[Anonymous]

[MartynSinclair]

A poster seems to have got rather hot under the collar that i appear to be dated and unfit to be a “travelling executive” because I favour using an offline back up system over an online back up system. I am always willing to learn so using this forum, I would love to hear from techno phobs about this issue.

On one side – THE ONLINE SYSTEMS, promising plenty of space to upload and synch data to pc/phones/laptops/ virtually any hardware media at a touch of a button. This enables users to access data whilst on the move without having to worry about carrying seperate data drives. The info is stored “somewhere” and is accessable 24/7 with a password and of course an internet connection. The main issues I see is that a back up is what is says it is a complete back up to enable a user to be up and running in the event of a hard drive failure or loss of hardware. To upload anything over 20gb will take a long time. To upload only part of the info in my mind defeats the object.

The apparently dated and unfashionable way THE OFFLINE SYSTEM which I favour when travelling. This allows access to all data and OS 24/7 whether in a car, hotel, on the move, but without the dependance of an internet conenction. To be able to carry 256gb of data or more, securely encrypted, in a standard USB thumb drive means that you can effectively carry a complete back up and retrieve data far quicker than by using an online system.

I accept you cant file share with offline systems but there are plenty of u senf it type of companies which manage data transfer of large files.

Of course we have our laptops and phones backed up through the office server, but on the move, I dont understand the benefits of using 3rd party servers when the data transfer speeds mean transfer times in terms of hours rahter than minutes.

Our aircraft have internet connections, so thats not the worry, but our IT team feel that offline is better becasue it enables a far speedier mode to back up, restore and retrieve over online.

Emotions and hot under the colour aside, I would be extremely grateful to hear a strong argument why we would be better off changing to online. Please be as direct and as strong as you wish.

I look forward to listening.

[SimonRowberry]

Hi Martyn,

I use both methods. I back up to a portable hard drive (Iomega make some great pocket-sized ones with excellent capacity) and to a memory stick as well, so I have two back-ups. I then back-up crucial data to MobileMe as well, as soon as I have an internet access (usually this is immediate as I tether to my iPhone). When back in the office I also back-up to my third hard drive in my MacPro.

Simples!

It may seem a bit cumbersome, but it works.

Regards, Simon

[MartynSinclair]

Hi Simon

Many thanks for that. I feel normal again. Somebody on another post made me doubt our IT policy and my sanity for promoting offline back ups as being beneficial. Does your offline back include OS i.e. it can get you up and running in the event of a new hardware being needed and no internet connection.

Many thanks

Martyn

[SimonRowberry]

Hi again, Martyn,

No, it doesn’t. There are some packages which come with the hardware but I don’t know how to use them (I’m my company’s IT expert, as well as CEO, Chairman and CFO!) – I must look in to them.

The MacPro has 3 x 1TB, with a fourth empty bay for future storage, so capacity’s not a problem at all, even though we shoot photos in RAW and store AVHD video, both of which are very memory-hungry, as you know.

As I’m firmly on the Mac platform (2 MacBooks, 2 iPhones, a MacPro, a MacMini and an iMac in the Company), OS issues aren’t a problem. The fact that I use Mac can, itself, be a problem at times. I run VMFusion on my Macs (with either Vista or Windows 7) to give me a virtual PC machine, as I need to use MS Project 2007 and MS Visio 2007 regularly. I also have one PC, which runs Vista.

Having said that, once I’ve imported Project files onto the Mac, I use a great German project management application called Merlin as an alternative. I can import and export Project files to and from Merlin, as they obviously have to be capable of being read by clients. Merlin is an expensive but excellent application for PM work.

I do have a worry about sensitive data (e.g. work in progress for clients, financial records etc) being stored online remotely (MobileMe), so this stuff tends to stay there only briefly until I can get it onto my main storage media and I then delete it from the ‘cloud.’

Oh yes, I use Office for Mac 2008 which is brilliant. Running the Office 2010 beta on the PC and it doesn’t seem to be much of a step forward at all from Office 2007. It’s not as good as Office for Mac. I also find Windows 7 to be a kind of half-way house between XP and Vista. All-in-all, I’m Mac. I’m definitely NOT a PC!

Cheers,

Simon

[MartynSinclair]

Simon (again)

We use acronis to take a picture of the hard drive. Makes reinstalling simplicity in the event of emergency, such as new computer or virus clean. Take a look at the 18.40h post on the iPAD forum. I am not bothered about the personal attack, but curious about the manner in which the post was made.

Thanks for your responses and have a great weekend
Martyn

[SimonRowberry]

Cheers, Martyn. And you.

