When it comes to backing up data, you’d think I had it all taken care of. I have two external hard drives connected to my workstation, and I’m supposed to sync the files on these drives every day, so I have two backups- but I don’t, of course. I save everything on one drive, foolishly confident that the latter won’t freeze up and die on me all of a sudden.
Which it did. Two days ago. Right before my eyes, folders on the drive were disappearing. And I lost everything on it.
It wasn’t all bad, of course- I still had the data on the other drive, but it was about a month old. Everything since then- photos, videos, PSDs, music files- was gone.
Since then, I’ve been researching various online backup solutions, and that’s what I want to post about today. Here are the best of what I’ve found:
Mozy.
Their MozyHome solution costs $4.95 a month for one computer with unlimited backup. They also offer a 2GB account for free, no strings attached- perfect if you need to backup only a couple of important files, not your entire system. A Google search on Mozy will bring up a lot of good and bad user reviews, but for something simple and very affordable, it’s definitely one to look at.
Dropbox.
This one’s probably got the best interface, IMHO. Dropbox works sort of like Mac’s iDisk- it shows up as a disk on your desktop- but it’s really more of online storage space rather than a full-on backup service. If that’s all you need, this might just be the best choice. Check out their screencast for details on exactly how it works. You can get a free account that includes 2GB, or upgrade to 50GB for $9.99 a month.
Backblaze.
Backblaze is one of the newer services. I actually did try it out a few months ago, but although I was impressed by its ease of use (set it and forget it), I didn’t like that I couldn’t choose exactly what was going to be backed up (only what was excluded). I’m a bit of a control freak, though, so if you want something fuss-free that’ll back your data up while you carry on with your life, do look at Backblaze. It’s $5 a month per computer for unlimited storage, and they have a free trial for Intel Macs.
Google Storage.
The three solutions I’ve mentioned above are all traditional backup and storage services, but given that all my email is forwarded to my Gmail account anyway, and with the announcement of Chrome OS, I have to consider the option of storing my data with Google. I am currently using about 3 gigs of my alloted 7.95 gigs at Gmail, and it turns out I can purchase additional storage from Google, starting at 10GB for $20 a year.
Do you use any online backup solutions? What services do you recommend?
