[patmcc]

Tarsnap isn't intended to be used as one-time backup like that, and it's super expensive if used that way. It's very cheap when used to backup (almost) the same 4GB for 1000 days in a row, which is what a lot of people/businesses need for their backup solutions.

[lucb1e]

It's not one time, I'd be incrementally writing updates to the disks. With a raspberry pi or something, the power costs are near negligible.

[stephenr]

Rough estimate here:

If you upload 4tb in a year, that's 333.33gb/month

So for tarsnap that equals

- $1k/year in data transfer charges (4000gb * $0.25 transfer charge * 12 months)

- $83/month per month of data (333gb * $0.25 storage cost/month)

- $6.4k/year for the first year ($83 * 78 cumulative months in a year)

So $7.4k for 12 months resulting in 4tb

If usage stays the same each year will add $12k to the incremental yearly cost

[lucb1e]

> that's 333.33gb/month

I have 4TB of data, which changes an unknown amount (probably around 20-50GB per month) and grows slightly (probably 5-15GB per month).

In any case, thanks for the calculation. Tarsnap is apparently not for the common person who wants to back up everything including their media.

[stephenr]

That actually works out worse - $14K for the first year, $13K for the second year.