Data loss can be heartbreaking enough when your personal photos, videos, and music make up the data in question. But if you've got a small business, the potential damage may be even more devastating: 70 percent of small firms that experience a major data loss go out of business within a year, according to a recent study by HP.
Simpler, More Reliable
Online backup services make this safeguarding your data easier and more reliable. Since the files are stored on remote, redundant servers, your lost laptop or crashed hard drive is covered, and if a disaster strikes your premises, your backup won't rely on physical discs. And these services all automate the actual back up procedure, so you don't have to remember to plug in your external drive or load a blank DVD and hit "Start backup." As long as you've got an Internet connection, the services can automatically grab changed files up to their secure servers while your PC is idle.
Common pricing for online backup runs at about $55 a year for unlimited storage for one PC. Some services let you back up as many PCs as you want in an account, but charge you for storage space in 25GB increments.
What To Look For
When evaluating online backup services, I look for ease and flexibility of setting up your backup jobs, along with a secure and simple restore procedure. Plusses include the ability to back up network and external drives, to save multiple versions of backed up files, to watch and immediately upload changed files, and to add files to the backup set from within Windows Explorer. My Editors' Choice, SOS Online Backup, has led the way in offering all of this.
This roundup highlights some of the less-popular options, some of which are nonetheless worth consideration. Since the last big roundup of backup services, I've revisited IDrive and Norton Online Backup, both of which came out unflatteringly in previous reviews. I'm happy to report that all have made great strides. A couple desirable features that distinguish both are their ability to handle multiple PCs within a single account and to backup up removable and network disks.
Recently rebranded as KineticD, Data Deposit Box is another smaller player that wasn't reviewed in time for our last roundup. The service offers simple and powerful backup features, including multiple PC coverage in one account, versioning, and live protection. But it trailed other services a bit when it came to restoring data and couldn't back up network drives.
Market leader Mozy also was due for another look, and the service MozyHome 2.0 got a shiny new, improved interface that makes the process of choose what file to back up and when much simpler. It also adds a local backup option, which means you can restore a lot faster than over the internet if you choose both online and local targets. And it saves 30 days worth of your file versions, but it still lacks the multiple PC and external drive capabilities.
The online portion of Nero's BackItUp & Burn also offers both local and online backup, but could still use some smoothing out. The service now also comes as part of the company's excellent media suite, so you might like it if you like getting all your tools as a bundle.
Our Next Reviews
Our longstanding Editors' Choice, SOS Online Backup, also supports multiple machines in the base account along with offering the most options in the best designed interface. But SOS will be coming out with a new version in Summer 2010. A company representatives tells me the new version will expand on the mobile, media, sharing, and management features it released in late 2009 and have revised pricing.
Another market leader, Carbonite, is also being updated, with a target of this fall. That update will include a new Restore Manager that makes getting files back even easier, the company tells me.
Look for new reviews of Carbonite, SOS, and others in the coming months, along with a more in-depth guide to online backup. In the meanwhile, here are a handful of choice that can help you get your data backed up, the simplest, most reliable way—the online way.
