Thought Backblaze would be a good addition to my backup, but maybe not?

Right now:

I have my catalog+previews on a removeable SSD
I have my RAWS on a 4TB internal hard drive
I have backup of my catalog+raws on a NAS

When traveling, new/recent RAWs go on a portable 2TB drive.
Those RAWS are backed up to a 2nd portable 2TB drive

Backblaze seems like a good fit for cloud backup, at least I thought so... but now it seems it wouldn't work and I'm not sure how changing my workflow in a reasonable way would work?

- It doesn't back up from NAS
- I don't have ALL my RAWs on an external drive - the 2TB are portable slim drives, not exactly speedy though. Compromise when traveling. I can't bring that 4TB internal with me and I can't always bring a nice speedy spacious external drive when I travel
- Traveling with my laptop would require a second license

So it seems backing up from my desktop would work reasonably well enough, but then when I am traveling with my laptop, backing up to the cloud goes completely out the window.

Am I missing something? Something I could change? Can I still make backblaze/cloud backup work?

Is backing up raw files to the cloud a serious option on your travel (bandwith)? Most places the upload speed is very limited and if you are concerned about backups then you need to find an other solution on travels anyway.

What NAS have you got?

Synology ds413j

kaitlyn2004 wrote in post #18622483
Synology ds413j

Cool, I have an 1817, and there lots of options.

You can use Crashplan, similar to Backblaze. If you have the NAS mapped as a network drive, and install the crashpan software for a single user only (if using Windows) then it can see the NAS and back it up.
Note in NZ, you'll want to select the Aussie based server, but it is slow. About 1TB a month.
I have read about people installing the crashplan app directly on a Synology NAS, but it seems to break if there is ever an update.

Or, better option might be AWS (Amazon Web Services) they have a couple of deep storage options, and there are Synology apps that sync with them, including one just for using Glacier (the cheaper option). Upload speeds should be very fast to these services.

Or, you can create your own cloud with another Synology NAS in a remote location, and you can set up either a sync or a back up to it.

Once you have the NAS backed up to a cloud service all you need to do then is use one of the other Synology services to sync you laptop back to the NAS when traveling, they have a couple of back up apps that will do this, you can even sync your phone back to the NAS.
This could be automated, via ftp, or by simply logging into the NAS remotely and copying the files over. Although if your shooting a lot while travelling you're going to need good access to fast data, or be selective with that you back up.

Note, a NAS should never be considered a back up, it can be part of a back up solution, and they do offer great redundancy, but they are not a back up on their own and can fail just as easily a hard drive in your work station.

Glacier is pretty cheap for enterprise grade storage, but even then it's US$4.10 per TB per month, and downloads can be somewhat expensive - but it's cheaper than it was a few years ago. S3 is even more expensive at $12.80 per month per TB, but if it's only for a week or two before it gets into your main storage system it's not bad. Uploading to AWS is free, but downloads from AWS are somewhat expensive, downloading 1TB is $90. I use CloudBerry backup, which is ok, but I also just use the AWS command line tools - but you'd have to be very technical to do that. So I like AWS, but I do have most of their qualifications, but it's not really that easy to use.

Dropbox is a good option for many. 1TB is $8.25 per month including bandwidth, which is good. It has a good client for the PC, though there may be limitations.

I also wonder if Owncloud could be an option. Get a hosting plan that allows it and it's like a personal dropbox. Note that it's against the terms of service of some hosts, so you could lose everything if they close your account.

Crashplan will backup from a NAS. Unlimited is $10/month

mystik610 wrote in post #18623485
Crashplan will backup from a NAS. Unlimited is $10/month

At first I thought they were gonna be a good fit and worth even double the price, but seems they basically have the same policy where if a computer/drive isn't connected within X days it will get deleted

kaitlyn2004 wrote in post #18623528
At first I thought they were gonna be a good fit and worth even double the price, but seems they basically have the same policy where if a computer/drive isn't connected within X days it will get deleted

Ah yeah. Not sure if this works for you or not, but I work primarily off of a macbook pro. I use multiple drives too....basically an external 1tb SSD with my 'current' catalog, and a 4tb HDD with my 'archived' catalog.

All of my drives (internal SSD , external SSD, and HDD) are backed up to an 8tb external via carbon copy cloner whenever any of them are connected, and then that 8tb HDD is backed up to the cloud every night via backblaze. Basically a double redundancy, but also my cloud is backing up a single drive that connects to backblaze every night.

mystik610 wrote in post #18623542
Ah yeah. Not sure if this works for you or not, but I work primarily off of a macbook pro. I use multiple drives too....basically an external 1tb SSD with my 'current' catalog, and a 4tb HDD with my 'archived' catalog.

All of my drives (internal SSD , external SSD, and HDD) are backed up to an 8tb external via carbon copy cloner whenever any of them are connected, and then that 8tb HDD is backed up to the cloud every night via backblaze. Basically a double redundancy, but also my cloud is backing up a single drive that connects to backblaze every night.

I have a very similar set-up (I use crashplan and the external backup and the internal hd are backed up separately).

During a weak moment and after spending a couple of hours researching on-line backup, I set up a trial of Backblaze. Upload speed 10.93 Mbps, 364 days for the initial upload. Continue with multiple hard drive it is....

Get faster internet.

I have close to 5 terrabytes backed up to my backblaze cloud. The initial backup took a couple of days for me. From there my cloud is continuously updating so its always up to date when any of my drives change.

What are your upload speeds? My cable download speed is 135Mbps, but yes upload is not impressive,, BB had a maximum of 2 Gigs/day, so 567GB (photos alone) would take a while. For me to get "up to" 30 Mbps upload, requires an upgrade to my service, a new modem and router, and then the BB subscription. Of course, I won't know what BB will let me upload/day until I do all of the changes.

mystik610 wrote in post #18626370
Get faster internet.

I have close to 5 terrabytes backed up to my backblaze cloud. The initial backup took a couple of days for me. From there my cloud is continuously updating so its always up to date when any of my drives change.

Same here. I have around that much on my backblaze.

Amazon Prime if you are just backing up photographs, it has a limit on Videos. However I can backup from any pc on the home network and unlike Backblaze the HD does not have to be connected every few wks. Not tried uploading on my travels though.