Just read this review: http://redir.internet.com/rss/click/...le.php/3618861
has anyone tried this yet? I just downloaded it. Looks pretty cool! Is it really $5/month? Sounds too good to be true, but I can't find a catch.
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Just read this review: http://redir.internet.com/rss/click/...le.php/3618861
has anyone tried this yet? I just downloaded it. Looks pretty cool! Is it really $5/month? Sounds too good to be true, but I can't find a catch.
Quote:
Originally Posted by danh00
I've tried a few different online backup companies. I used to use
Evault and pay $85/month to backup just a few GB. I read about Carbonite in the Boston Globe a
couple of months ago and it is terrific. You can download a free trial
at http://www.carbonite.com <http://www.carbonite.com/> . It costs only
$50/yr for unlimited storage (though it's only practical for < 50GB if
you have DSL or a Cable modem. They're a new company, and have some
minor bugs to work out, but all in all it's been great. They call it
"set and forget" like that old cheesy TV infomercial. But it really is!
I tried their service, piece of crap. Well, they managed to make a big press of itself. The truth is it is not even backup software; it lacks basic features that should be inherently part of any backup software.
The reality is there are too many online backup companies, but none of them are perfect, and Carbonite is certainly a no no... XDrive has the biggest name, but its client software crashes a lot. iBackup seems a little better, but still not quite usable. Now I use DriveHQ WWWBackup, solid, stable, does versioning, and uploaded 2GB of data without any problem. The drawback is it cannot backup files in use. hope this will be fixed.
Obviously you are a competitor to www.carbonite.com, see the review in the first post. Nice try Jerry, carbonite has been working for me. I will check out your website as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by jerrylippman_ny
I don't consider that obvious at all. His post mentions several backup systems, and he even mentions an issue he has with the one he uses. That doesn't sound like a competitor, just a consumer.
Man, you are so funny! OK, I was cheated by people like you to ever try Carbonite a while ago. Look, I saw lots of good reviews for them on Download.com so I gave it a try. and it's just piece of crap. Until somebody pointed out that all the reviews were posted on the same day. By whom, you guess?Quote:
Originally Posted by krrish
After I read Jerry Lippman's remarks above I went to download.com to see what the reviewers have to say about carbonite.com. There is an editorial review posted today. Clearly, it gives 4 out of 5 stars for Carbonite. I quote from the Editorial review: "Carbonite Online PC Backup is a worthy investment of time and money, particularly for users who want a hands-off solution to backing up their data and those wary of losing or accumulating too many physical backups."Quote:
Originally Posted by jerrylippman_ny
Jerry, Are you saying that download.com editor is also a company hack?
The reader can go to this URL and check it out for yourself.
http://www.download.com/Carbonite-On...ml?tag=lst-0-1
Before this conversation degenerates, please, if you intend to continue the discussion, include specifics, rather than "it's good!", "no it's not". Comments like those tell no one anything. Jerry, please mention some of the basic features the product lacks, and whatever the other flaws you may perceive in it may be.
Jpnyc,
I already gave the URL which gives the pros and cons:
http://www.download.com/Carbonite-O...tml?tag=lst-0-1
download.com is a site which gives an unbiased view on this topic.
I am an academic, and I came to know about Carbonite thru
a college students service site. This gives the Pros of carbonite.
Go to
https://www.dormaid.com/mit/parents/backup_info
Jerry will provide you with all the cons if he ever tries Carbonite.
Thanks, but I have no need of or interest in the product, only in the quality of conversation here. If Jerry really does have complaints about the product/service, he should state specifically what those are.
I am honestly surprised by you, Krrish... sounds like you are really a fan of carbonite. Let me ask you have you actually backed up files over 100MB, and up to 2GB? Have you actually downloaded files of this size? I did it, and it works like piece of crap; it never finishes! I don't even know how much it is done. I run a small business, that's why I occasional visit this place and some other place. I use DriveHQ service, because their product is the best among what I've tried. Plus their service is good, they helped me work out bandwidth issue. You have free time to check the download.com reviews, can't you notice why so many people reviewed their software??? and on the first day when it was released??? Do you have any clue how long it takes to backup all my photos? that's about 4GB; and my documents folder? 12GB. So people immediately started singing praise of carbonite before their files are uploaded??? Who are they?
