Carbonite Data Storage

[EssOne]

I'm thinking about switching to off-site data storage and backup, mainly with one of Carbonite's $59.95 Personal plans. But I really don't know much about the subject. It sounds good. Does anyone have any experience with the Carbonite Personal plan? http://www.carbonite.com/

[vontar]

I have been using the Free  Dropbox for the past year, it has been good and simple.

 

I suggest trying Dropbox or box.com to learn a bit about online storage and go from there.

 

I guess it depends is it for personal or professional?

How much online space do you need?

Those are 2 very important questions.

[Westwindmike]

If the Pentagon can be hacked, couldn't Carbonite?

[DaveTN]

59.00 a year isn’t bad, but that’s limited to one computer; is that all you have?
I use Acronis and image my computers to portable hard drives.

[Omega]

There is a plethora of free online storage solutions which will work for most people.  There is Dropbox, the Amazon Cloud, Apple iCloud, Onedrive, Google drive etc.  Then there are picture sites too, but they only accept graphic files but will store quite a few.

 

This site lists a few more:  http://www.networkworld.com/article/2932962/cloud-storage/19-free-cloud-storage-options.html 

 

 

[EssOne]

It's for personal use, one computer only, protection of ordinary family files. I don't need much online space.

[TNWNGR]

It's for personal use, one computer only, protection of ordinary family files. I don't need much online space.

 

Purchase and external hard drive and duplicate everything onto it then store it in its metalized Mylar storage bag. Afterwards whenever you accumulate data you want saved redo the data transfer.

[Pete123]

It's for personal use, one computer only, protection of ordinary family files. I don't need much online space.

 

Hey EssOne,  First, I like your new picture.  Next,  The need you are describing is part of the space I represent for larger companies.

 

I would recommend CrashPlan over Carbonite and would recommend either of them over the free sites or an external hard drive used by itself.

 

The big thing that CrashPlan/Carbonite bring that the others don't is that they do a complete backup of your computer and it is updated every time you are connected to the Internet.  Your data is valuable.  In my view, it is worth paying for a site specifically designed to protect it.

 

One time I had an issue first thing in the morning and was able to get a file from the previous evening.

 

The reason I like Crash Plan better than Carbonite is that Carbonite was a resource hog when I dealt with this.  In other words, Carbonite makes your pc very slow when it is backing up.  CrashPlan allows you to lower the amount of system resources it will use when you are using your pc.

 

CrashPlan, and probably Carbonite, has versioning.  This is important.  Let's say your computer gets eaten up by a virus and it's so bad that it can't be removed, or doing so will cost a fortune.  Versioning allows you to go back to a version from a day or two before you got the virus.  

 

I also recommend using an external hard drive.  The key is to remember to back it up consistently.  Let's say your hard drive completely and totally crashes.  Think about how long it will take to download all of that data from CrashPlan.  It's great to know that you have it if needed, though restoring from an external hard drive is much faster. 

 

I also like having both the cloud solution and an external hard drive as you have it in two places, called redundancy in the industry.

 

Hope this helps.

[Sam1]

Go with Crashplan.com

 

I have tried Carbonite, idrive and SOS.

 

Carbonite was ok, but it only does like 10 or 12 versions of files iirc (versioning)

 

idrive was a complete POS.  When I installed it, it started consuming hundreds of gb of data backing up the same files over and over, when I switched to idrive, our monthly average data consumption was between 40-50GB (up until May) from May to June after installing idrive, it went up to 280GB June to July, then I switched back to Crashplan two weeks ago and data was 160GB for last month.  This month it should be back down to 40-50GB.  Idrive is terrible for not knowing what files have been uploaded and completely skipping over directories you want backed up.  Big kicker, this is a small 240GB SSD drive with only 57GB of data I need backed up, so how I went through 280GB of backups in 4 weeks is still astounding to me - their software is shit.

 

SOS was ok, I tried a few years back, not sure what the price was back then but it did alright.

 

Crashplan does everything I want, including the option to backup one computer to another computer or a network drive 100% free (although I only use the cloud-based storage plan).  It has unlimited versioning and has never let me down on any restore - have been able to pull up 5 or 6 different versions of a homework assignment from months prior and find the one I needed.

 

I will never be switching from them again.  That's from real dealings with the programs, not comparing specs online.

[EssOne]

Well thank you very much guys. I really appreciate it. My computer guy recommended an off site resource over an external hard drive because he believes the hard drive builders are going through a phase when they are turning out some pretty unreliable stuff. But then, I really like the redundancy idea. Thanks again.

 

Glad you like my new picture, Pete. That's William Holden from the 1969 movie "The Wild Bunch."

[Sam1]

Well thank you very much guys. I really appreciate it. My computer guy recommended an off site resource over an external hard drive because he believes the hard drive builders are going through a phase when they are turning out some pretty unreliable stuff. But then, I really like the redundancy idea. Thanks again.

 

Glad you like my new picture, Pete. That's William Holden from the 1969 movie "The Wild Bunch."

 

Working in security/disaster recovery, I don't waste time duplicating onsite data (at home of course, business is different).  You can have 10 backups, and if your house catches on fire, all 10 copies are still gone.

 

Think cashplan is 50-60/year, once you install it, it defaults to back up new versions of files every 15 minutes and you never have to touch a thing.  After the initial backup, you'll probably never notice the program is running again until you need to restore something and manually open it.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Sam1

[btq96r]

If you just want to backup files like documents, pictures and the like, external drive is the best bet for the money, being a one time purchase and all.

 

If you want to back up your entire computer to "start from scratch" on a new drive, I'd go with Clonezilla or an old version of Norton Ghost, but that would require a pair of drives- one to store it on, one to image if your current drive goes tits up doesn't work at all anymore.

 

For either of those, online storage helps, but isn't truly needed.  I'm wary of cloud based services because, 1) they're dependent on internet connectivity, and 2) Dropbox and the like are compromised, by the government for sure, presumably by hackers as well.  SpiderOak is supposed to be a lot better from a security standpoint, and has a fair price, but I don't have personal experience with it.  Some others who do have a great deal with this type of issue have good things to say about it, though.

Edited September 1, 2015 by btq96r