Overview and History
SpiderOak is a privately controlled enterprise that are headquartered in Northbrook, Illinios and were formed in Dec. 2007. They offer an Online Backup, Online Synchronization and Online Sharing Service which gives 100Gb of online storage for ten dollars per month and can supply upto 1.5Tb of storage in 100Gb chunks, each chunk costing an additional $10 a month.
Security
SpiderOak put security VERY seriously. Not satisfied with 256bit AES encryption on information while being transferred and on their servers; they additionally secure your data by using 2048bit RSA password encryption. That's way more secure than you need to get for your piece of mind.
They additionally support 'zero-knowledge' data encryption which means that at every stage, there is absolutely no way that anyone - even SpiderOak employees - are able to see any of your information, not even the folder and file names.
Physically, their data center - which they own instead of renting server space - uses the latest technology with redundancy at every level and numerous high speed connections to the internet. They additionally will provide geographically redundant protection (where your data is stored in several data centers situated in different parts of the world at the same time) for a premium price.
Backup Features
SpiderOak employs a storage redundancy process that means a single copy of a unique file is held on their servers. If you have the same file in different folders, then they leave a marker in each folder but only store one original. This reduces the amount of space you require and lets SpiderOak to hold unlimited file versions of any document but only stores and uploads the differences between the editions.
This makes uploads much quicker and reduces the volume of storage space required. To give you additional control over file editions, there is an ability to erase historic versions as and when you wish to.
SpiderOak archives desktops, laptops and servers running MAC, windows or Linux; As well as network drives and removable media all from a single account. Simply choose a drive for archiving and SpiderOak will monitor the drive for alterations and new items and add them to your backup queue.
Visit https://spideroak.com/videos/Backup_7x.mov to view a short video about SpiderOak's archive features.
Restore Features
Since SpiderOak is a backup and synchronization service, you have instant web access to any version of any file you have ever backed up. If the file you need to recover is a synced file, then it will be on any other device that you have setup for synchronization.
There is an option within the client utility to keep a copy of all archived data blocks in a location of your choosing, this can be a local folder or an FTP or sFTP server. This allows for quicker restores if bandwidth is limited or restricted. SpiderOak will always check this location for restore blocks before retrieving from the offsite storage.
Control and Analysis
The desktop client shows details of which files are currently being backed up, what activities are being carried out within your SpiderOak network, a log of all the accumulated activity and statistics including the overall amount of storage being used within your SpiderOak network.
As far as controls go, the desktop software allows you to limit the maximum size of individual files that can be backed up and to not backup files older than a specified amount of time not to mention options to exclude specific files and folders.
Scheduling can be setup for backup, synchronization and sharing options and can be configured to anything from automatic to once every 2 days. When set to automatic any changes to files within the backup, sync or share sets will be instantly addedapended to the upload list.
The SpiderOak client can be configured to use Proxy servers on the Network tab on the preferences screen. The amount of internet bandwidth that SpiderOak uses can be controlled from the Network tab.
Interface
The SpiderOak interface is very comprehensive, there are five tabs:
Status - gives information of shares, syncs and backups from all of the PCs associated with your account. As well as how much of your current storage allowance being used.
Backup - this is where you select which files to archive on the current machine.
View - This displays currently backed up files and folders for each of the computers in your SpiderOak network and allows you to download any file or folder as a compressed (zip) file.
Sync - This tab lets you to create or configure sync jobs between PCs in your SpiderOak network.
Share - The final tab controls and shows the status of shares.
The internet portal is much simpler: It shows a simple tree structure of files and folders organized under each computer that is a part of your SpiderOak network.
Device Support
SpiderOak currently supports PCs using Linux, Windows or MAC. This includes server operating systems.
File Sharing and Collaboration
SpiderOak uses a facility called ShareRooms which lets you share your files . Amendments to any files in ShareRooms are automatically available to all users of the ShareRoom and changes are appended to an newsfeed so members can be kept up-to-date with the latest changes.
The files and folders in a ShareRoom can be from any PC in the SpiderOak account, not just files synced to the online portal. When a ShareRoom is created it is assigned a unique URL which you can distribute to anyone you need to access the ShareRoom or you may request people to login to SpiderOak's website using the ShareRoom username and password created when the ShareRoom was setup.
Synchronization
SpiderOak has synchronization at its core: You are allowed to have an unlimited amount of machines in one account and permit all of them to sync with a central repository.
It is possible to configure different sync areas for your data and the whole process is protected in their impressive encryption blanket.
Web 2.0 Integration
Not at this time.
Customer Support
There is no interactive support such as telephone or live chat, however, the email support is excellent as is the forum and blog.
The list of non-interactive support options is fairly wide:
- Documentation
- FAQs
- Demos
- Testimonials
- Tutorials
- Case Studies
There is also a free edition which provides 2Gb of storage.
Ease of Use
You can sign up, download the SpiderOak program, and be protected by SpiderOak in under five minutes. The client is elegant, easy to use and provides a wealth of information without overwhelming you. Shares, syncs and archives are all easy to setup and monitor.
Conclusion
SpiderOak offers a great way to archive, synchronize and share data from an unlimited amount of computers with a single account. The cost is good and since exta storage is always available in healthy 100Gb chunks you never have to worry about running out of growing space.
Add to this the unlimited file versioning and easy restore options and SpiderOak is a real winner. The only downside is that portable devices such as iPhones and PDAs are currently not supported. However, if you have Windows, MAC or Linux computers that need to share or sync files then SpiderOak is an excellent choice.
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