Back-up services: recommendations, please

[rolanni]

The external hard-drive to which I have been backing up my desktop computer has died the True Death. Can someone recommend an online backup service that is (not necessarily in the order listed):

1. Easy to Use
2. Reliable
3. Affordable
4. Accessible

Abundant Spanish Aunts.

Comments

Carbonite

[(Anonymous)]

49.99 per year. Works great.

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

I don't have any personal experience, but Lifehacker has a run down of various options: http://lifehacker.com/tag/online-storage/

[grassrose.livejournal.com]

Lots of folks recommend Carbonite (http://www.carbonite.com) and Mozy (http://mozy.com/pro), and I've looked at Elephantdrive (http://www.elephantdrive.com), and it seems pretty solid. However, in looking at it just now, Firefox couldn't find the server... talk about bad timing! :o)

You have to compare by the features you need. For example, how many versions do you want it to save? For how long? Do you need ready access to any individual file at all times, or can some stuff be archived?

Some links:

http://readerszone.com/guide/guide-to-choosing-online-data-backup-service.html

http://www.onlinebackupreviews.com/

http://www.onlinebackupservices.info/?m=200901 (it looks like the links are click-through, not direct, so I didn't click any of them)

http://www.gadgetadvisor.com/tech-news/evaluating-online-backup-services (lots of good discussion, here)

~ Rosanne

Top 25 Online Backup Companies

[(Anonymous)]

Here are the best recommended 25 top online backup companies:

http://www.backupreview.info/2009/01/01/top-25-for-january-2009/

[manywaters.livejournal.com]

I'm quite happy with mozy.

[chickwriter.livejournal.com]

I second the Mozy.com rec. I did a ton of research about them before I spent any money and got loads of recs. (I'm a Web geek in my day job life).

I've used them for 1+ years and have been very satisfied.

There is a trial version available for free, and the paid version (unlimited storage) is VERY reasonably priced for home use.

I backup my books-in-progress to 2 external hard drives and to Mozy. (Uhm, I may be a wee bit paranoid...) ::g::

Good luck!
Maria Lima

[(Anonymous)]

I didn't like Mozy but find Carbonite extremely easy to use and very reliable. $50 per computer per year and they can all be on the same account.

After the first couple of days when it is completing its first backup it runs seamlessly in the background. The file types and folders to back up or not back up are customisable.

Jungle DIsk Uber Alles

[(Anonymous)]

Seriously, Jungle Disk works really well, and your bill comes in the form of Amazon storage charges. We back up like 60 gigsof pictures and docs for around 6 bucks a month.

jungledisk.com

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Strong recommendation: Dropbox (http://www.getdropbox.com/).

Reasons:

1. 2Gb storage is free -- lets you try it out.

2. Cross-platform -- clients to integrate it seamlessly into Windows, Mac OS/X, and Linux. There's also a web interface; you can get at your files from anywhere on the net as long as you can remember the URL and your username and password.

3. It shows up as a shared folder on whatever OS you're using. In other words, it's not just a backup system -- it's accessible storage you can organize for yourself and do other things with.

4. The storage engine under Dropbox is based on Amazon's S3 cloud. When was the last time you heard of Amazon falling off the net?

5. When you edit or update a file in your Dropbox folder, only the changes you made are uploaded. (Saves bandwidth.)

6. Sharing: you can designated folders or documents as sharable with either other Dropbox users or groups of users, or with the general public. (As noted: the basic account is free. So if you wanted hypothetically to publish a book to folks in return for a fee, you can manage it by taking money via paypal and giving them access credentials to a shared sub-folder.)

7. 50Gb of storage is $9.99 a month of $99 a year.

[katmoonshaker.livejournal.com]

We use Dropbox at work and it seems to function very well.

[grassrose.livejournal.com]

JungleDisk, ElephantDrive and (it appears) Dropbox ALL use Amazon's "S3 cloud."

Carbonite and Mozy don't.

...if that matters to you :o)

Backups

[(Anonymous)]

Maybe I shouldn't comment at all. I'm not really familiar with any of what's been mentioned so far since we've always kept our back-ups inhouse. 2 slightly paranoid admin sysops and 5 systems on a LAN. My primary system has a 160g external hard drive attached to a USB ports for on-demand off-line storage and a 190g internal drive of which less than 35g is actually currently in use, while my external drive has only 90g on it. Also, one of the 5 other systems on the LAN is a server and has more than adequate storage capacity for me to archive certain portions of my website, the rest of which takes up less than 3m of my internet provider's server.

Whatever you choose, I hope it meets your listed requirements.

Eta

Dead External Hard Drive

[(Anonymous)]

Burton from Montreal

I wonder if your external hard is truly dead. If your external hard drive is an enclosure with a user supply hard drive instead of a name brand sealed unit. You could just move the hard drive to a new enclosure. Quite often the external hard drive power supply or power cord fails with the hard drive data intact.

Backups - belt and suspenders kind of person

[(Anonymous)]

The last post regarding putting the hard drive in another enclosure is a really good idea. The enclosures are pretty cheap and come in handy even if the hard drive really is dead.

Other thing is that I would recommend doing both. Buy a new USB hard drive and do local backups. Sign up for one of the remote services recommended in the previous posts. Do your backups at home and also have the backup off site.

Re: offsite make more sense now

[(Anonymous)]

House was burgled a while back. Lost some data, they took the backup, too. Belatedly looked into offsite backups. If that kinda thinking makes a difference to you.