Still, it's something of an interesting coincidence that driveHQ is located in san jose, and so are you.
I have not tried downloading files as large as 2GB from Carbonite. Probably I will never have such large files.
I compared Your company's pricing to Carbonite's:
Your company charges for 20GB, $20/month
whereas Carbonite charges $5/month for 50GB.
Initial backup might take several days because of the asymmetry in theQuote:
Originally Posted by jerrylippman_ny
cable/DSL modem speed. How does that matter? You just leave the connection on overnight. After the initial uploading is done then only changes in files and new files need to be uploaded. That takes a very short time daily.
I dont care whether you like carbonite or not. I dont want you distort their
product performance in order to sell your product.
People can also try other similar products, such as www.sparebackup.com.
I have never heard of it before looks cool but I already have to much software as it is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by autoecart
But it (carbonite) is only 227K long. That is not a large file by any means.
I find the amount of actual data on my PC I want to keep protected is pretty small. My back-up strategy is to Zip it up and email it to a few friends and family.
The problem is that you have to do that frequently. What if the data you lose
in between one of these email dispatches is the critical one? Instead, if the backup happens quietly and automatically in the background without interrupting your regular schedule, that has some value for most people.
My backup strategy:
1. create a 15 GB partition called Backup
2. run a backup program. In my case Nova
3. incremental backup every 4 hours to backup partition
4. every week do an incremental backup to DVD
I agree, different strokes for different folks. Backup is not fun, it is like
flossing your teeth. I would not like to think about it. Just set it and dont worry about it till you lose your hard drive. Imagine scrambling to find out where I placed my most recently backed up DVD.
I have been looking for a method of convenient backing up with internet access for a long time now and have used many non-internet access types.
I recently came across http://www.seagate.com/products/retail/mirra/index.html
Seagates's MIRRA. These units allow internet access to your files.
I am hearing that they may be considering offering a RAID version allowing multiple hard drives and various RAID configs. For small businesses I would recommend two such units: one at the office and the other at a remote site, like you home which still allows easy physical access.
The interesting thing with MIRRA is that it backs up files as you save them rather than just by a schedule. This is a much better system as file restoration is then a snap, and literally no files are lost. Read the site above for more detail as to what the system offers, it offers all if not most of what any small business should require with a simple non techie interface.
When the MIRRA system and its capabilities are compared to the cost of online backup, it becomes an obvious choice. Keep in mind that you don't have to have an internet connection to use it.
This even in its present form seems to me a better option than a paid hosted back-up, holding you files somewhere in the internet. What happens if the host goes belly up?
I love the internet and all it offers but there are just something I like to be able to see and touch and access easily (physically) and that includes what I have to back-up.
It is great, assuming that the MIRRA system does not go up in flames or
stolen.
Funny how quickly folks forget that people have different needs when it comes to backing up data. What's right for one person/small business may not come even close for another.
The starting question to ask yourself: how long can I go without a backup before my ability to conduct business is in jeopardy? Can you afford to lose a minute's worth of data, an hour, 12 hours, a day, 3 days, a week? That helps you figure out if you need constant back up or if you can affored to do a backup once a day, once a week...etc. It's varies from business to business, industry to industry.
Forget the "less filling, tastes great" diatribes. Figure out what's right for you and look for products that meet your needs and your budget.
Having a hard drive crash as I just did, I do know the importance of having a backup. Unfortunately, I did not have one - no excuse.
We tried Higher Ground Software but it actually made things worse so I am sending it off to Drive Savers.
One thing we were looking at is the EtherFast Network Attached Storage. Some people have said it is a little slow but if you are only using it as a backup, I don't think that should really matter as much.
Corey...
Ouch. That hurts. But hey, most of us have been there. Even the experts. Take a look at this article:
http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.co...le.php/3613271
We actually have Ontrack on our servers and I got a copy for my own computer but of course, I just don't use it. We did try the ontrack recovery but it did not help - and we were afraid to edit the drive with the their drive edit program. We figured there was enough damage done to it.
After this one - since this had files mainly from my customers and things from the past 6 years, I decided that after I get this data, backups were going to be a mandatory procedure.
[full disclosure: I do work for an online backup company!]
I do work for an online backup company, and I always try to let people know upfront.
