Tuesday, March 21, 2006
ExtremeTech
I found a particularly insightful comment on a recent article published on ExtremeTech.com:
"My first attempt at a regular data backup scheme involved burning copies of important files to CDs on a monthly basis. Back in the old days before blank CD-Rs were cheap and plentiful, making a full disc backup still took the better part of an hour. And I didn't dare use my PC for anything else while burning—that was a surefire recipe for making cup coasters. The plan worked solidly for a few months until I got lazy and started neglecting to do the backups." Read "Should You Bother With Online Storage?"... by Victor Loh
User rogthefrog comments:
"My main gripe with online storage (and all those run-in-the-browser apps like Writely and such) is that internet connections are very slow and flaky. That was true in 1998 when all those internet storage sites were cropping up and it's still true today. I'm not about to upload 300GB worth of data on a remote server via an internet connection (even a 100M LAN connection would take ages). And if I can't have all my data uploaded at least once, that means I can't do incremental backups either.Then there's the legal ramifications of your data being stored on someone else's servers. If a legal body wants access, the criteria to get into the data on remote servers are significantly less strict than those regulating searches and seizures of your own PC in your home."
My response:
Rog,
I agree with all of your gripes regarding online storage. It was those exact frustrations which prompted us to found and develop ElephantDrive (www.elephantdrive.com).
Knowing that internet connections are often “slow and flaky,” we set out to build the most fault-tolerant platform available. When something does happen that is beyond our control, the client software provides clear messaging and fails gracefully. Regarding your concern about the time and cost of backing up: yes, even using our optimized transfer protocol, 300GB will take some time to backup online. We’ve mitigated the impact of that in a couple of ways:
1. We’ve borrowed a little bit from IBM’s concept of “Continuous Data Protection” contained in their Tivoli product. ElephantDrive backups are performed automatically and a convenient scheduled periods (i.e. when the origin computer or internet connection is not in use). By making the process continuous, a large amount of data can be transferred in much shorter time than you might think.
2. The client software routinely scans the filesystem of the computer, looking for additions and changes. During subsequent backups, only the files that have been added or changed are transferred, and histories are kept and are file-based, with a configurable number of versions stored. This drastically cuts down the time to perform incremental backups and gives our users granular access to their file histories.
Finally, addressing your apprehension about the legal ramifications of remotely stored data, ElephantDrive is approaching it a couple of different ways. By default, everything stored on our servers is encrypted using Rijndael (AES) and randomly generated 128-bit keys, supplied by ElephantDrive. If a users so chooses, they are able to provide their own keys. In doing so, a user makes it virtually impossible that anyone, including ElephantDrive staff, other than the holder of that key can decrypt the data. Even if someone were to enter the ElephantDrive datacenter (which is also physically secured) and remove the drives from their enclosures, they would have nothing but gibberish bits.
We’re currently in beta and inviting users to try the product for free for a limited time. We would value your feedback, and that of anyone else who might be reading these posts.
Thanks in advance.
Ben Widhelm
support@elephantdrive.com
www.elephantdrive.com
"My first attempt at a regular data backup scheme involved burning copies of important files to CDs on a monthly basis. Back in the old days before blank CD-Rs were cheap and plentiful, making a full disc backup still took the better part of an hour. And I didn't dare use my PC for anything else while burning—that was a surefire recipe for making cup coasters. The plan worked solidly for a few months until I got lazy and started neglecting to do the backups." Read "Should You Bother With Online Storage?"... by Victor Loh
User rogthefrog comments:
"My main gripe with online storage (and all those run-in-the-browser apps like Writely and such) is that internet connections are very slow and flaky. That was true in 1998 when all those internet storage sites were cropping up and it's still true today. I'm not about to upload 300GB worth of data on a remote server via an internet connection (even a 100M LAN connection would take ages). And if I can't have all my data uploaded at least once, that means I can't do incremental backups either.Then there's the legal ramifications of your data being stored on someone else's servers. If a legal body wants access, the criteria to get into the data on remote servers are significantly less strict than those regulating searches and seizures of your own PC in your home."
