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In previous installments, we've talked about the features we want in a Cloud Back-up service; this time we're going to try SpiderOak to see how it measures up. According to the marketing puff on www.spideroak.com: “SpiderOak provides an easy, secure, and consolidated free online backup, sync, sharing, access and storage solution for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora & openSUSE)” Remember this is a hosted service with its own client software - built around a particular security and cross-platform model. You don't get a choice of storage locations or hosts. You can try SpiderOak yourself on the SpiderOak 2GB Free plan, which offers 2GB of on-line storage free for life. This is probably enough to trial the service, and maybe store some essentials such as your unfinished novel and In-box. The next step is a SpiderOak Plus Account that goes from 100GB up to whatever you can afford. The price is $10 per month per 100GB increment, or pay yearly and get the 100GB increment for $100. Be aware that tipping over 100.1GB is still the whole $20 a month. I won't address performance other than to say that SpiderOak software and remote storage runs respectably up and down a domestic broadband connection for both backup and restore. That said, I am not using it to backup an entire hard drive, only selected folders.
Dans les précédents articles, nous avons parlé des fonctionnalités que nous voulons dans un service de sauvegarde dans le nuage ; cette fois nous allons essayer SpiderOak pour voir s'il est à la hauteur. Selon la page publicitaire sur www.spideroak.com :
« SpiderOak fournit une solution en ligne gratuite, simple, sûre et robuste de sauvegarde, de synchronisation, de partage, d'accès et de stockage pour Windows, Mac OS X, et Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora et openSUSE) ».
Rappelez-vous que c'est un service hébergé avec son propre logiciel client, construit autour d'un modèle sécurisé et multi-plateformes particulier. Vous n'avez pas le choix des emplacements de stockage ou des hôtes.
Vous pouvez essayer vous-même SpiderOak avec le plan 2 Go gratuit, qui offre 2 Go de stockage en ligne gratuit pour la vie. C'est probablement suffisant pour essayer notre service, et peut-être stocker certains éléments essentiels tels que votre roman inachevé et votre boite de réception 
: est-ce bien ça In-Box ?. L'étape suivante est un compte SpiderOak Plus qui va de 100 Go jusqu'à tout ce que vous pouvez vous permettre. Le prix est de 10$ par mois et par incrément de 100 Go, ou un paiement annuel de 100$ pour obtenir une augmentation de 100 Go. Soyez conscient du fait que le basculement à 100,1 Go vaut toujours la totalité des 20$ par mois. Je ne vais pas parler de performance sauf pour dire que le logiciel SpiderOak et le stockage à distance fonctionnent honorablement dans les deux sens avec une connexion haut débit domestique pour la sauvegarde et la restauration. Cela dit, je ne l'utilise pas pour sauvegarder un disque dur entier, seulement des dossiers choisis.
Software You can install the SpiderOak client on as many computers as you like and you can be completely cross-platform. Setting the password for encryption is built into the installer, which is a rapid, guided process. SpiderOak takes data security very seriously; data is encrypted and transmitted over a secure connection, a layered approach using a combination of 2048-byte RSA and 256-bit AES which encrypts the file and folder names, so even SpiderOak employees can't tell what you have backed up. Of course, if you forget your password, nobody can access your data. A quirk of SpiderOak's security is that any files you backup on one machine are visible on any other machine that uses the same account (with the same SpiderOak account password). Perhaps consider one SpiderOak account for your personal files, with another account for your family computers, thus avoiding any embarrassment. Decide for yourself whether the SpiderOak software looks fashionably 'retro' or just a bit clunky. There is a lot going on - with tabs and, in effect, sub-tabs grouping functions together.
Le logiciel
Vous pouvez installer le client SpiderOak sur autant d'ordinateurs que vous le souhaitez et vous pouvez être complètement multi-plateforme. Le mot de passe pour le chiffrement est intégré dans le programme d'installation, qui est un processus rapide et guidé.
