Online backup?

[LMTC]

I am about to become responsible for all information/media at a small church. Four PCs with primarily audio files, word docs, powerpoint files. All four have internet connection. In addition....a beginning website, and next week we start a 30 minute weekly radio program on a small local station (covers about 6-8 counties). The intent is to archive the radio shows (as mp3 files), as well as all services (3 weekly) for access as needed.

I had first thought about an external HD, then realized the audio files from services and radio are going to add up pretty quickly. Looking for suggestions and first hand experience about the best option(s) for us for backup, and any reviews of online backup services, as that's where I'm leaning until I hear a better alternative. Thanks.

As a footnote, I often need to work on various files at home. Now I have to be sure to get all the files I need on Sunday and either burn them to a DVD or put them on a thumb drive (we live 35 miles from church). Online backup would facilitate the work I do from home.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

MP3's won't add up in size that fast. I have recorded mp3's weekly for a couple yrs, and space has not been an issue, I also have an external HD for backups.

Just checked my server via remote access, I have 216 mp3's using about 16 GB of space. A typical 30 minute recording is about 50MB.
Personally, I won't use online backups for anything. If you can access online files than you can also just access remotely on your machines.

 

[Western]

Take a look at Carbonite online down loader on Google search, may give you some added ideas.

 

[txvoyager]

Try www.sugarsync.com. Easy (automatic) backup and great online access from any web browser as well as from many mobile devices... $4.99/mo for 30GB...

 

[MikePA]

I agree with buckeyefarmer, mp3 files, if created properly, won't add up all that fast. Our church records sermons as a music file directly to CD. We then pull that file off the original CD and save it as a voice quality mp3 file which means a 58 minute service only needs a 13 meg mp3 file. We also offer these files as podcasts people can subscribe to. Keep in mind if the recording contains music, whether it's the congregation singing a hymn or a soloist, you need a license to post this on the Internet. I don't have all the details since I was not directly involved in researching this, but I know they are required.

Regarding back up, Dropbox offers online access to files from almost any computer. It supports browser access as well as clients for Windows, Mac and iPhone. On the Windows and Mac, it shows up in the Windows Explorer or Mac Finder. 2 gigs is free, 50 gigs is $9.99/month, 100 gigs is $19.99/month, etc. It allows securing some of the folders you create or making them public. When you save a file to the Dropbox folder (or subfolder) it automatically shows up on every other computer running the Dropbox client software.

 

[LMTC]

Thanks to all.

Mike, that is exactly what I will be doing with the CDs on which services are recorded. My only experience ripping CDs to mp3s involves music quality audio, minimum 256kbps. Do you know what kbps you are using for just spoken word/voice recordings? I am guessing I can get away with a lot lower number, which would mean smaller files. We will be doing podcasts, of services and the radio programs, but....I will edit the services to excluded the music (so no license issue) and the radio program has only intro/exit music, and it is my understanding the radio station has taken care of any licensing/fees issue for that, so we can podcast it after it is broadcast with no problem.

I will look at Dropbox, as it would be a real help to me to be able to access some files from home. I could consolidate those files that are most often accessed onto one PC at church. Is the 2 gig free limit per PC, or per account (all PCs in a group)?

Thanks again to all. I need to begin pursuing something pretty soon, as the inception of this radio program and the website will add exponentially to the work needed in media ministry.

Mike--re: Dropbox, do you know the answer to this? Can I put Dropbox on my home office PC, put 2GB in it, and share it with a PC at church AND set up a separate Dropbox account at church, put an additional 2GB in it, and share it with my home PC?

 

[MikePA]

Do you know what kbps you are using for just spoken word/voice recordings?

I use a product from Adobe called Audition. I bought it before Adobe bought the company and drastically increased the price. Audition offers several standard mp3 formats. I use 32k, mono. I think Audacity, which is free, supports similar output file types however, I don't think Audacity supports extracting audio from a CD.

I will look at Dropbox, as it would be a real help to me to be able to access some files from home. I could consolidate those files that are most often accessed onto one PC at church. Is the 2 gig free limit per PC, or per account (all PCs in a group)?

The free 2 gigs is per registered userid.

You're right, creating and maintaining these files, while not complicated once everything is set up, it (obviously) requires weekly support.

Here's a link to our site. This is version 2 of our site. I set up version 1 almost 10 years ago. Not being a professional web developer, it was functional but not really a professional looking site. The church contracted out to a web development company to build Version 2 about a year ago. We also went from me being the only support to 2 new people doing it with me being a backup person. We also added recording both to CD recorder as well as a laptop. One of the other things we do is make sure there's nothing confidential in anything posted to the Internet.

EDIT: When we migrated to Version 2 of the site, I documented the procedure for uploading sound files. While it's specific to our site, if you think it'd help, I can send you a pdf. I just uploaded this file to my Dropbox site and invited you to access it.

 

[bp fick]

A big fan and user of "online" or cyber server storage. Folks who travel and need access to files from anywhere find this useful. Giving access files to others from a central online location is also very helpful. Buying 100 gig or so of remote storage is no longer prohibitively expensive. Worth considering the option.

This used to be just the domain of the few, but now, it is commonplace to store/access remotely.

 

[anojones]

Our back-up solution is a program called Jungle Disk, which backs up to Amazon S3 services. Cheap and no limits on how much you get up there. Some online back-up options only allow you to back up the hard-drive from one computer (i.e. Carbonite)- so the cost adds up if you have multiple drives or computers. You could also look at Rack Space and see what options they have for a simple interface. You're smart to start now, the biggest problem with online back-up is the time it takes to get those first several GB uploaded, the sooner you start the better.

 

[MikePA]

Mike--re: Dropbox, do you know the answer to this? Can I put Dropbox on my home office PC, put 2GB in it, and share it with a PC at church AND set up a separate Dropbox account at church, put an additional 2GB in it, and share it with my home PC?

You can have 2 gigs and the church could have 2 gigs, controlled by different email addresses. Each account could create a folder and allow the other account access to it. So, you can do what you want.