My response:
Rog,
I agree with all of your gripes regarding online storage. It was those exact frustrations which prompted us to found and develop ElephantDrive (www.elephantdrive.com).
Knowing that internet connections are often “slow and flaky,” we set out to build the most fault-tolerant platform available. When something does happen that is beyond our control, the client software provides clear messaging and fails gracefully. Regarding your concern about the time and cost of backing up: yes, even using our optimized transfer protocol, 300GB will take some time to backup online. We’ve mitigated the impact of that in a couple of ways:
1. We’ve borrowed a little bit from IBM’s concept of “Continuous Data Protection” contained in their Tivoli product. ElephantDrive backups are performed automatically and a convenient scheduled periods (i.e. when the origin computer or internet connection is not in use). By making the process continuous, a large amount of data can be transferred in much shorter time than you might think.
2. The client software routinely scans the filesystem of the computer, looking for additions and changes. During subsequent backups, only the files that have been added or changed are transferred, and histories are kept and are file-based, with a configurable number of versions stored. This drastically cuts down the time to perform incremental backups and gives our users granular access to their file histories.
Finally, addressing your apprehension about the legal ramifications of remotely stored data, ElephantDrive is approaching it a couple of different ways. By default, everything stored on our servers is encrypted using Rijndael (AES) and randomly generated 128-bit keys, supplied by ElephantDrive. If a users so chooses, they are able to provide their own keys. In doing so, a user makes it virtually impossible that anyone, including ElephantDrive staff, other than the holder of that key can decrypt the data. Even if someone were to enter the ElephantDrive datacenter (which is also physically secured) and remove the drives from their enclosures, they would have nothing but gibberish bits.
We’re currently in beta and inviting users to try the product for free for a limited time. We would value your feedback, and that of anyone else who might be reading these posts.
Thanks in advance.
Ben Widhelm
support@elephantdrive.com
www.elephantdrive.com
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Officially Throwing the Hat into the Ring...
Amongst us online storage junkies, there is a seminal blog, posted 1/31/2006 on Techcrunch, a roundup of online storage companies entitled "The Online Storage Gang":
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/01/31/the-online-storage-gang/
I left the following post as a comment:
"Great post. Thanks to Michael and Adam for the research and evaluation.
However, a critical component missing from your review is the actual reliability of the services. Nearly every online storage user I’ve spoken to has at one point relayed their crushing frustration in waiting for a large transfer to complete, only to have the web/desktop software freeze, message cryptically (or not at all), then croak, leaving the user to start the process again.
As luck would have it, we’ve started a company that addresses this very concern, ElephantDrive (elephants… big, never forget, work for peanuts, get it?). Our platform provides a greater level of automation, transparency, fault-tolerance, and availability than I have yet to see in the marketplace. Admittedly, we don’t yet have the feature set boasted by some of the companies here, as we’ve chosen to focus on designing and deploying secure and extensible core architecture.
Our beta is open: http://www.elephantdrive.com/.
Come on over and back that azz up. "
Here we go!
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/01/31/the-online-storage-gang/
I left the following post as a comment:
"Great post. Thanks to Michael and Adam for the research and evaluation.
However, a critical component missing from your review is the actual reliability of the services. Nearly every online storage user I’ve spoken to has at one point relayed their crushing frustration in waiting for a large transfer to complete, only to have the web/desktop software freeze, message cryptically (or not at all), then croak, leaving the user to start the process again.
As luck would have it, we’ve started a company that addresses this very concern, ElephantDrive (elephants… big, never forget, work for peanuts, get it?). Our platform provides a greater level of automation, transparency, fault-tolerance, and availability than I have yet to see in the marketplace. Admittedly, we don’t yet have the feature set boasted by some of the companies here, as we’ve chosen to focus on designing and deploying secure and extensible core architecture.
Our beta is open: http://www.elephantdrive.com/.
Come on over and back that azz up. "
Here we go!
