One of the biggest roadblocks to online backups is the initial backup. Uploading gigs of data can take days, if not weeks! However, once the initial backup set is complete, the incremental backups typically take just minutes.
How long is your initial backup going to take? Just ask Wolfram|Alpha. Enter how much data you need to backup (ex: 35 GB), your data rate (check your rate at speedtest.net – I get 4.97 Mb/s) and Wolfram|Alpha will tell you how long the initial backup should take (assuming you’re getting full upload speed the entire time). In my case, it’s
56 338 seconds
0.6521 days
15.65 hours
939 minutes
You could figure this out yourself, but why bother, when Wolfram|Alpha makes this tool available to you?
Tags: Wolfram|Alpha
[...] The initial backup is the first backup you perform, where you make a copy of all of the data in the backup set. This is typically done while the computer isn’t in use, such as overnight. Backing up to a high-speed USB drive will take a couple of hours. Backing up to an online service will take days or weeks (figure out how long it will take you to perform your initial backup). [...]