Do online backup services allow you to download your entire backup history?

Question

I'm thinking about signing up for an online backup service, like Carbonite. Both of these keep entire revision histories of your files, not just the latest copies.

So my question: if I want to switch services, or cancel entirely, do any allow you to download your complete backup history, or transfer to another service?

Answer 1

From the site you provided, it sounds like they allow full restores and backups of your documents (they have set restrictions on system files). The only thing really limiting you is your internet connection speed:

How much stuff can I back up?

There are no limits on backup storage capacity. Carbonite will back up all the supported files on your internal hard drive whether you have 1GB, 10GB or more. However, users should be aware that the speed of today's DSL and cable Internet services will make it very slow to back up more than, say, a few dozen GB of data.

as for downloading...

How do I restore lost files?

Carbonite makes restoring files fast and easy. Restore any file or folder from your backup with just a few clicks. Try it for yourself:

1. Double-click the Carbonite Backup Drive icon on your desktop
2. Locate the file or folder you wish to restore
3. Right-click on the file or folder and select "Restore" to restore it to its original location, or "Restore to" to restore it to a new location

That's it! Your file or folder has been restored.

To learn about recovering files to a Mac, click here.

If your computer crashes or is stolen, you can recover lost files to a new computer by visiting our website. Recovering small amounts of data (a few files here or there) will probably take only seconds or minutes. Restoring all of your data will take longer and depends on how much data you have and the speed of your Internet connection. Most DSL services will allow you to download about 600-800 MB per hour, or roughly 14-18GB per day. For an average user, complete data restoration is likely to take at most a day or two.

As far as online backup goes, I'd recommend Mozy personally.

Answer 2

There are limits to the amount of history that these services keep.

Carbonite says "3 months".

Mozy says "up to 30 days" (in tool tip).

Backblaze says "up to 30 days".

So really, you could maintain a maximum "recovery horizon" by overlapping the end of your old service with the start of your new service by a month or two (or three). But I doubt any of these companies offer the ability to easily "port" your history to another service. Backblaze will send you a USB hard drive drive with your data (or DVDs, like some other services), but there does not seem to be any indication of whether such a HDD (or DVD) recovery option would include all the old versions of the files or just the most recent version (and maybe some of the recently deleted files).

But with only a month (or a "tapered" three months) of history, it probably is not worth it to try to transfer your history anyway.

Answer 3

That is a very good question but it all depends on the amount of data you are going to backup.Well the backup solution you have mentioned is a good one but there other online backup services like Safecopy online backup with offers a free unlimited 3GB trial version.This is cool because othere backup solutions offer trial versions which expire after 30days or a give period of time.