Dropbox vs iCloud

P

pcslookout

Lifer

Mar 18, 2007

11,943

147

106

• Feb 29, 2024

• #1

Looking at doing the 3 2 1 backup but really do not like cloud to be honest. Just storing photos though.

Which one is better?

I know iCloud works best for iOS and Mac because it is built in basically.

Though I am using Windows and iOS right now.

Which is faster?

 

biostud

Lifer

Feb 27, 2003

18,364

4,906

136

• Feb 29, 2024

• #2

I prefer OneDrive

 

Reactions: pcslookout

P

pcslookout

Lifer

Mar 18, 2007

11,943

147

106

• Feb 29, 2024

• #3

I prefer my own cloud

 

Reactions: Red Squirrel, Captante and bigboxes

Captante

Lifer

Oct 20, 2003

30,296

10,797

136

• Feb 29, 2024

• #4

I don't really trust any of them fully but I figure if Google goes down for any extended period we'll have bigger problems on our minds than pics/docs on the intarwebz!

In other words I just use Google drive. (for now)

 

Last edited: Feb 29, 2024

sdifox

No Lifer

Sep 30, 2005

95,919

15,653

126

• Feb 29, 2024

• #5

Sync your device to computer, then backup computer with backblaze

 

Reactions: pcslookout and lxskllr

Red Squirrel

No Lifer

May 24, 2003

67,786

12,299

126

www.anyf.ca

• Feb 29, 2024

• #6

Could get a leased server through OVH and setup a rsync backup job to that.

Backblaze might be an option too but think they require some kind of proprietary client. Most cloud services do I think. So that makes it harder to automate.

I have a basic cold backup system in addition to my live backups, and one of the backup jobs is an offsite job, it picks up the most critical stuff that can fit on a 3TB drive. I bring the drive to work and rotate it out once in a while.

 

Reactions: pcslookout

M

manly

Lifer

Jan 25, 2000

11,292

2,326

136

• Mar 1, 2024

• #7

Cheapest option for OP is to stash an off site HDD somewhere; nothing mandates that it must be in the cloud.

The advantage of Backblaze is that it's $9/month for unlimited backup of one PC (meaning desktop Windows or macOS). Unfortunately that means no Linux or NAS backup without jumping through some hoops.

IIRC, if you are geeky enough to dump all of your data onto one PC, Backblaze's cloud backup will work without paying for extra seats. They don't encourage it, but they just look the other way if you aren't overdoing it. I have no idea how strongly they police this. They have a stable business model that leverages consumer HDD storage, so they aren't at risk of going out of business.

The no-name cloud storage providers that claim "lifetime" storage for a fixed price on some StackSocial deal are scams.

Dropbox was never price competitive. Neither is iCloud+, unless you pay for the 2TB tier and spread the value with family sharing. This could be desirable for the iPhone integration and few ancillary benefits.

 

biostud

Lifer

Feb 27, 2003

18,364

4,906

136

• Mar 1, 2024

• #8

How much storage do you need?

I have the paid Microsoft365 plan so 6x1TB storage + Office365 ($99/year), currently only me and my wife use it, but when my kids are going to need it, they can just hook on.

 

Last edited: Mar 1, 2024

Red Squirrel

No Lifer

May 24, 2003

67,786

12,299

126

www.anyf.ca

• Mar 1, 2024

• #9

I suppose one way to do it would be to write a script that does a differential backup to a tar file, then have a windows box with a file share to where the tar files go, and a script that syncs the tar files over to the C drive. Then have that machine be backed up by Backblaze.

Realistically you can probably get away with doing offsite backups like once a week or even once a month, depends how often you add/modify your data.

 

pete6032

Diamond Member

Dec 3, 2010

7,565

3,109

136

• Mar 1, 2024

• #10

I prefer Dropbox. The integration into the computer is really great and their mobile app is nice too. If all you are backing up is photos, you could try Amazon photos too.

 

M

MinervaLaw

Member

May 21, 2023

25

3

16

• Mar 1, 2024

• #11

Count me in as another user of Microsoft365 Family Plan. You can get cards (I think the last one i got on Woot a few months back for $79 for 1 year, before that I got it on Amazon for $89) and I get 6 accounts with all the Office products and 1TB of storage per account. Easy to use and 6TB is great for the price w/ office.