Online Backup Service Reviews

CARBONITE REVIEW:Go to Site | Back to Top

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Carbonite is an excellent service that should really appeal to the home user that is looking for an online backup service that they can configure once and forget about. It is the best pure online backup service we have reviewed because it requires very little, if any, ongoing maintenance. Subscribers simply need to install the software on their PC or Mac and walk through the basic configuration wizard. From that point on, Carbonite will run quietly in the background backing up all your important files. If any backed up files are lost, such as in the case of hard drive failure, then Carbonite subscribers can quickly and easily recover them from any computer in a few simple steps. Carbonite now offers Remote File Access, so you can access any single file from any computer that has web access. This is great if you're on vacation or a business trip and suddenly need access to your documents. Additionally, at just under $4.00 per month with their one-year plan and even deeper discounts if you choose the two-year plan, Carbonite is among the most affordable solutions for backing up your important computer files. Because of its price and functionality, we strongly recommend the Carbonite online backup service.

MOZY REVIEW:Go to Site | Back to Top

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Mozy is an excellent online backup service, with free use of 2GB of storage and the ability to access those files from any computer. If 2GB isn't enough space, Mozy offers unlimited storage for one low monthly price. Additionally, Mozy offers extra discounts for annual subscribers with one month of free service on the single-year plan, and three months of free service on the multi-year plan. Like Carbonite, Mozy offers more than just backup; you can use its web interface as a virtual hard drive to access your files even if you're on a different computer. At one point, Mozy was the only online backup service we had reviewed that provided support for Mac users. Now that ElephantDrive and Carbonite have launched Mac versions, that is no longer the case. However, Mozy recently took its Mac service out of beta, which means that it is now just as stable and effective as their PC service. Mozy was recently acquired by EMC, a large Fortune 500 corporation that provides industrial size storage services to other large corporations. From our perspective, if the storage services offered by Mozy and EMC are good enough to store large amounts of sensitive business data, they are definitely good enough to store the important files and documents of home users. The EMC acquisition also helps ensure that Mozy will be around for a very long time since they now have the backing of a multi-billion dollar corporation. Overall, we would highly recommend Mozy to most consumers looking for a file backup solution.

SUGARSYNC REVIEW:Go to Site | Back to Top

SugarSync is the Swiss army knife of online file storage, and while it's more expensive per-gigabyte than the unlimited storage options offered by Mozy or Carbonite, its versatility can't be matched by either.

Setup is easy: you download the file synchronization manager onto your Mac or PC (or both). After specifying which folders you want to back-up, SugarSync takes care of the rest, automating incremental backups of previously synced documents and newly created ones. Like Mozy and Carbonite, SugarSync gives you web-based access to your backed-up files. SugarSync goes the extra mile by incorporating Facebook photo sharing, multiple computer syncing, and music streaming. It's a great way to not only back up a single computer, but to keep a number of computers synced, whether in they're in the same house or in remote locations. It also doesn't matter if they're Macs or PCs; a single license gets you downloads for both. The synchronization manager is well-designed as is the web interface. There are also free Blackberry, Android, Windows Mobile, and iPhone apps to keep your data truly mobile. The iPhone app is really something, allowing you to stream your remotely stored music, view your documents, and upload your photos right to your SugarSync account (and hence your Mac or PC).

Despite our high praise for the service, two things should be noted about SugarSync. One is that the default backup settings are not nearly as extensive as other online backup services; you will need to manually select non-document folders such as those that contain your system preferences. The second thing to note is that SugarSync cannot back up your Outlook messages or Firefox favorites.

The 30GB of storage included with the base $4.95 plan may be too little space for some users. You may find yourself needing to upgrade to a larger capacity plan if you're a serious shutterbug or music fan; these run between 60GB and 250 GB, and range from $9.95 to $24.95 per month respectively. Yearly agreements cut the costs down significantly, essentially giving you two months free. A 30-day free trial will give you time to evaluate whether or not it's worth it. We think that it is; it's rare that we come across a program that does so much more than we expect.

IDRIVE ONLINE BACKUP REVIEW:Go to Site | Back to Top

IDrive is a good, no-frills backup solution for Macs and PCs which fulfills expectations, but doesn't go much beyond. Perhaps it's unfair to expect the service to wow us; after all, the purpose of online backup is to keep your data safe and secure in case of a hard drive crash. There's no question that it does the job; by default IDrive keeps you informed of all its actions. And it's pretty smart about them too, optimizing bandwidth usage based on your level of online activity (this is probably why our initial backup of 8GB took over five hours).

IDrive backs up your important data: preferences, photos, documents, music. Those are just the defaults, however. You can have it back up anything, including your applications. In fact, IDrive is full of options. If other programs have left you wanting more control over your backups, IDrive might be a good alternative for you.

