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Don't Let Broadband Scrooges Ruin the Gift Of Cloud Backup: Page 2 of 2

And another limitation of "modern" broadband comes into play: provider throttling of large uploads and downloads. In my case, if throughput dropped to about 40 Kbytes per second (about a third of a megabit), then it would take 194.44 hours to back up that same data set. But if the laptop is on only eight hours per day, that comes to 24.3 days. A lot can happen in 24 days, including a hard drive crash.

Thankfully, CrashPlan and other providers support data shipping, the way that Amazon Web Services does. Also known as "seeded" backup, the provider sends you an external drive. You save your files and send the drive back to them. Clearly, I needed to use the seed option if I wanted the cloud to be able to contain my entire backup in a timely fashion.

Once you've established the seed backup, you likely won't have more than a gigabyte or two (the size of a purchased HD movie) as additional data. Unfortunately, that gig will take you 1.9 hours to back up at 140 Kbytes per second, and 6.9 hours if it gets throttled. You may want to leave a computer running all night now and then to extend your backup window.

As for better broadband, Craig Settles, a broadband advocate and consultant, told me that while much of the funding for broadband has gone to rural areas, "there's a case to be made for improving infrastructure in urban areas." For example, Washington, D.C., has recently announced that it will offer a municipal 100-Gbit network. And Chattanooga, Tenn., broadband service already offers gigabit connectivity to businesses and residents.

In the meantime, we go-to geeks will have to be a little bit more hands-on if we give the gift of cloud backup this year. Whatever option you choose, evaluate whether seeded backup is needed, and definitely go with a cloud backup service that has a local/LAN backup option. If you anticipate a host of new games, music, and movies getting loaded onto your home computers over the next couple of weeks, don't let a lack of backup spoil your holidays.

Disclosure: Jonathan Feldman does not have any business, consulting, or other financial relationship with CrashPlan.