Best online backup for large virtual machine

I do all of my development in a virtualbox virtual machine. Copying it over and over again to an external for back-up gets tedious and I simply do not do it as often as I should. Ideally I would like to simply be able to shut down my VM, click 'backup' and it will back up the virtual machine to some service.

My vm disk drive is pretty much a 30 gig single file so it would have to work via rsync so as not to be uploading constantly.

I am not very worried about syncing to multiple computers.

It should be relatively affordable, I would be paying for this out-of-pocket.

I would just use dropbox, but I haven't heard of anyone storing a file this size in it, and I've seen it mess up enough that I'm not sure I trust it.

Does anyone have any ideas/experiences to share?

George Mauer

Posted 2011-07-29T21:35:25.043

Reputation: 455

What OS are you running in the VirtualBox. You can do something like Amahi if using Linux or WHS if using Windows. Just set up the VM to back up and you'll get a rolling backup of several days without needing to shut down. – kobaltz – 2011-07-30T01:00:38.813

You may want to see this: Online file storage services and this: Online backup provider

– Mehper C. Palavuzlar – 2011-07-30T07:47:33.123

@Mehper, others How exactly is this off topic? I really don't get it. Where would this be on topic? – George Mauer – 2011-07-31T19:17:01.763

@George Mauer: Hi George. Questions relating to web services are off-topic on SU (see the faq). However, there is a place for these questions: Web Apps. Please check out the links I gave in my previous comment.

– Mehper C. Palavuzlar – 2011-07-31T20:51:38.320

Answers

Why not use CrashPlan?

Benefits:

You get automatic backups for all your other data
You can implement backups to another machine or external drive for free!
Relatively cheap plans available for unlimited storage in the cloud
Very friendly company to deal with
Cross-platform

Downsides:

If you opt-in for the cloud storage package, they will charge you $5 per month.

jesper

Posted 2011-07-29T21:35:25.043

Reputation: 361

Psh, don't use Dropbox. That's a ripoff for a backup plan.

Backup plans like CrashPlan or my favorite, Back Blaze get you unlimited storage. Backblaze is cheaper but it has less features.

surfasb

Posted 2011-07-29T21:35:25.043

Reputation: 21 453

You might want to consider getting a VPS. The limit for free file storage on Dropbox is 2GB, although you could also upgrade that if you wished, but it would be much more expensive.

Also, a VPS would work with rsync.

Fredrick

Posted 2011-07-29T21:35:25.043

Reputation: 43

There are many online storage providers, but I only know two that support delta uploads: Dropbox and ZumoDrive. Both can handle large files as long as you have the space. Pricing is around $10 per month for 50GB.

As for security, both encrypt the files on their servers so, yes, the employees can access your files. But I highly doubt that they would do so without a good reason (i.e. to protect copyright laws or if demanded by the government).

nmat

Posted 2011-07-29T21:35:25.043

Reputation: 1 513

What I would do:

Create a Megaupload account
Download the Megaupload manager (6 times faster than uploading through browser)
Archive my files (with a password), upload to Megaupload (with another password?)

Access it from anywhere, anytime. You get free 200 GB upload limit, and its free. You can get unlimited upload data if you buy the membership.

TookTheRook

Posted 2011-07-29T21:35:25.043

Reputation: 3 127

Does Megaupload work via rsync or some sort of difference tracking protocol? – George Mauer – 2011-07-29T22:55:18.697