I have about 2 TB of data that I would like to back up (more like “archive” - it will never change) to the cloud. I have it backed up on a secondary USB drive, but unless I physically move the secondary drive offsite, I could lose everything in a disaster.
Question: what is the best cloud service to use for this data - along with pricing? I already have Acronis 2018 which is great for backing up the data (to a USB drive) that I regularly use. Do their more recent versions include a reasonably-priced cloud option? Any other suggestions? Backblaze looks attractive, but will it keep my 2 TB forever like I want?
I found Amazon S3 Glacier to have the best deal and also consider it very reliable.
If you are looking for long term storage this works well as long as you do not expect immediate access to that data (it can take up to 48 hours to retrieve your data). Pricing is $0.004/GB/month (so, $8/month for your 2 TB).
There is a cost to retrieve data too. I think $0.03/GB.
I use BackBlaze, their “storage buckets”. It’s more of a manual backup solution, as opposed to drive mirroring or other automatic types, but I specifically wanted that level of manual control.
I use cygwin sync to back PCs to a local NAS, then use Linux rsync on the NAS to backup the backups to rsync.net. About 750 GB, mostly photos. I can access the data using standard ssh tools.
In addition to what @Raza says, Backblaze’s personal tier (the one starting at $6/month for unlimited data) will backup all data that is on a drive physically connected to your computer (i.e. networked drives don’t count) and keep it for as long as it can tell it is still on that computer.
The $6/month tier gives you a month’s grace period for if your computer gets disconnected or similar (or if you sometimes disconnect the drive), I personally upped it to the $8/month tier, which will keep it for a year. There are other options, including one that will keep the data indefinitely, no matter what, but, if you don’t keep a local copy, that starts requiring per-megabyte pricing, similar to the options that @Raza is describing.
They will warn you if it’s been a while since they’ve been able to detect your drive—I believe around half a month. So I’ve found it sufficient to keep my data safe. I just make sure all the data I want to keep is always connected to my computer.
Thanks @BigT - I should have linked to the below page from BB. It seems to go by the name “B2 storage buckets”, and it doesn’t (or didn’t) have a client sweeping your drive. You get 10 Gb free and that’s what I’m using right now - I haven’t even wandered into “pay” territory yet. I use it to keep my high-value items, like some of my genealogy data backups, My Documents, tax files. Most of my drive space is consumed with either photographs (which I back up onto a variety of devices) or game programs, which are easily replaceable.