When using a good PPTP-VPN service your data should be encrypted, it should allow you to bypass ISP firewalls and logs and hide your IP address. The VPN connection is good not only to protect your anonymity but also may help you connect via VOIP where it is blocked to use services such as Skype.

Image by Digital Inspiration

This backup tool has the regular features of selecting source directories and target location but it does have a few advanced features:

• you can upload files larger than 5GB
• failed uploads may be resumed
• your data may be encrypted
• there is support for file versioning
• you may specify file filters for backups
• you may skip hidden or system files
• you may compress files
• there is support for RRS
• local deleted files may be kept for a defined period on the backup
• online access to the files
• differential backup

If you use the ‘Advance Mode‘ you will enjoy the full range of features but the file structure of the backup set will not resemble the local copy. I’m a simple guy and prefer the ‘Simple Mode‘ so the backup set, on the S3 bucket, looks exactly like the local structure and I can access it with any tool I want (like S3 Fox).

All and all the tool works great and very simple to install and use. It is intuitive. On my wish list I would include only a few additions:

• A tool to compare the local copy with the backup set like the one in S3 Explorer.
• A tool to estimate backup costs (already planned).
• Backup option to Google storage (still in invite stage).

To help people get started with the Amazon services, Amazon just announceda free usage tier for new users which includes 5GB of S3 storage space for one year – great deal and a great opportunity to get started with backups to the cloud.

WP-DB-Backup allows you easily to backup your core WordPress database tables. You may also backup other tables in the same database. By default, the plugin backs up the core tables from a predefined list hard coded in the plugin file. Other tables may be added to the list manually.

The plugin’s last version, 2.2.2, came out just after WordPress version 2.7. However, in WordPress version 2.9 a new commentmeta core table was added. This new table is not in the plugin’s list of tables so, by default, it is not being backed up and a manual selection is needed.

If you are using this plugin make sure you select the commentmeta table or you might face a problem when in need for a backup restore.

A problem I have encountered from day one when using Amazon S3 was the lack of a simple way to manage files and directories (called buckets on S3). To the rescue came S3Fox Organizer which is “A Front-end tool for Amazon S3 with a nifty GUI Interface” built as a FireFox Addon. S3Fox is really great. It allows you to do all your basic tasks on S3: upload, download, sync, create buckets, manage permissions, create time limited URLs and all for free! However, if you are a heavy user and need some more advanced features, sooner or later you will start looking for a different solution.

While searching for new options I found S3 Explorer by CloudBerry Lab which is a Windows desktop client for Amazon S3. The S3 Explorer Freeware version offers a large set of nice options such as:

• copy and move objects in your account (no S3 fees in the same zone)

copy and move objects in your account

• copy objects between your S3 accounts (no S3 fees within the same zone)
• generate web URLs using CNAME records (i.e. pictures.mydomain.com)

generate web URLs using CNAME records

• generate web URLs that expires in a specific time
• sync folders between different locations (local machine and S3)

• setting for Cloudfront Streaming so you can stream your media directly from S3
• master password for the software
• control of permissions inheritance

• create and manage policies

 

Additional features in the pro version:

• versioning (Amazon just announced that versioning is supported in all zones)

versioning

• ftp support (needs direct transfers from ftp to S3)
• schedule updating the ACLs
• compress files before upload (GZIP) to reduce storage and transfer expenses.
• encrypt files before upload
• overcome S3’s 5GB file size limit by splitting large files (‘chunking’).

compress, encrypt and split large files

With a rich set of features the overall experience of S3 Explorer is very good. I would be happy to see just a few things:

• portable version
• resume failed uploads (not supported by Amazon S3)
• copy files directly from ftp to S3 (not using the  local computer).
• while the pricing of the pro version is reasonable I would prefer a different licensing scheme. The registration fee of 39.99$ is for one installation with one year of support. A better scheme would be a longer term for free updates and the option to install the program on at least two machines (desktop and laptop)

Another interesting program from CloudBerry lab that I want to test is CloudBerry Online Backup to Amazon S3. For a long time I have been using Handy Backup but it lacks backups to the cloud. Stay tuned.