Blue Surge

I’ve been on a hunt for the perfect off-site backup service.  I’ve looked at using my web servers and rsync, tried various cheap services like iDrive and SwapDrive, and finally found OPENRSM CloudBackup. This is a review of the backup functionality. I’m going to save the network drive features for a later article.

First, the bottom line. The software is free, and that’s good for lifetime updates and unlimited installs that share a single account. They only charge $4.00 and have a feature list that’s enterprise grade. So, if your going to back up a 80GB of data we can anticipate a little less than $10 for the  cost.

OPENRSM CloudBackup is the online backup tool you simply have to have. The ability to do block-level updates and upload resume are both key to cutting down bandwidth costs. And since you can use the same account to backup all your Windows, MAC, and Linux computers this is a no brainer.

First, the fact that OPENRSM CloudBackup has to be active so that it can backup your data. It will wake your computer from sleep, but if your user is not logged in or OPENRSM CloudBackup is not running, the backup will be delayed or skipped. It does run as a Linux Daemon, a Windows Service, and an OSX Daemon so overall that’s not bad. Also, as with any online backup service, it only goes as fast as your internet connection.

There is a bandwidth control, so you can throttle back on upload and/or download speeds according to your desires. Everything else is simply great. You can create multiple backup jobs, choose the files you want to back up, set up rules and schedules.  Some of the extended features are retention of previous file versions and optionally removing files deleted on the local system.

For my first month of backups, I expected a bill of around $30. And it didn’t cost anything extra at all (I only had 32GB once I remembered to delete my temporary files folders). Considering that this is including a first-time upload that I won’t have in subsequent months, that was a pleasant suprise. I have loads of images and home movies, so it’s great to get those backed up off-site in addition to my regular backups.

A feature that is often overlooked is that OPENRSM CloudBackup uses 256 bit AES Encryption. That’s what alot of government entities have to keep files safe and it’s about as powerful a method as you’ll find for online backup. This means that worrying about your data being stolen is a thing of the past. That’s just so cool it’s hot. And when you use it on multiple computers, it keeps each computers data totally seperated. And if you have to restore, just make sure to use the same system name on the rebuilt machine and CloudBackup will do the rest.

I’ve been so pleased with OPENRSM CloudBackup as an application and a service. When doing backups, CPU usage has been minimal, and on my cable modem, web and email speeds haven’t been noticably different at all, if any.  And if I need to it’s no problem to pause and resume my Internet backups.

The ability to use this on OS X, Windows and Linux has proven to be a godsend, allowing me to keep the number of solutions needed to maintain my home network and development projects low.

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