Simon

[MartynSinclair]

just to close of this subject – suggest you give Swiisdisk a wide birth.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/19/swissdisk_failure/

this was freely available from the internet as were other less favourable comments.

[Tim2soza]

I do several things.

1. I keep a sync of my personal folder on the company network to a local drive on my laptop. (Encrypted.) I use Windows Sync for this.

2. I upload work in progress files while on the road to Windows Live office. http://www.officelive.com

3. When I can, and using secure Wifi, I VPN into my office network to update Windows Sync.

I never use a Flash drive or portable hard drive, as our ISO27001 Information Security certification does not allow them in my business.

Another tip. Make sure you have a Bios password and a hard disk password set. If you don’t, or don’t know what these are, are your IT department.

[LuganoPirate]

All of this seems very complicated to my non-tech brain. Here’s what I do. On my main computer I have two physical hard drives. Once a month (if I remember) I copy everything from “MyDocuments” on C to D. When traveling I copy same to a USB stick which I transfer to my laptop.

That’s it. Am I being to simple? Probably, but in 25 years of computing (and six computers, from an Amstrad to my current custom built computer – which runs 24 hours a day) I have never lost any information. Maybe just lucky, but long live simple I say!!!

[MartynSinclair]

Hi

Tim2sms – the BIOS password is probably the best – to have a password pre OS system firing up is far better than windows passowrd which is easily crackable.

LuganoPirate – this is exactly what this discussion board was asking. You should ensure that you keep one of your drives in a sepearte and safe place otherswise there is no need for the copy.

I note you also use a memory stick instead of the online back up ising 3rd party servers.

Thanks for your replies.

I am hoping that someone can put a stronger view regarding 3rd party servers and how effective they are. The guy from or using Swissdisc was only one answer, but I am hoping someone using a faster, economic and efficient system will reply, esepcially about the upload speeds.

Thanks for your comments.

[Kaicat75]

so many online services out there – found this which may help a bit.

http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/8-of-the-best-online-storage-sites-673945

[LuganoPirate]

Martyn, I just checked with the university on whose board I sit. They have some real whiz kids working in the IT department. They have two main servers, one on each campus, one in the New York office, and one in the Delaware office. These are programmed to back up twice a day to each other. In addition, every member of staff and every student is told to make backup copies of their (important) work.

When students or faculty travel with their laptops, they can access the main frame (I think I’m getting this right) and can backup / retrieve work as necessary to the server in Lugano (which is then backed up again as per the above).

They prefer this to third party servers since the information can be kept in house, and it would mean all four locations going into total meltdown to lose all the work.

I was also told about antivirus programs that ensure nothing is infected and passed on, but that’s a bit too techie for me. However, if anyone is interested I’ll get them to write it down for me and post it here.

They tell me, that any organization can have a similar system, by having two servers in two locations. For example the main office and a subsidiary’s office, or at home, or even a lawyers office. It’s basically just having another computer, without the programs, monitors etc, that is used only for storage, so it’s not that expensive depending of course on the size of organisation / amount of storage required. They use a dedicated line between the campuses (1km apart) and just the regular internet between here and the US.

I know nothing about SwissDisk. However I see they are based in the USA, not Switzerland. I always have a problem with companies that are not Swiss, but use the word “Swiss” or “Switzerland” in their name in order to convey a sense of security and efficiency.

I think it’s worth noting that if the servers are based in the USA, the information can be easily accessed by the authorities there. Now I’m sure that most of us have nothing to hide and are not engaged in nefarious deeds, but I feel uncomfortable with my information being in places where the government can get to it easily.

It’s interesting to note that SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) has based two of its servers in Switzerland and Holland in order to ensure the information on bank transfers from/to non US clients is kept out of US hands. Even the EU has denied a request from the Americans to be able to access that data based on privacy concerns and laws.

[Kaicat75]

OK its not the biggest storage device out there but this is pretty good – mix of usb and online. I have had one for about a year – its great for the large files.

http://www.yuuwaa.com/

[HonestLogic]

you see MartynSinclair… here’s an example where the discussion was moving along quite well and yet you just couldn’t help yourself… you just had to post some old link about SwissDisk!

Incredible! How low can you go? Any relevance here? You’ve never used SwissDisk and yet based on an old link you found you advise to stay away?! YOU ARE WASTING EVERYONE’S TIME!

It is lame enough that you opened a forum thread on Business Traveler to discuss Online vs Offline backups/synch … why don’t you try going to a tech site for this? Maybe you will find the 64GB backup solution you need while you are there.

For sure you won’t be wasting peoples time on the Business Traveler!

Oh, I forgot to mention that http://www.SWISSDISK.com RULES!

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