I'm not a big Carbonite fan, simply personal preference; mostly in the way it integrates into the XP shell and the limited feature set.
The client we use has what I believe to be a more complete feature set, including restoring from the web, in-file delta and the ability to backup multiple computers to the same online backup account.
I think it really comes down to what you need in an online backup client and what you are willing to pay for it.
Definitely shop around, though, and don't neccessarily settle for the first one that 'works' for you. You may be missing out on a lot of great features! A lot of companies (including mine) offer free trial accounts and some don't even want a credit card for a trial (none of that 'charge you if you don't cancel' business!)
Staples is actually offering Carbonlite free it seems for a few days. My biggest concern of course is handing over my data to a third party
Cory,
At least up to this point and to the best of my knowledge, Carbonite 'keeps the keys' and theoretically has access to your data. Quite a few of the other services (mine included), encrypt the data before it even leaves your machine. One reason I stress to people 'don't lose your encrpytion key!' If you lose it, we don't have it!
So what happens if their HD crashes and that is the only place they have that key?
I signed up to Carbonite two months ago (tip - click on the 'radio users click here' link to get 3 months free instead of the usual 15 days). It's simple to install and I trust what it will back up (much more so than with other software).
I have quite a lot of stuff - around 35GB and my machine is online for about 15-20 hours a week (I don't see the point in keeping it on when I'm not at home and use a laptop the rest of the time, sync'd with the desktop as needed but not a trusted backup because it's easy to nick). I shift files around which is why I wanted an online backup rather than an occasional write to DVD or an external HD, which I also do and keep remotely when I can.
But now the reality ...
After two months Carbonite is still only halfway through its initial backup.
It seems though that Carbonite rapidly backs up small detritus but struggles with large files. This bothers me and should bother you if one of those large files you want to keep safe is your email PST file (I keep all my mail locally). This changes daily and is in constant use ...
Meanwhile today I opened up another Carbonite account to share a large file with a colleague. It's a 500MB video. Now, I expected it to take a while but after 5 hours (384kbps upload on cable) the Carbonite progress says it's not even 1% complete. I don't know if it says that because it only assesses progress based on completed files or if it really is going to be a waste of time.
Good value, but in my case the jury's out on whether it will actually do what I need.
Thats why we have basically looked into buying a new computer ourselves. I need one and then use this one for to complete backups - probably by Acronis.
I work with Kevin at Backup To The Web, so keep that in mind...Quote:
Originally Posted by therev
We have one client that bought 100GB of storage. We offered him a "seed" backup (backup to your external drive, then send it to us), but he wanted to back up directly. He started on 10/6, and he passed 53 GB a few minutes ago. That's over 4 GB per day, but YMMV.
I recommend to my users that they pick a long but memorable encryption key. I'll give you mine: "what this country needs is a really good five-cent cigar".Quote:
Originally Posted by Corey Bryant
All lower case, no punctuation. That way, it's long enough to be complex, but easy enough to remember.
I'd throw that into the 'strong' encryption category by changing it to:
'what this country needs is a really good five-dollar cigar' and make it:
wtcn=arg$5C
Uppercase, lowercase, symbols and numbers.
Well it seems thet Eco-Data was able to recover my data. I just received the 60M text list of the files / folders they were able to recover :)
I had Staples ship a hard drive over to them (otherwise they charge $20 a DVD to restore these files) - they restored them to the new hard drive for "free". But at least I knew how much I was going to pay.
Yea, I tried Carbonite and iBackup too... XDrive used to be the big thing a few years ago, but recently I was invited to Beta test this new service called Titanize [www.titanize.com] it's 5GB at $5 a month... the big difference really is usability and added features... try it out, lemme know what ya think.
Yeah this is pretty normal these days ... my isp gives this facility free of cost.
Carbonite Online Backup is simple with very few options. Mozy offer more control; however Mozy is recently acquired by EMC, which puts the free/cheap service in question as EMC is unlikely to sell cheap stuff. However there are other better online backup service providers. Please read it below:
http://backupreview.googlepages.com/default.html
http://ftpreview.googlepages.com/index.html
I will probably be chastised for this, and I'm not bashing Carbonite, or any other system, but I've been very happy with Remote Data Backups. If you want to test drive their service, they do offer a 30 day free trial at
http://offer.databu.com
Options are good.
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