I have set up a cloud service that points to my Cubase project folder and whenever I save a file, it is also saved to the web.
Admittedly my project files are quite small, i.e. there’s no audio but I think it’s a great way to ensure against data loss were something to go horribly wrong and my project files become unrecoverable.
There are various services around but the “quietest” one seems to be Skydrive, which I use for daily work and backup multiple versions to a Zip and upload that later to another service with an encrypted key.
Well, project folders can easily reach several Gigs here, working files and deleted files, backups best done locally, also my main DAW is not on the Internet, and I have no intention of connecting it to the Internet either.
It might be slow, but over time it works very well. Although files have to be uploaded in their entirety, i.e. each time you save a small change, which for big files is not workable, it can be used at the end of the day without worrying USB, or external hard drives.
The internet does not cause any problems simply by being on the same system and in fact the reverse can often be true; particularly if updates are not able to be maintained, however there are various tools available that can identify whether or not updates and patches are needed but would be cumbersome to use unless a script can be created to download the executables and run one by one.
I’ve always had my DAW “on the net” right from Vista, and yes I’ve had many situations that could we say, have wasted time but stability of the OS is ongoing and now with Windows 7 I have barely any problems.
In saying that not all updates are necessary merely to run a DAW but if you have other things like a word processor and so on, it’s essential to keep the system updated and clean.
I am really only using it at this time as a live backup mechanism, nothing more but the problem with it is, no matter how small the change; a complete new file is uploaded which is ok for small files but would not be good for larger ones.
The cloud parse is meant to download an entire desktop, with all settings fresh each time and I would go for this if MS offered it but considering how Office 2013 and Skydrive work together, I’m not as keen as I first was and I wonder if all the problems of one hand not knowing what the other is doing are sorted out before the next office launch.
I use a cloud service.
I have a dedicated backup PC to which I copy my projects. That backup PC, which is connected to the cloud, takes the load off my music station.
In case I lose a song or the cloud, there’s always the latest local backup available.
Music Station → Backup PC → Cloud backup (with increments). I also copy the Backup PC files to external HD once in a whle.
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