Cloud backups - how long?!

Aidan, all the issues around upload speeds etc are really down to your broadband service and what this allows.  Typically (from my own experience) upload speeds are a fraction of the potential maximum download speeds unless you are on a commercial contract.

My download speed is rated as 100MBps but my upload speed is only 5Mbps.

With Cloud backups, ATI provides for a fair bit of resilience and can cope with interrupted connections by resuming without having to start again from the beginning.

Is your full image size of only 0.5GB correct in your initial post above?  That is only 500MB and should be relatively quick unless you have dial-up type speeds for uploading!

My Cloud backup is around 70-80GB and will normally take around 15-20 hours where I set it off before going to bed then check that all is OK the next morning!

Upload speeds of 10Mbps or above should be considered if you're seriously thinking about using ATI Cloud as an alternative to other catastrophe backup solutions.-

Since I am on a 50Mbps download / 10Mbps upload at my home in Europe and on  a 50 down/30 up here in Asia, this is a viable solution for me. Like Steve, I have about 70GB to backup. Add to this the fact that if desaster strikes I could pick this up WORLDWIDE !

So, for me at least, no more give-a-copy-to-your-sister-catastrophe "vaults" ...

Steve,

Thanks for your reply. Sorry, Gbs and Mbs have always confused me!  I checked my drive size and it's about 600Gb.  From comments made by you and others, I think that trying to upload all of this is a bit ambitious!  My upload speed is 0.9Mbps.  Maybe a new strategy as to what I actually try and upload?  Can I select certain data to upload?

On the reliance thing, I think you are saying that I can expect a decent backup even if I pause it or even shut down and recommence?  Your 15-20 hours seems realistic.  I'm getting an estimate of a month and a half!!!

Aidan

Heiner,

Thanks for your reply.  As you will see in my reply to Steve, I think my expectations were too great!  A reappraisal is needed on what is possible.  I need to be more selective and hope that ATI will allow me to do this.

I may have missed it when I made my ATI purchase but it would help if Acronis made this a little more obvious in product promotions.

Aidan.

Aidan, you can do selective backups to the Cloud, particularly if you want to choose just your Documents etc, by using a Files & Folders backup scheme.

It is always going to be a larger volume of data when doing a Disks & Partitions backup simply due to the size of the source data involved.

One key point here is to always choose a Cloud destination (Data Centre) that is closest to where your computer is located, as this should offer the best transfer speeds to you.

See KB 4350: Acronis Backup to Cloud access ports and hostnames  along with 
KB 59690: Acronis Backup Cloud: Speed Test utility and 
KB 47145: Acronis Cloud Connection Verification Tool

Aidan,

I don't know where you are in the world, but the first thing I would look at, if I were in your shoes, would be a faster Internet connection. This not only would bring the ATI Cloud backup closer to reality, but would help with all your other Internet related tasks as well (browsing, e-mail attachments, software upgrades etc. etc.)

Just for the record and since you asked: I am very happy with ATI cloud backup. I am done in 2-3 hours and I sleep better at night ...

Kind regards

Heiner

Hello, Steve and thanks for your reply and the links, which I opened.  I'm going to admit that I think a lot of this may be too complicated for me to understand!  An example is when I followed your link KB 4350 and I get:

1. Determine which cloud storage you are using: 
1.1 Login to your Acronis Account. [Did this and got to a page with "Products" highlighted so I clicked "Dashboard" on Acronis True Image Premium, with the option to backup or recover. There was no Cloud backup menu on the left-hand side so I couldn't even get to step 1.2]
1.2 Go to Cloud Backup menu on the left and choose Home for Acronis True Image Home or Business for Acronis Backup products. 
1.3 Click "Recover files from Acronis Cloud": 

For the KB 47145 link I met similar confusion:

1. Determine which cloud storage you are using: 
1.1 Login to your Acronis Account. [Achieved this!]
1.2 Go to Cloud Backup menu on the left and choose Home for Acronis True Image Home or Business for Acronis Backup products. [As before, but found no "Cloud Backup menu"]
1.3 Click "Recover files from Acronis Cloud":

Going on your comments and Heiner's, I'd like to achieve a Cloud Backup, with regular small updates (Are these "incremental?), of my document files, photos (I take and store a lot of photographs and need to protect these as much as possible) and email.  Can I find some easy to follow instructions to guide me through this?

It would be helpful to know how I can make sure that I'm linked to the right Acronis data centre.  I'm UK based so I guess this would be London.

Aidan

Aidan, sorry for any confusion caused by the KB documents.  The options for the Cloud data centre for UK users is simple, there is only one that we can use which is the London - EU3 servers.

This should be set automatically for you if your Acronis account is registered to your UK address or email, and you can check this on the Advanced options page of your Cloud backup task.

As shown above, this shows whatever you have either defaulted to or selected, but cannot be changed once a Cloud backup has been run.

Hello, Heiner and thanks for your reply.  I'm based in the UK.  I will have a look at the affordability of a faster internet connection.

I'm sure that an ATI Cloud Backup of key files and photos would help me sleep easier as well!  2-3 hours, wow! That sounds good. Any simple instructions would be great.

I will admit to finding the account interface confusing at times.  I had a Cloud Backup running (admittedly an unrealistically big one!)  but going back to my account, I can't see it now and wonder what has happened to it.  Also, Acronis seemed to be running a backup to my external hard drive, which I thought I had scheduled for a different time! Maybe me but I don't find the user interface easy!  Not asking you to resolve these issue but they illustrate the difficulty that I have.

Aidan

Aiden, internet speeds here in the UK really depend on where you are living as much as anything else.  If you are in a city or large town, then much higher rates should be available than if you are out in the country in a small rural village etc.

You should be able to go to the main broadband ISP providers websites and put in your postcode to do a check of what speed you can expect to get from them.

Take a look at UK Broadband Availability Checker which may give you a quick indication of what you can get.

I am with VirginMedia on a 100MBps service via cable but this is not available everywhere as they have concentrated on covering towns and cities.  British Telecom probably has more coverage in rural areas as they continue to roll out their fibre network, and this should permit access via such as Plusnet, TalkTalk and others who piggy-back on the BT service.