
Online Backup FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions about Online Backup
Will my hard drive really fail?
It is a fact of life that all computer hard drives will eventually fail or crash. A recent study by Google found that 8% of computer hard drives will fail within the first two years of operation. That means one in every twelve computer hard drives will crash within the first twenty four months of operation.
When your hard drive does eventually fail you risk losing all the information that was stored on your computer. Restoration of a crashed hard drive that has not been properly backed up can be very expensive without guaranteed results of restoring your photos, digital music and other important documents.
In addition to hardware failure, you may also lose files if your computer is stolen or you accidentally permanently erase important files. In those cases you have no way to restore your files unless you have been consistently backing them up.
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Recently answered questions about Online Backup Service Reviews:
Are the backup services vulnerable to hackers?
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question.
Q: Are the backup services vulnerable to hackers?
A: With the usual warning that anything is possible, online backup services are pretty secure. Of the many, many stories we see about web services getting hacked, it's not the online back up services that [...]
Why is Carbonite paused and how do I activate it?
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question.
Q: I have a message that my Carbonite is paused. It gives me two choices.Dismiss or unpause. I click on unpause with no results. Why is it paused & how do I activate it?
A: We're not entirely sure why this is happening. [...]
I am a Carbonite subscriber. My computer recently crashed. I changed from Win...
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.
Q: I am a carbonite subscriber. My computer recently crashed. I changed from window to A Mac. How do I get my serviced [...]
Can I backup my operating system?
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.
Q: Can I backup my operating system?
A: By default, most online backup services are set to backup documents and other irreplaceable items on [...]
I have a Windows XP machine and want to back-up data, then download to new Wi...
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.
Q: I have a Windows XP machine and want to back-up data, then download to new Windows 7 machine. Will this work? [...]
Can I transfer Carbonite to my new computer?
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.
Q: I purchased your product about a month ago then I bought a new computer because my old one was so stinking slow. [...]
Are online backup providers responsible for keeping customers' data unencrypted?
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way. This question comes as a follow-up to a question asked earlier this week: If an online backup service provider is subpoenaed, would [...]
If an online backup provider was subpoenaed, would it have to hand your data ...
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.
Q: I have a question about online backup services. In both civil and criminal lawsuits, we have all heard or read about [...]
Does Carbonite offer remote file access?
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.
Q: Your comparison chart and program details table for carbonite says "No file access except for full system recovery", while your review says [...]
Do any of these storage systems back up external hard drives as well as the i...
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.
Q: I have two external hard drives attached to my laptop for additional storage. Do any of these storage systems back up external [...]