SpiderOak prend la sécurité des données très au sérieux, les données sont cryptées et transmises via une connexion sécurisée, une approche multi-couches qui utilise une combinaison de RSA 2048-octets et AES 256-bits qui crypte les noms des fichiers et des dossiers, de sorte que même les employés de SpiderOak ne peux pas dire ce que vous avez sauvegardé. Bien sûr, si vous oubliez votre mot de passe, personne ne peut accéder à vos données. Une bizarrerie de la sécurité SpiderOak est que tous les fichiers que vous sauvegardez depuis une machine sont visibles sur toute autre machine qui utilise le même compte (avec le même mot de passe SpiderOak). Envisagez peut-être un compte SpiderOak pour vos dossiers personnels, et un autre compte pour les ordinateurs de la famille, évitant ainsi d'éventuels problèmes.
Décidez vous-même si le logiciel SpiderOak est à la mode « rétro » ou s'il est juste pas très pratique. Il contient beaucoup de choses - avec des onglets et même des sous-onglets regroupant ensemble certaines fonctions.
The Status tab provides plenty of information regarding connection, backups, sync and shares, and your current queue. The Back Up tab is just a place for you to specify what files you would like to include in a backup. Each category on the selection list corresponds to a folder on your computer - even 'Desktop'. The bottom bar gauges how much of your cloud storage allocation your selection will occupy, color-coded by folder, so you can see what takes most space.
The View tab is the heart of defining what is selected for back-up down to the file level, along with the version history.
The Schedule tab provides a simple one-stop control for Backup Sync and Share - either to a frequency or to a specific day and hour.
Version Master
SpiderOak understands version control. Your first backup set is a full set; for subsequent backups of the same defined set, only the incremental changes of the backup set are transmitted, so it won't massively compromise your storage limit to hold several versions of files. If you do breach your limit, you can manually delete old versions. SpiderOak provides version history with no time limit, so if you alter or delete a file you can 'roll back' to an earlier version, even after months or years. However, don't confuse backup with file-sharing. SpiderOak is like most of the syncing services in that changes are synchronized instantly and in real-time, so that any accidental change you make while on-line will automatically sync to the server.
Merge and Sync
The merge function is where SpiderOak scores for ease of use and utility.
Merge does a one-time merge of all the files in any folders on your SpiderOak network. You choose the source folders, followed by a destination folder into which the software should merge them. SpiderOak will work out what's the most recent data of the two sources, and output a list for your review before it carries out the merge. This is nothing radically original so much as an effective packaging of what we used to call diff-scripts with Cloud communications, all wrapped in an effective user interface.
The Sync page is where you set which folders remain synced between your computers, where any number of tools across PC, Mac, and mobile carry out this kind of operation reliably these days; it just happens that SpiderOak is that bit prettier
Share
It's a much-abused word, these days; 'share'. Not only does SpiderOak run across multiple computers, its public sharing service is implemented though “Share Rooms”. These are virtual folders which are password-protected, and through which you can share your data with anyone you like. A change made to a defined synchronization set on any computer running SpiderOak automatically triggers those changes to be published to the share room. Access to the ShareRoom is in one of two ways:
• by entering your ShareID and unique RoomKey on the SpiderOak homepage using the 'Share Login', or • by emailing out the Shareroom link to guests.
SpiderOak creates an on-line photo album when sharing photos. Like Dropbox's public links, it works fine for posting a few selected images, but it's no substitute for the full range of gallery tools in services like Picasa and Photobucket.
As well as the dedicated clients for Linux, Mac, Windows, and Android, there's a browser-based SpiderOak web-application. You can't upload files from the browser, but you can download any file or whole folder as a zip file, which is saved in your Downloads folder, with a date-time stamp appended to the file-name, giving you much-needed version control information.
Conclusion
Place your bets on whether SpiderOak will be around as an independent service under its current name in a few months. It's an effective service, with a feature-rich client, from a small company - just the thing that bigger companies buy up. Balancing features against simplicity, it does cater for most things you need in a Cloud back-up.
Have a look at the questionaire for next month's 'I Think' for a chance to win one of five 100GB SpiderOak storage packs!