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5 reasons why online backup services are superior to offline home storage solutions
Posted by Joe on April 23rd, 2008
We have previously discussed the many core benefits of online backup services and provide an extensive comparison of the leading online backup services on our site. But, we have never covered the many reasons that online backup services are superior to the various offline options that are available for consumers.
That is, until now! Below is our list of five important reasons that online backup services are superior to offline home storage. To learn more about online backup services please visit our online backup service comparison guide.
1) Online backup services are value priced
Online backup services like Mozy and Carbonite offer unlimited storage for a low monthly or annual fee. This means that the more data the store the cheaper these services cost per giga bite. For example, if you store 50 giga bites of data on the Mozy online backup service which costs $4.95 per month, then you are paying about $0.10 per giga bite. However, as the amount of data you store increases your costs actually decrease; 100 giga bites of storage would cost about $0.05 per giga bite. With offline home storage, which requires external hard drives to store your data, have recurring costs that are always fixed. If you need more storage you have to buy a bigger drive. Additionally, external hard drives do not last forever (see point four below) which means you will have even more costs when you need to replace old drives.
2) Online backup services scale to meet your needs
Whether your are looking to store a few MP3s and digital photos or you want to store hundreds of gigabits worth of information, online backup services will fit your needs. Unlike offline storage solutions, online backup services offer unlimited amounts of storage on demand. As mentioned in point one above, both Mozy and Carbonite offer unlimited storage for a fixed fee. This means that you don't have to wrangle with the decision of how much storage you need in your laptop or external hard drive. Online backup services will grow with you.
3) Online backup services offer a higher level of security
With online backup services your files are stored in facilities that leverage the best practices in data security. For example, Carbonite utilizes the same intensive security measures that major financial institutions use to store account information. Offline storage options, on the other hand, are only as secure as you make them. For example, if you use an external hard drive to backup your data and that drive is lost or stolen, all the information you have stored there is in jeopardy.
4) Online backup services have a longer shelf life
A recent Google study found that about 8% of all hard drives will fail within the first two years of service. This means that one in every twelve hard drives, including internal and external drives, will fail in as little as 24 months from when they are put to use. We don't like those odds when it comes to storing your important files and documents. Online backup is superior because the service providers themselves manage the hardware and have advanced contingency plans for any issues that may arise. In most cases, online backup service providers securely store multiple copies of the files that you upload to their service which nearly eliminates the likelihood that you will lose any of your backed-up data.
5) Online backup services are more environmentally friendly
As we discussed in our Earth Day post, online backup services are much more environmentally friendly than the hardware based alternatives because they cut down on the number of home storage devices that have to be produced and shipped all over the globe. The folks at Carbonite also pointed out that online backup services eliminate the need for storing information on other media such as CDs or reams of paper which are much more damaging to the environment.
Visit our online backup service reviews and comparison to learn more.
- Entrepreneur Magazine calls Carbonite an "essential" for any new business
- NextAdvisor launches new detailed online backup service FAQs
- Is online data storage the secret to eliminating many data breaches?
- Users report bugs on Apple's backup solution
- Google "G Drive" online backup service rumored to be launching soon
9 Responses to “5 reasons why online backup services are superior to offline home storage solutions”
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April 24th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Great post – my suggestion is that you include a few more services in your review.
ElephantDrive (http://www.ElephantDrive.com) and iDrive (http://www.idrive.com). I've used both. Ended up sticking with ElephantDrive – a little more expensive if you're using only one PC, but if you've got two or more machines in your house it is a better deal.
April 29th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
[...] Portuguese speakers should realize the many unique benefits of online backup services that major corporations and consumers across the globe have already discovered. To learn more about online backup services like Carbonite please visit our online backup service provider reviews and comparison. Please share this post: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
May 1st, 2008 at 8:48 am
Hi Arvin- thanks for stopping by and for the feedback. We will definitely take a look at the online backup services that you mentioned above.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:30 am
[...] We have previously written about the many benefits of online file storage for backing up important files on your computer. We are now starting to wonder whether or not online file storage could be a major step that consumers and corporations could take to prevent the impact of data breaches involving the loss of laptops or other offline file storage devices. [...]
May 8th, 2008 at 11:10 am
[...] We have written extensively on the benefits of using an online backup service to secure your important files like music, videos or documents. It is great to see new services like Elephant drive entering the space as this will ultimately mean more innovation and more value created for consumers. [...]
May 14th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Joe: your point about online backup services being much more environmentally friendly is a strong one and often not mentioned. We use Storage Guardian (http://www.storageguardian.com) because it gives us bare metal restores – whereas many do not. As hard drives do fail bare metal restores is important to us. We can swap out a drive and get it running fast.
May 30th, 2008 at 6:39 am
online backup as a system is now accepted universally as the best possible data backup system. The variables to consider now pertain not to how you backup but which provider you use. Ideally you want to have an account manager with a direct dial number. This may sound unnecessary and may be untill you have a data outage. You wont want to do your first restore on your own and particularly not if it is from a major data outage environment. So, phone your prospective suppliers. If you cant get personal when you are buying, you have little chance when seeking support.
John
htpp://www.backupanytime.com/blog
June 25th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
[...] Mac users looking for a time machine alternative should investigate Mozy, an online backup service that received our highest five star rating in our recent comparison of online backup services. Unlike Time Machine or other backup services that depend on external hard drives for storage, Mozy stores all of their user's backed up files remotely. We prefer this solution since online backups solve many of the potential issues caused by offline storage. [...]
July 16th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
[...] storage is just one of the key that we have benefits of online backup that we have previously covered. You can learn more about online backup by visiting our guide to [...]