The PC version has a couple of options the Mac version doesn't. If you choose, you can use your own personal encryption key for added security. It also adds the option of using the IDrive Explorer, which maps IDrive into your system just as if it were an external hard drive.

Like many other online backup services, you'll have access to your data anywhere you can connect to the web. Sadly the web interface is clunky, and it can take a while to navigate to your file if it's buried down in your file structure. We were also disappointed at the lack of access through dedicated smartphone apps. Though we could access the site through our iPhone's web browser, we could not do anything with the files.

Unfortunately there's also no support for sharing files or public storage areas. One useful aspect of many other backup services is the ability to set permissions for folder access, or send one-time access permissions to a friend or colleague. If this is an important feature for you, you'll want to look elsewhere.

For pure online backup, IDrive is a solid option. $4.95 per month gets you 150GB of space. While some other online backup providers offer unlimited data storage, IDrive does allow you to keep two computers backed up, as long as they fall within the 150GB limit. You can try out the service with their offer of 2GB of free storage that you can use for as long as you want.

NORTON ONLINE BACKUP REVIEW:Go to Site | Back to Top

Norton got into the online backup game when it bought SwapDrive back in June of 2008. Norton has long been the name to trust in Internet security, so online backup would seem to be a natural move for them.

Norton Online Backup is $49.95 for a year. You get 25GB of storage that you can share among multiple PCs. Unlike most products we reviewed, Norton Online Backup runs entirely from a web-based Interface. Though oddly there's no Mac support. A task-bar module keeps you apprised of the backup activity and will let you run manual backups and restores. Still, you will be shuffled off to the web-based UI for just about everything.

That UI is perfectly fine. It's simple, maybe a little too simple for some. You can set the backup frequency (monthly to daily) and the type of file (by default Email and Videos are not included). You can decide when you'd like the backup to run, but it's a bit like scheduling the cable guy to come out: you can choose time slots, but not a particular time. When the backup runs, it's a pretty quiet process. One thing lacking is an estimated time of completion, though it does show a percentage of data backed up. Also, it would be nice if you could schedule more frequent backups. The backups did seem rather speedy, however.

After backup, the files are available for restore or transfer to another machine. You can select individual files, or a complete backup. There are no bells and whistles here though. You can't send file links to others, nor can you set up public folders. You also won't find any iPhone or Blackberry apps to access your documents with when you're on the run.

Norton is a tad more expensive than most of the other fixed and unlimited storage solutions we reviewed. It's solid, but nothing special on its own, and at $49.95 we'd have a hard time recommending it above cheaper, higher capacity services with more features.

IBACKUP REVIEW:Go to Site | Back to Top

If IBackup sounds similar to IDrive, there's good reason for that. Both are owned by Pro Softnet and use the same software client for backups. At first glance the big difference is the price. IBackup gives you 10GB of storage for $9.95. That's a dollar per megabyte, and considerably more expensive than its sister service (which gives you 150GB for $4.95 per month). 10GB was just enough for our test computer which is light on the multimedia. Anyone who has even a small collection of videos and photos will burn through this in no time, requiring an upgrade.

Our experience with IBackup's software varied very little from its implementation on IDrive. By default it is more conservative, only backing up once per day, versus IDrive's diligent hourly backups. All of this is configurable, of course; you can set it up for a frequency anywhere between monthly and hourly.

Things get a little more interesting when you look at IBackup's online file access. The slowness we complained about with IDrive's web-based control panel is absent here, as are the lack of sharing options. You can share individual files or folders, and apply a host of options including link expiration, password control, write-access, and max number of downloads. We're not sure why IBackup chooses not to share this functionality with IDrive, but it would have improved our impression of the latter.

IBackup's real business is its Enterprise solutions. Also running at about a dollar per gigabyte, IBackup's business-level services help business backup their MS SQL server databases and Exchange servers. They also boast support for Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), SEC, NASD, HIPAA, and Gramm-Leach-Bliley compliance.

It's hard to recommend IBackup to the average user, mostly because of the cost. IDrive is a better deal with the same software, and services like Carbonite and Mozy offer even cheaper prices for unlimited storage. While we like its web interface well enough, it's just too expensive. IBackup also lacks any kind of free trial. However, businesses, particularly those in the legal, health, or financial fields, will want to give IBackup serious consideration. It's the only online backup service we've reviewed so far that offers you assistance in making sure enterprise storage is compliant with federal regulations.

BOX.NET REVIEW:Go to Site | Back to Top

Box.net is not a true online backup service in that it doesn't provide automated backups the way Mozy, ElephantDrive and Carbonite do. Box.net also has fairly low storage limits compared to others. That being said, Box.net does have excellent file access capabilities and the best collaboration tools we have seen. This is the best service for consumers who need to store and share some important files with others. A nice option for mobile users is the ability to access Box.net using dedicated iPhone or Blackberry apps.