Advertised backup services

  • Thread starter Thread starter Robert
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Robert

I just saw an ad on TV about a service that will back up your computer for
$55 a year. I can't remember their name. Has anybody had any experience
with this type of service/ can recommend one?

Rob
 
I think you'd firstly need to look what such services offer. Is the retrieval
of 'My Documents' all you need, or do you expect to be able to restore from
bare metal? (That is, a total reinstallation of everything on the computer to
a new disk)

If this is an online backup service then for bandwidth reasons it will most
likely not be a total backup.

My feelings are that money might be better spent on an external disk box
(e.g. Western Digital) and a copy of Cobian Backup or Lazy Mirror (both
freeware)

Cobian on XP will allow you to make a full backup which is near to
bare-metal standard, you would probably need to ask a computer tech to do the
restore, but if done properly it should give you your system as it was before
the disk failure.

http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=691

http://www.cobiansoft.com/cobianbackup.htm

http://www.xs4all.nl/~wstudios/LazyMirror/index.html
 
I just saw an ad on TV about a service that will back up your computer for
$55 a year. I can't remember their name. Has anybody had any experience
with this type of service/ can recommend one?
Click to expand...

Besides simple storage of data (on a schedule planned
to suit the client) the main benefit of such services is spatial
separation. The backup is in a different building and might
be in a different city: so if your PC is damaged by fire or
flood etc. the data remains safe and can be recovered.
As posted, a portable drive offers the home user similar
benefits.
 
I just saw an ad on TV about a service that will back up your computer for
$55 a year.  I can't remember their name.  Has anybody had any experience
with this type of service/ can recommend one?

Rob
Click to expand...

Whatever method you choose, don't forget to test the recovery part as
part of your overall strategy. Even daily backups will not help you
if your recovery method is untested or not sound.

Just because you make a backup, think you made a backup, somebody says
they have backed you up, it looks like you have a backup, etc. - until
you actually try to recover data you will never know if the entire
process works from end to end or how painful it might be.

It is easy to test at least part of the process - just rename some
important folder(s) that you depend on, like where all your pictures
or documents are or your MS Office folder (if you are using MS Office)
to simulate losing it, then see if you are able to replace the
"missing" information and access it using your chosen method and how
much trouble that is or isn't.

Take the worst case scenario - replacing a crashed HDD, format and
reinstall of your OS and all your applications (these would have to be
reinstalled - not restored from a backup) and see what procedures your
method has to get operational again. How does it work and what would
you need to do?
 
There are two that I know of: Carbonite and Mozy. I use Carbonite and I
like it. For less than $5/month, it's one very important responsibility
that I no longer have to worry about.

They have a free trial period. Try it and see what you think. Everything
the literature says is true. You just ignore it and let it do its thing
quietly in the background, with no limit on storage space. (My daughter
trusts them with 13GB of photos.) There are intelligent exceptions to what
they'll back up automatically (e.g., .exe files -- there are a LOT of
those), but you can override those exceptions file by file if you want. You
have full control, including the ability to lower its priority or pause it
entirely (for a specified period of time), if you think it's bogging you
down at all. e.g., when they occasionally "scan the disk for files to back
up" and I would rather grant complete hard drive access to other activity.
Generally I have the feeling that they're "on top of it" as soon as you have
created or modified a file in any way, and versioned backups are kept for a
month, just in case you make a mistake. I've just hit on the highlights
here. If you let me recommend you as a new customer, they'll extend my
contract. :-)
 
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