OT: Firefox mobile phone platform….

[an]

[quote=spdrun]As far as pricing — you’d be very surprised. You can get an Atom-based barebones computer, load it up with two 1TB drives in RAID 1 for a few hundred dollars.

Be able to back up unlimited computers to the device, stream music off of it, etc.[/quote]
I build my own computers, so I know the cost of building one. Backblaze charges me $95 for 2 years for unlimited data. There’s no way I can run my own server for that kind of price. My bet is, the cost of electricity alone would probably cost me that much. Then there’s the cost of replacing components when it fail. Then there’s the rare situations (if my house burn down), I feel safer to know I have another back up at a different location. I do have 2-3 different copy of those pictures/videos w/in my house.

Two 1TB drives cost $220+, depending on which brand. Then the cost of the other components (my guess would be at least another $200 (decent MB with RAID options tend to run at least $70+)). For $420+, that will get me 8+ years with Backblaze.

[spdrun]

For the device:

Pricing, say $400 for the device over 5 years. And it will last 5 yr if you buy good hardware: $80/yr.

Power usage: 40W = .040kW * 24hr * 365d = 350 kW-h @ 15¢/kW = $52/yr

$80 + $52 = $132/yr total.

Three computers connected to the service would cost:
$3.96 * 12 * 3 = $142.56/yr.

Running a behemoth server in a home or small business doesn’t make sense any more. Appliance-type devices might make sense once you scale beyond a few connected devices.

[an]

I wish I’m paying 15¢/kW. At 29¢/kW, it would cost me about $100/year just to run the server. So, the total cost to run your own server at $400 for equipment over 5 years is $180 not $132/year.

Also, why are you paying for 3 computers? Unless you just want to waste money. Why not create a centralized media server to store of all those media and have your other device just access those media over the network?

So, we’re looking at $47.50/year for Backblaze and $180/year to run my own. So, for over 3x more to run my own, why would I do that? Not to mention if I’m unlucky and my hard drive die prematurely (more frequently than normal).

[spdrun]

Why are you paying them for two computers, then? You quoted a price of ~$90/yr. Unless you want to back up to one computer, then send the data to Backblaze, I’m assuming you’ll need to pay for two computers, and they have some means of enforcing that.

40W is also a worst-case estimate for average consumption. 40-50 watts is actually close to the peak usage for an Atom board with two HDDs. Spin down the drives, and if it sits idle, average usage will drop to 5-10W.

Most drives will last 5+ years in stationary applications, anyway.

[an]

Where did I say $90/year?

I’m not your normal user. I have a media server and a back up server as well as Backblaze to back up my back up server, which the media push data to on a nightly bases. But that’s definitely overkill for most people. Most people actually would have no idea where to start to build their own back up server. So, for your average user, Backblaze type of online backup is the only real back up option.

I was just trying to compare purely the cost of running your own server and putting it to Backblaze and Backblaze in general is cheaper and much easier to set up and deal with. However, I have both, so I’m not a good example.

[spdrun]

Most people actually would have no idea where to start to build their own back up server. So, for your average user, Backblaze type of online backup is the only real back up option.

Sure they do: buy an Apple Time Capsule. Or similar appliance that contains two drives at RAID 1. Think backup appliance, not Debian box.

And exactly — the average person would have one Backblaze account per device, which would get … pricy quickly.

[an]

[quote=spdrun]

Most people actually would have no idea where to start to build their own back up server. So, for your average user, Backblaze type of online backup is the only real back up option.

Sure they do: buy an Apple Time Capsule. Or similar appliance that contains two drives at RAID 1. Think backup appliance, not Debian box.

And exactly — the average person would have one Backblaze account per device, which would get … pricy quickly.[/quote]
I guess for average Mac user, one would know about Apple Time Capsule. I’d consider myself above average and even I don’t know about Apple Time Capsule. Also, average computer users uses PC, not Mac.

Lets assume average user does have one account per device, and an average family have 3 computers, that $143/year. To set up their own back up device, it’s $140-180/year depending on electrical charges and equipment charges. So we’re looking at similar priced to slightly more to run your own. But you’d need to maintain your own and you don’t have the advantage of the backup being in a different physical location. So, personally, I’d still go with something like Backblaze.

Another question would be, how much data does one wants/needs to back up. If it’s smaller (less than 75GB), it would be cheaper to go with something like Skydrive, which is $25/year for 75GB.

Obviously, running your own would be a better deal if you:
a) have sensitive data you don’t trust putting on someone else’s server
b) you have many computers
c) you have solar electricity
d) you like to actually have total control of your data at all time.

[spdrun]

Time Capsule:
(a) can work with PCs — the connection is via CIFS
(b) is also a router
(c) consumes something under 5W with the drives spun down, similar to a router that you’d have anyway
(d) drives are spun up maybe 10% of the time
(e) no reason a similar appliance couldn’t exist, tailored to PCs and other devices

[an]

Yes, I saw Time Capsule does work with PC. There are plenty of single drive NAS that you can use to back up your data. Getting a couple of them and you’re basically getting something similar to RAID-1. I actually have these NAS to back up my data locally. But I also got Backblaze to put my data in another physical location and it’s sitting in a server farm with a lot more redundancy that I care to try to do. I still think it’s very important to a) back up your data and keep that back up in a different physical location b) have that back up stored in a redundancy system that can withstand hard drive failures. I have my fair share of hard drive failures, so I don’t really trust them.

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