Dropbox is sync, not backup
Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive sync files between devices. That is useful, and it is not backup. The difference shows up when something goes wrong.
We have been opening failed drives since 2012 and seeing what people thought was backed up.
What sync does when things go wrong
Sync has one job: keeping the same files on every device. It does that job well, including when the files have been ruined.
A deleted file is deleted everywhere
You delete a file on the laptop and it disappears from the cloud and every other device in the same second. Sync does not ask whether you meant it.
Ransomware syncs upward
When ransomware encrypts the files on a machine, sync reads that as an ordinary change and uploads the encrypted versions.
Version history does not reach far
Sync services keep older versions for a limited time and one file at a time. Putting forty thousand files back to Tuesday is a different job.
None of this makes those services useless. They do keep version history, and Dropbox also sells a real backup product. Sync and backup simply do not solve the same problem.
Sync and backup, side by side
| Aspect | Sync | Secure backup |
|---|---|---|
| The goal | The same files on every device | Being able to get the data back |
| When a file is deleted | It disappears everywhere | It stays in the backup |
| When the machine is encrypted | The encrypted files go up | A clean copy from before the attack |
| Going back in time | One file at a time, for a limited period | The whole system on a chosen day |
| If backup fails | Nobody tells you | An alert the same day |
What is cloud backup?
Cloud backup means the copy lives somewhere other than the original, with a provider who looks after the disks. It covers what a local copy does not: fire, theft and an attack that reaches the whole local network.
- The copy is independent of the machine it came from
- Data is encrypted before it leaves
- Hosted within the EEA, by an Icelandic company
The 3-2-1 rule
Three copies of the data, on two different media, one of them off site. The rule is old and it still holds. Cloud backup is the simplest way to satisfy the third part.
Which backup applies?
It depends on where the data lives.
Questions about secure backup
No. Dropbox syncs files between devices, which means a change in one place reaches all the others immediately. If a file is deleted or encrypted, that change goes up to the cloud like any other. Dropbox keeps older versions for a limited time, which helps with a single file, but it does not replace a backup you can restore whole.
Sync keeps the same files on every device. Backup keeps a copy that does not change when the original does. The test is simple: if a mistake on one machine can destroy the copy, it is sync.
Three copies of the data, on two different media, one of them kept off site. The rule exists so that a single event, whether a disk failure, a fire or ransomware, cannot take every copy at once.
Backup where the copy is held by a provider off site rather than on a disk next to the machine. That protects the data against fire, theft and an attack that reaches the whole local network.
Not on its own. Microsoft is responsible for keeping the service running; you are responsible for the data itself. That is written into the Microsoft terms, and it is why we back up Microsoft 365 separately.
Within the EEA. It is encrypted before it leaves, stays encrypted at rest, and is not moved outside the area.
Want to know whether the data is really backed up?
Send us a line. We will go through what is backed up today, what is not, and what it would take.
Call 571-9300