OneDrive is because you can actually see the images online, as opposed to just filenames (which many online backup companies do-Crashplan for ex.), which won't help if I'm trying to find something.
The amount you need is a ton.
Google Drive has a 20TB plan but it costs $200/month.
Amazon, Backblaze and Dropbox are other options, but you'd need to contact them given the size, and I don't know whether or not you can see thumbnails. I don't know if that's a requirement for you, it was for me.

Thanks for the reply.

I have been looking at several online storage options but they each have downsides. Like you pointed out, Google Drive (and most others) aren't cheap for this much data unless I give up the convenience of driving mapping -- which is key for how I want to use this. CrashPlan and similar archival-focused online storage systems are relatively inexpensive ($10-15/month) but I can't use SBP or directly access the data on an OS-level -- they require the use of their apps and when I tried trial versions of the apps they were all CPU and disk intensive.

In case it helps others, two things I've come across that may be helpful:

1) Amazon Photos offers unlimited photo storage with your Amazon Prime membership. I've been uploading photos to Amazon over the last couple of weeks. It's not a perfect solution (photos in zip files and other documents aren't unlimited) and I don't think there's drive mapping, but it's free (since I'm an Amazon Prime member anyway) and unlimited and the system works pretty well.

2) I did just look more closely at OneDrive in the last few days. Microsoft offers an unlimited business plan in a convoluted way. Basically, you pay $10 per user for 1 TB of storage, but with a minimum of 5 users/month the storage gets bumped up to unlimited, so it looks like for about $600/year I could have unlimited storage. And I believe OneDrive is mappable and core to the OS, and like you pointed out, thumbnails and other OS-level features should work inherently. I might go this route after I talk to their support a little more.

Cheers.

[frostyofthenorth]

Yes, you can use SyncBack Touch with SyncBackPro to sync files between two Windows computers over the Internet. Please read this article for the settings to configure when using SyncBack Touch over the internet:

https://www.2brightsparks.com/resources ... ernet.html  

If you experience issues with the configuration/setup, please send a support ticket to [email protected] for assistance.

I have tried it but have been unable to get it working. I have already opened a support ticket.

Thanks.

[Merlin]

Be careful with Amazon Prime photo.
I read that the resolution saved on their end might be smaller than the original in some circumstances.

[frostyofthenorth]

Thanks for the warning, but from everything I've read the images (both JPG and RAW) are stored untouched.