Anyone using SpiderOak (software for online backup, synchronization, and sharing)?

https://spideroak.com/engineering_matters#encryption_specifications

 

Thanks MrBrian - i'm certainly no expert but it appears spideroak has possession of your key pair with encryption done server side which is opposite of what i'm looking for (client side encryption).

I certainly don't want to hijack your thread but if you look through mine, you'll see a good example of a service with client side encryption. I can't even see my files lol!

 

According to the website:

 

Think of it this way - "you" have the "key" to "unlock your keys" but "spideroak" has and this is most important, "the keys to unlock your files" As Hushmail proved after claiming to be the most secure email service out there, "passwords" - the key to your keys - can be obtained.

That's why if you want your files or at least some of them "secure", you need both - password and keys - stored on your machine and not the server

 

Online backup services are my preferred backup method. Because I've never atually been bothered to make backups on DVD or tape. I know, I mean I do it for work, becuase my job entails it. But for my personal data I haven't really gone to that extent.

Would rather spend my weekends and free time doing other things. However I found online backup services invaluable because they take all the hassle away from me, and do the backups automatically. It's not the most risk free method. (they could lose your data too), but I live in a very dangerous world where I don't usally take backups...

 

From https://spideroak.com/engineering_matters#true_privacy:

For the one exception, please see https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1682379&postcount=4.

 

Hello MrBrian

IF you feel comfortable with them in possession of your keys then by all means continue using them.

 

I would err on the side of caution with livedrive, I'm not exactly sure how they are like right now, but a few years back they had a major software glitche that deleted peoples files and backups.

It looks like they tidied up their act recently. but it still leaves a question market over their head

http://livedriveliedtous.com/blog/

 

I recommended Mozy to my daughter because it's a very reputable (Fortune 500) company and the price for their Home Plan is as low or lower than most others (especially if backing up 2 computers).

 

I've been using SpiderOak for months now and I've been more than satisfied. Encrypting the files locally then uploading makes me sleep soundly at night. The ability to have those encrypted blocks on your local machine is also a plus. The software works great in Win&Lin and the sharing feature is a real gem.

Nuff' Said.

 

I currently use (pro accounts) of Mozy, Humyo, Livedrive, Dropbox.

Livedrive is absolutely stable for me since day 1....two years+ ago. I know people had issues with the desktop software and even with the website, but that was not the case for me.

Mozy...I use it...if I remember well...3 years. All good. I had only one issue...just before summer.

Humyo, I use it for some months now. Never had an issue.

Dropbox...I upgraded to pro recently but has always been perfect.

Mozy is only for backup. Livedrive and Humyo do backup, storage and sync. Dropbox does not have backup features. Humyo and Dropbox offer limited storage compared to Livedrive.


Conclusion: All well for me but I trust no service, no owner of such service, no software of such services. Backup/store online as much as you want but keep your data locally x 2 too and isolated from mechanisms that can harm them...like backup software, music/image/video management software etc. Whatever they tell you about encryption never upload sensitive data. These dudes are strangers no?

ps: Also Wuala is good. Since ages marked beta and under development but it's really good ( some issues that I had were resolved with the new releases )

 

NoIos why do you have pro accounts with 4 of these companies? Correct me if I'm wrong by livedrive and mozy both offer unlimited storage space for home users, although that have tiered pricing for their pro accounts, I didn't realise you would need for different services for your backups.

I do agree with policy of not entirely trusting these services enitrely for backups, there have been many stories of backups going wrong and companies unwilling to accept any liability, and to be honest, there are no grantees just like there are no garantees when you buy an external hard drive and store all your data on it, and if it were to malfunction, you have nobody but yourself to blame for losing all your data if you haven't taken precautions and backed up your data on multiple locations.

For the freegans out there, OpenDrive offers 5GB of storage space, FREE.

 

The key word being 'storage' -> i.e., no backup client (with free account)....
.....if just free storage is desired, ADrive offers 50GB!

 

It sounds strange but it's not. Consider the following:
- I mainly use for storage Amazon and Rackspace cloud. It's easy and cool system using software like Jungledisk. All the other services mentioned in this thread are secondary to Amazon and Rackspace for my backup and storage strategy, but I have only mentioned them because the thread starter had made a specific request.
- Mozy and Livedrive offer unlimited storage but they are different. Actually mozy offers unlimited space for backup...not for pure storage. Livedrive does backup and storage. So you can imagine that I use mozy for backup and live drive mainly for storage. Although if you use Mozy not only for backing up critical or important data but for everything ( like I do ), in a certain way you could consider it storage space too. The important thing when you're using Mozy is to not remove locally data because then this change gets reflected online in 30 days.
- Mozy covers only 1 pc for the price displayed on their web site. So in reality I have two mozy accounts because I need it on two PCs. I could have one account and add there the second pc but that is another story ( I mean why I have selected two have two separate accounts ).
- Livedrive, at least my aggreement with them covers 10 PCs.
- Humyo 3 and Dropbox unlimited machines. But these two have limited storage so I let them out of the discussion.

Then I have considered that I would not like to trigger their attention by loading terabytes of data on one account...I don't believe that much their unlimited storage policy. This is why I also use Dropbox and Humyo and Livedrive only for pure storage and not backup. This way certain data go to each service:
- I don't use huge amounts of their resources ( although I use a lot)...but I could and I should...maybe.
- I don't have huge amounts of data and rely on only one service.

Another note. I don't agree when you say

I'll try to explain why. When you buy a drive you know there is only one issue. Direct hardware malfunction or indirect hardware malfunction. When you store data online you have 4 issues: 1. Trust the company 2. Data corruption 3. hardware failure 4. the company that provides the service stays alive.

You cannot trust 100% the company...so you cannot also trust their offer...like cloud storage and integrity mechanisms. And for sure (n.4) you can never be sure that they'll be there tomorrow morning ( I think not the case of Amazon and Rackspace ).

So local backup is much less complicated and always desired ( and I have not talked about bandwidth, ISP issues, allowed data transfer etc. ). So I use all these services rationally and for certain tasks.

Data life and data integrity are mainly guaranteed by my WD Elite boys standing their on my desk mirroring my file server ( a pc that backups my other PCs and also holds other data ).

ps: If you can spend more money, use services like Amazon and Rackspace cloud, for online backup. Local backup is much more cheaper...and today it's also portable enough since 2.5 disks have bigger capacities now. Also new external SSD disks are now available and although their price is high it's obviously a better choice ( for critical data only - because of low capacities ) if we consider that they have no mechanical parts that could malfunction.

 

I use SpiderOak, Dropbox and my own local encrypted backups(DejaDup) with no worries. When hard drives die or when your house burns down you will want onsite and offsite backups if you value your data.

If you are super paranoid about your data you can use a Truecrypt container for the most important files.