Awesome wireless hard drive with SD reader (on-site backup!)

[Kaido]

Just saw on this on the main AT site:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10431/western-digital-my-passport-wireless-pro-wifi-hard-drive-review

More info here:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1660

$195 for the 2TB model:

https://www.amazon.com/Passport-Wireless-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B01F5LVTO4/

$229 for the 3TB model:

https://www.amazon.com/Passport-Wireless-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B01F5LVTPS

Key features:

1. 2TB (or 3TB) of storage
2. Computer-less file transfer: via built-in SD reader or via USB 2.0 port for external devices (including dSLR cameras & CF card readers)
3. 10-hour battery life (6400mAh battery) with ability to charge USB devices (like your phone)
4. Transfer via USB 3.0 (PC/Mac compatible) or Wi-fi (iOS/Android apps; WPS supported; also DLNA/uPNP/PLEX-compatible for streaming)

Awesome, snagging a 3TB model for doing wedding shoots!

 

[Red Squirrel]

That is actually pretty neat. I was thinking about that when I went camping, that it would be nice to have a small device to simply backup files from SD card without needing a computer.

 

[paperfist]

No way to use a power adapter? Would be nice for 'off site' data backups.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Think it has USB for power which is nice as it's fairly universally available. Ex: cig lighter adaptor, 120v adaptor.

Though come to think of it, this concept could also make a fun Raspberry PI project.

 

[paperfist]

Think it has USB for power which is nice as it's fairly universally available. Ex: cig lighter adaptor, 120v adaptor.

Though come to think of it, this concept could also make a fun Raspberry PI project.

hmm I didn't think about that, could just use one of those AC bricks and then plug the USB into there.

Kind OT, is it possible to put a HD in some kind of fireproof enclosure? I know heat and having a external power cord wouldn't be ideal for an enclosure designed to keep fire out.

 

[Kaido]

Kind OT, is it possible to put a HD in some kind of fireproof enclosure? I know heat and having a external power cord wouldn't be ideal for an enclosure designed to keep fire out.

ioSafe makes special enclosures for exactly that:

https://iosafe.com/assets/pdf/1515_technology-cutaway-V3.pdf

Their NAS boxes are typically over a grand, although they do have a 2TB USB model for under $300:

https://www.amazon.com/Solo-Fireproof-Waterproof-External-Drive/dp/B007YJX77S/

 

[Kaido]

Think it has USB for power which is nice as it's fairly universally available. Ex: cig lighter adaptor, 120v adaptor.

Though come to think of it, this concept could also make a fun Raspberry PI project.

Yup, it comes with a USB adapter & a wall plug. You can charge it from the wall, a laptop, a desktop, or a 12V USB car adapter. Or another bigger USB battery bank.

 

[Kaido]

That is actually pretty neat. I was thinking about that when I went camping, that it would be nice to have a small device to simply backup files from SD card without needing a computer.

I used to have a HyperDrive backup system; the new ones are pretty great, but it's $250 for the enclosure or $500 if you want it pre-installed with a 2TB drive:

https://www.hypershop.com/products/hyperdrive-colorspace-udma3

 

[paperfist]

ioSafe makes special enclosures for exactly that:

https://iosafe.com/assets/pdf/1515_technology-cutaway-V3.pdf

Their NAS boxes are typically over a grand, although they do have a 2TB USB model for under $300:

https://www.amazon.com/Solo-Fireproof-Waterproof-External-Drive/dp/B007YJX77S/

Awesome thanks so much for the links. I have a home office and can't really have a traditional off site back up and using online ones scare me.

 

[Kaido]

Awesome thanks so much for the links. I have a home office and can't really have a traditional off site back up and using online ones scare me.

I use Backblaze for all of my online backups. They have really good encryption:

https://www.backblaze.com/backup-encryption.html

Basically, all of your stuff is encrypted using a Private Encryption Key (PEK). On top of that, they have two-factor authentication for signing into the system. So a hacker would have to (1) steal your login information to get into the website, (2) steal your cell phone to get the unique login number they text to you every time you login, (3) steal your Private Encryption Key, and (4) also steal the passphrase used to open up the PEK. If your PC gets nuked, you can download your data over a secure SSL connection. So you're pretty much covered from all angles. Cloud security is scary, but there are measures you can take (like using Backblaze) that offer pretty much the best setup you can get as a consumer.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I looked into backblaze but it looks like you have to install a proprietary client. Is there a way to just get SSH access to do rsync? (I guess this is kinda off topic)

 

[Kaido]

I looked into backblaze but it looks like you have to install a proprietary client. Is there a way to just get SSH access to do rsync? (I guess this is kinda off topic)

So they actually have two separate systems for this. The first is called B2 Cloud Storage & the second is called B2sync, which is a CLI tool for using their cloud storage service. B2 pricing here: (VERY reasonable)

https://www.backblaze.com/b2/cloud-storage.html

B2sync is 64-bit Mac/Win/Linux-compatible:

https://www.backblaze.com/b2/docs/b2sync.html

Same vein as rsync, except customized to talk to their B2 system. For example, they use "buckets" for storage under your account & have customized commands & switches for doing things like syncing & doing a -replaceNewer. So if you speak rsync, you'll pick this up in no time as it only boils down to a couple dozen commands overall. You may want to contact them to see if they support rsync directly, I'm not sure if they do; one of their integration partners might have a system that speaks geek too. At any rate, Backblaze is a really cool company & has stuck around for the long-term as a quality, secure online cloud storage service. I'm a huge fan.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Hmmm that's good to know, if they have their own Linux tool then that's fine too, I just want to be able to script it. I may look into this, been wanting to look at better offsite backups and given I have the connection for it, may as well.

 

[John Connor]

There's also Boxcryptor...

There's also the Dreamobjects idea using a proprietary FTP client of which the name escapes me now.

Edit-
Ah! CrossFTP! https://help.dreamhost.com/hc/en-us/articles/215916607-How-to-Use-CrossFTP-with-DreamObjects