Jason Fitzpatrick at lifehacker says:
If you've considered using remote backup to keep your data safe from disaster but you're wary of putting your backups on a third-party server, Cucku Backup is for you.
The lifehacker post follows Cucku being included in The 10 Best Windows Backup Software Programs at gHacks.
Labels: Reviews
posted by Rob on Monday, April 27, 2009
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Traditional online backup involves uploading your files to at least one datacenter. Gartner estimates that the global information and communications industry is responsible for around 2% of CO2 emissions - comparable to aviation - and that about a quarter of that CO2 originates from data centers. If you're using a traditional online backup service then plan on planting a few trees.
Cucku Backup is different. You're storing your backup on a friend or family member's PC, often taking advantage of existing free disk space. There's no network of data centers to power and cool which massively reduces the carbon footprint required to run the service.
Gartner also says that PCs and monitors contribute 40% of information and communications CO2. This is a huge problem with backup in general and online backup in particular - many people end up leaving their computer running overnight just to run backup.
By default Cucku will prevent your computer from sleeping while backing up to a partner. This means you can set your computer to sleep when inactive. Cucku will keep the computer awake while your remote backup is running and then allow it to sleep again as soon as the backup completes.
Now that you don't need to leave your computer on 24/7 for backup invest in a Smart Strip. This can cut power to all your peripherals when your computer goes to sleep. For me, this reduces consumption from over 300 watts to under 3 - a huge saving.
(By the way, if you're still backing up to recordable CDs or DVDs then read Write Once Read Never and then remember to recycle your coasters.)
(Updated April 26, 2009: A science teacher (who I'm related to) pointed out that it's CO2, not CO2. Corrected above. If you click through to the Gartner reports they have it wrong in two different ways!)
posted by Rob on Wednesday, April 22, 2009
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I'm a Shutterfly customer, and I was happy to get an email this week saying that they weren't planning on deleting my photos. The real point of the email was to highlight a disturbing trend towards other online photo processing companies starting to do just that.
The Kodak Gallery terms of service says:
Special Note to Members: In order to maintain free storage of your images on the Site, you need to make purchases totaling at least $4.99 or $19.99, depending upon your storage usage, at least once every 12 months. If you do not meet the applicable purchase requirement, your images may be deleted. You should keep a copy of each image you upload in a secure place. We are not responsible for deleted images.
HP Snapfish has a similar provision:
A condition of Membership is your "Active Participation" in the Service. Active Participation is defined as sending in film or purchasing photo merchandise, including reprints and enlargements, through the Service at least once every 365 days. Purchases through Snapfish third-party advertisers, including HP Home & Home Office Store, do not count towards Active Participation.
I hadn't logged into Shutterfly since 2007 and so I'm both happy and lucky that they have a more enlightened policy.
Even if these services aren't deleting your photos you still might be surprised how hard it is to get them out. If you want to download high resolution photos you usually have to pay to do it.
The nightmare here is if you upload directly from your camera, clear the memory card to make room for new photos and then discover too late that the terms of service you didn't read carefully now means that all your photos are lost.
I'm sure we all know someone with a digital camera who doesn't know how vulnerable they are to data loss. Make it a late new year's resolution to help them set up reliable offsite backup before it's too late.
posted by Rob on Friday, April 17, 2009
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We'll be running some scheduled maintenance tomorrow (Friday April 17, 2009) from 10am PST for around two hours. While we're working on the site it won't be possible to create accounts, login to existing accounts or to invite new backup partners. Backups and restores will not be impacted by the maintenance.
I'll update this post when we start work and again when we finish.
(Update April 17 10:08 PST: Maintenance has started as scheduled.)
(Update April 17 14:37 PST: Maintenance completed, all services are available again.)
posted by Rob on Thursday, April 16, 2009
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Jimmy Bergmark blogged yesterday about some problems with online backup. He talked about one provider in general, but the issues are common. His main concerns were slow restore speed and restoring either deleted files or to a specific state.
I've talked about restore speed before. One of the main advantages of Cucku's approach is that you can restore directly from a partner at LAN speed when that makes sense.
Unlike many traditional online backup services Cucku stores every backup version of every file, including deleted files. Deleted files aren't shown by default when restoring and if you do a full restore you'll get the latest version of every non-deleted file (i.e. the state of your system at the time of the last backup).
If you need to recover a deleted file just check Show deleted files and folders during restore. The example below shows a folder with some deleted pictures.
Cucku also supports restoring files and folders as they exist in the backup at a specific date and time. You can set the date/time for a full restore (see the setting below), or you can pick from a list of all the versions stored for a specific file.
posted by Rob on Monday, April 13, 2009
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(Updated July 21, 2009: Note that from version 2.00 the button text has changed from Backup Details to Browse Backup.)
How can you be sure that your remote backup is in good shape?
The first way is to click the Backup Details... button from either the local or remote backup logs. The log shows you the files that were included in the most recent backup. Backup Details allows you to browse every file and folder in your backup (click each screenshot to see a larger version):
Backup details behaves just like Windows Explorer. You can browse the drives and folders included in your backup on the left and then view the contents of a folder on the right. Double-click a folder on the right to open the folder. Double-click a file to see the Backup History view:
Backup History shows you each version of a file that Cucku has backed up. It also shows you if the version has been sent to your backup partner. Looking at the file above you can see that all three versions of the novel I started work on this morning have been sent to my partner (in this case myself).
Cucku doesn't stop at sending the files to your partner, it also checks periodically to make sure that your partner actually has each version of each file. You can control this process on the Advanced page of Cucku Backup Settings:
By default your local backup is verified every seven days and your remote backup every thirty days. You can change these defaults if you'd like to check more or less frequently. You can also run either a local or remote verify by checking the appropriate box. Local verify runs immediately, remote verify the next time you connect to your backup partner.
Lastly I'd recommend testing to make sure you can restore a file. Pick any file from your partner in the Restore Wizard and restore a copy to your desktop. After you've been backing up for a while try restoring an older version of a file. This is the best way to be confident that your backup is working. It's also a good idea to be familiar with how to restore files in case you ever need to do it for real.
Labels: Tips
posted by Rob on Thursday, April 09, 2009
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