[Tedfroop]

Wow what a shock. I have been a Mozy customer for a few years using their $4.95 a month unlimited plan.
Today I get an email that says they are raising their rates. On the next billing cycle the data I have backed up would cost $32.50 a month, and two dollars for every 20 gig over that.

Anybody know a service that won't clean me out monthly?

 

[MarcP]

Been using Carbonite for 3 years now. I have about 30GB backed up. However, with UBB coming, it might become even more costly.

 

[whitbyterry]

Carbonite is unlimited, forget the rate but thinking $60 per year. One computer though.

 

[MarcP]

Only one computer, but I use Windows Live Sync (which is free) to sync important folders between all my other computers and the Carbonite one. So everything important from all my machines is backed up on Carbonite.

 

[cambo]

My strategy is to find out what truly needs to be backed up. All of my movies are just copied to another drive. The pictures and important documents, however are backed up off-site. I pay IDrive $50/yr/150GB. Currently, I'm only using about 20GB.

They also have a service to ship you an external USB drive, you load what you want or can fit onto it, and ship it back to them. They load the USB drive into your account on their servers. However, at no time can they actually read the data. You need your encryption key for that, which they don't need to copy it into your vault. Very satisfied. I get an email every other day of the files that were backed up that night.

 

[pappcam]

I too have been a Mozy user for a few years. I have a bout 40 GB of data backed up so the only increase is the extra dollar a month they're now charging. If I get to 50 GB (and probably will soon) my costs will increase again.

It's time to look elsewhere. I wonder if Carbonite will be doing the same thing soon with data caps and different pricing tiers. It seems that once one of the major players goes, everybody follows suit.

 

[jshel101]

I am using Dropbox. I get 50GB for $10/month. I really like Dropbox, it allows me to sync multiples computers and to easily access my uploaded data through the web. I also like the iPhone app, which allows me to view and upload.

 

[Tedfroop]

Back up

I did some shopping around and Carbonite came out on top. Only thing is billing is yearly instead of monthly. I had about 300 gig on Mozy and since my first post I hav uploaded about 1/3 of it to Carbonite.

As for UBB it seams that the Conservative government has suddenly stepped in to play hero. Amazing how that happens just before an election....

 

[Proteosome]

With HD prices so high I have been investigating online backup solutions. How has your experience with carbonite been so far?

I am concerned about US govt access through the Patriot Act. Are there any Canadian options out there?

 

[MarcP]

If you're concerned about the government sifting through your data (be it American or not), don't back up to the cloud at all. Nothing is safe. And what you think is safe today, may not be next year with the dynamics of new laws, new treaties, change of privacy policies, etc.

I made an agreement with a relative to trade data between our machines using Windows Live Sync. I backup onto his machine, he backs up onto mine.

 

[Proteosome]

True enough about new legislation.

Your Windows Live Sync is a great solution, though does that mean you have completely forsaken Carbonite?

 

[MarcP]

My Carbonite subscription elapses in May and I think I might abandon it. Our Live Sync solution is only for when something catastrophic happens to one of our machines. I already use Acronis TI 2011 (stay away from 2012 for now) to backup daily and maintain file versions to a local USB drive.

 

[lordspace]

These automated solutions are great.

If you are or know somebody who is more tech savvy you could try Amazon S3.
I was doing a research for a client to back their stuff turned out that if you use Amazon S3 for 20GB it was about $2-4/month.
You could use a Firefox extension called S3 Organizer to upload your stuff there.

 

[MarcP]

You can also use GoodSync which supports Amazon S3 very well. However, it doesn't work at block level so a small change to a file results in the whole file being uploaded again instead of just the changed blocks. If upload bandwidth is a concern for you, then this is an important issue.

 

[michelkenny]

I've been using Crash Plan for a few years now, top notch service. You can pick a password to use as an encryption key so that your data is encrypted on their servers. Whether or not they can decrypt it I do not know.

 

[jshel101]

I just started using CrashPlan, and so far I am liking it. I do like the unlimited data option, which is the reason I went to this. I also like the fact that I can backup my in-law's computers to my account. I am 22% through my 205GB's need to back up. I am still going to use Dropbox though. With Dropbox I like the integration that a lot of my iPad/iPhone apps have with it.

 

[jshel101]

Whoa..That is way up and not worth it.

what and who where you responding to?