What online backup solution do you use and why?

Question

I'm currently looking for an online backup solution for my home computer, and since there are so many alternatives nowadays, I decided to share my doubts here.

What do I need to backup?

• Photos (more than 100Gb)
• Music (more than 20Gb)
• Movies (just have a few movies from family occasions, but it's growing in size)
• Address book, bookmarks, documents (small files)

The larger files (photos, music and movies) are all stored in an external hard-drive, which is usually disconnected unless I need the files.

What would I like to see in the service?

• I want the ability to control/schedule my backups. Don't want the server to mark my files as delete just because my HDD is disconnected;
• I want a simple interface, and must be compatible with Mac OSX;
• Reliable and secure company;
• Unlimited storage.

I have been trying Mozy, but so far I wasn't able to backup the contents of my external hard-drive, and I can't understand why.

I also considered Amazon S3, but I don't know how is the tooling for that.

What is your experience?

Answer 1

I'm looking at the same thing at the moment, and although I don't have a solution at the moment, just found this blog post that might be a good starting point:

http://www.labnol.org/internet/best-online-backup-services/14218/

Answer 2

I've been using Dropbox for the last year and I love it. If I had to say one thing I like about it, is that it does everything other backup systems do, but with no hassle at all (a bit like Macs vs PC's ^^).

Since I installed it, it doesn't even seem like I'm performing back-ups, because I actually always work with the "My Dropbox" folder as if it were the "My Documents" one. The version control is pretty cool too.

Another useful feature is the possibility to share folders with my clients with no hassle at all. It's really easy for them and it saves me a lot of work and explanations.

Hahaha, I sound like a fanboy... but it really is good.

UPDATE:

I got the reply from Dropbox. It seems that they have a new option coming soon (they call it "Dropbox for teams"). They gave me a private beta invitation, which I can't share, but here's a screenshot of what the plan looks like.

Please, note that you can buy an unlimited amount of storage at increments of 100Gb per 200$/year. So when it comes out, it'll probably be a good answer to your issue ;).

Answer 3

I'm using Mozy and I'm satisfied with them.

Answer 4

I use the free version of CrashPlan for all the home machines and several friends & family PCs as well. It allows you to use storage on other machines to hold backups. You can also make the initial (big) backups locally to something like a USB drive and then shuttle it over to the destination server to help speed up that first run of a kabillion gigs :-)

Been working real well for us so far.

Answer 5

For true backups, I third JungleDisk... the only paying what you use for is great plus they have a web option to access your files from a web interface so you can get to things while on the go.

Answer 6

JungleDisk is based on either Amazon's S3 or Rackspace's Cloud, I've been using it for my servers and one of my desktops for some time. They have Windows, *nix and a Mac app. The JungleDisk app itself is open-source, and encrypts all of your data by default (just don't loose your password!) and further the prices are good $2.00/month + storage (go with rackspace, over amazon, for cheaper rates).

Answer 7

I've used Syncplicity for about 18 months and I'm very happy with it. It works seamlessly in the background and backs up my two computers as well as keeping them fully synchronized. It also has a roll-back facility which is occasionally useful. I have a 50Gb plan but larger plans are available.

Answer 8

I use JungleDisk, backed by Amazon S3. It's a really simple app, just install it and specify what files/folders you want to be backed up, and let it work. If you have a lot of stuff, the initial upload will take a LONG time. But afterwards it only uploads new and changed files.

You can download files via the app, and you also have the option to map your backup as a disk drive, so you can drag and drop via explorer.

For extra security, you can choose encryption with a password of your choosing. You must make sure you never lose this password, as you will be the only one that knows it. Your files are encrypted before they leave your system.

Pricing is floating, you only pay for what you use.

Answer 9

My company resells a service from Ahsay, so I use space in our datacenter using OBS (Online Backup Service).

Eat your own dogfood, right?

Answer 10

I've ZenOK Online Backup for a while, and think very highly of the product and the company. Recently I upgraded . Runs totally in the background and seems to be doing an extremely good job.