Backups and file access while on the road
 

I'm self-employed and I like to travel. I never tell my clients, "I'm going on vacation for a month...hold all requests until I'm back." In fact, they seldom know whether I'm working from home or a hotel room halfway across the world. Needless to say, I always have a laptop with me while traveling.

That said, I grapple with a few issues while traveling:
* I need to have access to all of my files while on the road, because it's tough to predict which ones I may need at any given time.
* I want to ensure that everything is backed up at all times in case my laptop gets stolen.
* For trips where I'm moving from location to location, I'd prefer to travel with something lighter than my Dell XPS 15", which can get heavy.

Because of some Chicago commitments, I haven't done much international travel in the last two years. Before that, I used a two-prong approach that seemed to work, but wouldn't any more:
* I traveled with an Asus netbook
* I used Windows Live Mesh to sync files between the Asus and my home laptop, so all of my client files and trip photos would be saved at home in case something happened to my Asus. (It would be set to push new files from my Asus to my home computer, but files that were deleted from my Asus remained on my home computer in the event the Asus got stolen and wiped clean.)

Windows Live Mesh is shuttered, so that option no longer works to sync files, and I hate my Asus with a passion--inevitably I'd have wrist pain at the end of a long trip because it's so un-ergonomically friendly.

I'd love suggestions on how I can tackle this for future trips. Preferably solutions that don't cost an arm and a leg, and aren't particularly complicated to set up. FWIW:
* I have NAS on my home network (a 1 TB Buffalo drive), but I don't know how to access it remotely (if that's even possible).
* I have a Carbonite subscription for one laptop, but could upgrade to a subscription with more features.
* I use Google Drive for some client documents, but not everything.
* I have a free Dropbox account that is full and have free subscriptions to some other backup services that I'm not using. The largest is probably Box.com, where I think I have 20GB.
* I'm a Windows user. Main laptop is running Windows 7 Home Premium. I'm probably a year away from needing to replace my main laptop, but I'd be willing to consider a low-cost (lightweight) 2nd laptop.
* In my ideal world, I'd use this same solution at home so I always had a backup laptop that had a mirrored copy of all of my files in the event my main laptop broke or needed repairs.

Thanks for any and all suggestions!

Seems like Dropbox would be best for you - you can pay them for more storage if you wish. You might even be able to find a Dropbox client for your NAS.

You could connect a PogoPlug device to your NAS, and you can access it anywhere in the world. The biggest problem is that if your network connection at home hangs/dies, then you cannot access it.

I second the Dropbox recommendation. 100GB is $100/yr. Move what files you think you'd possibly need onto it prior to traveling. The best part of Dropbox is that it can automagically upload all photos when you insert a media card into your laptop; or when your smartphone is connected to wifi.

1TB USB3 portable drives are getting pretty inexpensive, too.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought dropbox was a syncing service, NOT a cloud service.

So if I delete files from one of my machines, they are eventually synced, i.e., deleted, from all, including at dropbox.com.

I hadn't heard of PogoPlug before, and their website is confusing. Am I understanding this correctly?

It seems as if the company has two main offerings:
* Cloud based storage for a monthly fee
* A device that will turn a user's own external hard drives into a private cloud, where the user pays a flat fee for the device (no subscription costs) and then pays for the cost of external storage

I've had NAS devices over the years that have been complete headaches. It sounds as if the PogoPlug device could essentially do all that I'd hoped NAS would do. The one thing I can't tell: If I could actually attach my NAS to PogoPlug or if I'd need to use other external hard drives. (Amazon this weekend was selling a 1TB external drive--with pretty good reviews--for $67. Storage prices are reasonable!)

That is correct.

I have a 3TB USB3 drive attached to the PogoPlug device (I paid $20 for it). I can access all the files on the drive via mobile app or website. You can also assign a drive letter to the drive, which is useful for your daily computering and/or CrashPlan backups.

It's only deleted if you remove the file from your dedicated Dropbox folder (or via website). For the OP, she can copy all files she might need to access on her upcoming trip into the Dropbox folder. It syncs across all devices (including the laptop). Updates will be synced up to the Dropbox website (and across all other devices that are turned on and connected to the internet). Upon returning from the trip, the OP can then move all of the files off the Dropbox folder back into her NAS. Only then will those files be removed from the cloud and other devices.

It does look as if the device prices have dropped compared to the MSRP. A few more questions, if you don't mind. (I have been reading about PogoPlug since you mentioned it, but haven't found the answers to all of my questions...)

* Once you've designated a folder to be synced, does it truly sync or do you have to manually push new files to the storage attached to your PogoPlug device?
* What does CrashPlan do that PogoPlug doesn't automatically do itself?
* I notice that the PogoPlug Office device says it supports up to 5 users. What constitutes a user? For example, if I'm connecting to it from both my regular laptop and my travel laptop, is each a different user?

Thanks!

The latter. I use a syncing program to regularly sync files from my desktop hard drives to the device attached to the PogoPlug--for example, the Camera Uploads folder in my Dropbox folder.

CrashPlan is simply a cloud backup program. In the unlikely event that all my computers and hard drives blow up at the same time, I still have a copy of all important documents/photos/videos/music stored in the cloud. Once I rebuild my computer, I can download all of that stuff from CrashPlan. Again, I back up all of my data to my 3TB drive (attached to PogoPlug), and CrashPlan regularly backs up the 3TB drive.

If you do a search for CrashPlan in this forum, you can find a link for a free year trial.

You could also use PogoPlug's cloud backup program to do the same thing that CrashPlan offers. $50/yr for unlimited storage isn't a bad deal. I also believe you can access all files in real-time through their website.

No idea. Sorry!

I have not done anything as sophisticated as automated backup with my Pogoplug device, but I will say that it has been 100% reliable for two years now. I have one old laptop drive-via-USB-enclosure and two USB thumb drives plugged into it.

I'll have to look into to the option of mapping those drives. Didn't realize that was possible.

With CryptoLocker on the loose, maybe it's a better idea not to.

Which generation XPS 15? The newest (which has been only out for about a month) is about the lightest full-power, full-size system out there outside of the MacBook Pro 15"

No longer produced, the Vaio Z is even lighter, with roughly equal power, although it's on the small-screen-size side.

If you need a full-power quad-core CPU, that's pretty much the limit for under 5lbs that I'm aware of.

If you can live with a full-speed, but dual-core CPU, there are plentiful options -- the Lenovo T430s is very popular, a good size 14" screen, and quite inexpensive since the T440s (which has an ultrabook lower-speed CPU) is out and replacing it.

If you can live with an ultrabook-speed dual-core CPU, there are a ton of lighter/smaller options.

Hmmm, good point....

Mine is three years old. (Must admit that I'm hard on my computers, but slow to learn lessons. I'd bought a succession of HP laptops that often spent weeks at their service center and needed to be replaced every year to 18 months. Finally got wise and bought a Dell with the extended in-home warranty. The hard drive died on me in the summer of 2012--got repaired in my living room the next day--but it's otherwise been a great machine. I'm now a Dell convert.)

A slightly different option.

I travel a lot, and used to live in fear of losing client sensitive info, even with passwords on the laptop etc.

I now leave the office desktop running all the time, which has all the client info on it. I travel with an iPad now. I remotely access the office desktop using LogMeIn. You can try it for free! I did for a while and then was happy to pay for the premium iPad app.

I can now travel with access to everything as long as I have internet access, and if can get everything that is in the office. I don't have anything with me to lose, which is a bonus!

I can fully take control of the office desktop from anywhere in the world. I can sent emails as if from there and attach documents just as if I was sitting in front of it. I would say to give it a go and see if it meets your needs.