Review Of Spideroak Online Backup And Sync Solution
Overview and History
SpiderOak is a privately controlled business that are headquartered in Northbrook, Illinios and were incorporated in Dec. 2007. They run an Online Backup, Online Synchronization and Online Sharing Service which gives 100Gb of web storage for ten dollars per month and can supply upto 1.5Tb of storage in 100Gb chunks, each chunk costing an additional $10 a month.
Feature Set
Security
SpiderOak think of security exceedingly seriously. Unsatisfied with 256bit AES encryption on information when transferring and on their servers; they further shield your information by utilizing 2048bit RSA password encryption. That's way more secure than you need to get for your piece of mind.
SpiderOak also provide 'zero-knowledge' information encryption which means that at at every stage, there is completely no way that somebody - even SpiderOak staff - are able to view any of your data, not even the folder and file names.
Physically, their data center - which is owned by them rather than outsourcing - is curring edge with redundancy at all levels and several fast connections to the internet. They additionally can provide geographically redundant protection (where your information is located in multiple data centers located in different parts of the world at the same time) for an extra cost.
Backup Features
SpiderOak utilizes a storage redundancy methodology that means a single copy of a unique file is held on their servers. If you have the same file in multipl folders, then they leave a marker in each folder but only store one original. This reduces the quantity of space you need and allows SpiderOak to keep unlimited file versions of any document but only stores and uploads the differences between the editions.
This makes uploads much quicker and reduces the volume of storage space used. For extra control over file versions, there is the functionality to permanently delete older versions as and when you wish to.
SpiderOak archives desktops, laptops and servers running MAC, windows or Linux; In addition to network drives and removable media all from a single account. Simply select a drive for archiving and SpiderOak will monitor the drive for amendments and new items and include them to your backup queue.
Click here to view a short video about SpiderOak's archive features.
Restore Features
Since SpiderOak is a backup and synchronization service, you have instant web access to any version of any file you have ever backed up. If the file you want to restore is a synced file, then it will be on any other device that you have setup for synchronization.
There is an option within the client software to keep a copy of all archived data blocks in a location you choose, this can be a local folder or an FTP or sFTP server. This allows for much faster restores if bandwidth is limited or restricted. SpiderOak will always check this location for restore blocks before retrieving from the offsite storage.
Control and Analysis
The desktop client gives details of which files are currently being archived, what activities are being carried out within your SpiderOak network, a log of all the past activity and statistics including the overall amount of storage being used within your SpiderOak network.
As far as controls go, the client software permits you to control the maximum size of individual files that can be backed up and to not backup files older than a specific time not to mention options to exclude specific files and folders.
Scheduling can be configured for backup, synchronization and sharing functions and can be set to anything from automatic to once every 2 days. When set to automatic any amendments to files within the backup, sync or share sets will be instantly addedapended to the upload queue.
The SpiderOak client can be configured to use Proxy servers using the Network tab on the preferences screen. The amount of internet bandwidth that SpiderOak uses can be managed from the Network tab.
Interface
The installed client interface is very complete, there are the following tabs:
Status - gives information of shares, syncs and backups from all of the computers setup in your account. As well as the total amount of your current storage allowance being used.
Backup - this is where you select which files to archive on the current PC.
View - This displays currently archived files and folders for each of the PCs in your SpiderOak network and allows you to download any file or folder as a compressed (zip) file.
Sync - This tab lets you to make or manage sync jobs between machiens in your SpiderOak network.
Share - The final tab configured and displays the status of shares.
The online portal is a lot simpler: It displays a simple tree structure of files and folders organized under each PC that is a part of your SpiderOak network.
Device Support
SpiderOak currently supports PCs using Linux, Windows or MAC. This includes server operating systems.
File Sharing and Collaboration
SpiderOak uses a facility called ShareRooms which lets you share your files . Amendments to any files in ShareRooms are automatically available to all members of the ShareRoom and changes are appended to an newsfeed so users can be kept up-to-date with the latest changes.
The files and folders in a ShareRoom can be from any PC in the SpiderOak network, not just files synced to the online portal. When a ShareRoom is created it is assigned a unique web location which you can distribute to anyone you wish to access the ShareRoom or you can request people to login to SpiderOak's website using the ShareRoom username and password created when the ShareRoom was setup.
Synchronization
SpiderOak has synchronization at its core: You can have an unlimited amount of machines in one account and let all of them to sync with a central repository.
It is possible to setup separate synchronization jobs for your data and the whole process is protected in their impressive encryption blanket.
Web 2.0 Integration
None at this time.
Customer Support
There is no interactive support such as telephone or live chat, however, the email support is very good as is the forum and blog.
The list of do-it-yourself support choices is quite expansive:
Documentation
FAQs
Demos
Testimonials
Tutorials
Case Studies
There is also a free edition that gives 2Gb of storage.
Ease of Use
You can sign up, download the SpiderOak program, and be protected by SpiderOak in under 5 minutes. The client is stylish, easy to use and gives loads of information without overwhelming you. Shares, synchronizations and backups are all easy to setup and monitor.
Cost
Initial setup - free
Monthly Fee - $10 / mth / 100Gb
Yearly Cost - $100 / year / 100Gb
Initial allowed storage amount - 100Gb
Cost of additional storage - $10 / 100Gb
Cost of additional devices / PCs / users - unlimited
Referral Program - Yes
E-billing facility - Yes
Conclusion
SpiderOak offers a great way to backup, sync and share information from an unlimited amount of PCs via a single account. The pricing is good and because exta storage is always available in impressive 100Gb chunks you never have to worry about running out of growing space.
Add to this the unlimited file versioning and simple restore options and SpiderOak is a great choice. The only downside is that portable devices such as iPhones and PDAs are not currently supported. Yet, if you are using Windows, MAC or Linux machines that need to share or sync files then SpiderOak is an excellent choice.
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