According to CNN, there will soon be a proliferation of companies offering on-line backup services, including:

• Symantec (“soon plans to combine a Web-based backup product with its Norton antivirus software”)
• Seagate (“plans to roll out a separate online storage and file-sharing service in August”)
• Microsoft
• Google

This is good.  Online backup is a great approach to achieving off-site protection.

Yes, Rad – I agree:  it would make quite a bit of sense for Symantec to add an online backup capability, probably best as part of the new Norton Save & Restore product and/or the Norton 360 service.

For myself, I don’t see the necessity of storing a Ghost image at an off-site location (e.g., by using an online backup service or otherwise).  If the PC and the backup images were both destroyed, that would be okay.  In this scenario, I would replace my entire PC system and start “fresh” by reinstalling all of my existing applications and my personal data files, both of which are maintained on my online backup service.

I use the Connected DataProtector online backup service.  It’s certainly one of the most expensive alternatives in this arena, but I like the fact that it is ‘commercial grade’ and delivered by Iron Mountain Digital, “the world's largest provider of data backup/recovery and archiving software as a service”.  Contrast this with the $5/month option by Carbonite, which appears to be a start-up operation run by “two guys”.  We all have different tolerances for risk and different perceptions of cost/benefit, but – in my opinion – reliability, trustworthiness and security (not price) should be the key considerations in choosing an online backup solution.

Kool, I use ADSL with an advertised upload speed of 896 Kbps, but in reality often transmit at 1,000 Kbps.  Additionally, the Connected DataProtector product compresses files before transmission, further enhancing the effective upload speed.  Nonetheless, the initial upload of information may require choosing a portion of your backup set and letting your PC run overnight, and repeating that cycle until all of your critical files are first uploaded.

I store about 7 GB of information using Connected DataProtector.  I don’t recall how long the initial upload required, but I remember being surprised that it ran faster than expected.  The intention of the service is to backup only your most critical personal files rather than everything on the PC (i.e., “backup only your vital data and thus limit the volume”).

I think I have only had two instances where the service was temporarily unavailable, and each situation was quite brief in duration.  I have not seen evidence of ‘contention’, and so suspect that Connected has a lot of inbound bandwidth.

In most day-to-day cases, updating my backup takes about one-to-five minutes (during which time you can continue to use your PC, if you wish).  Note that Connected only transmits the changed ‘deltas’ (disk blocks) of a file – rather than the entire file – where possible, and this greatly speeds the process.  You can schedule the backup, or launch one manually by right-clicking the tray icon and choosing “Backup Now”.

I have retrieved selected files about eight times, and in each case the service was flawless.  I like the fact that you can choose any of the prior nine versions of a file (within the most recent ninety days) to restore – a handy feature.

You may wish to consider testing and evaluating the Connected DataProtector service using the free 30-day trial option.

Does this information answer your questions?

QED:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q.E.D.

fyi: i included a link to this thread in the ghost guide where i discuss redundant back-up, at the very bottom of this page:

http://ghost.radified.com/ghost_2.htm

Quote:

Source:  http://www.dmnews.com/cms/dm-news/internet-marketing/37746.html

Readers of this thread may be interested in Windows Live SkyDrive Beta, a free service providing 500MB of online file storage.