Windows 7: Carbonite On Line Backup ?

Hi

Just wondering if anyone uses Carbonite On Line Backup ?

Online Backup Software | Carbonite

If so has it been worthwhile?

I use external drives for back up but as they are all in my house I started to think about the fire risk. I suppose I could leave a drive at a friends house if necessary and swap them over now and again.

Any thoughts ?

This is probably one of those questions that will generate a mix of opinions.
Carbonite has a good reputation for what it does. Perhaps more importantly is what it does NOT do. It does not back up software programs, temporary files or system files. If you have a lot of personal documents, photos, etc and you'd like an off site place to store them, Carbonite is a good choice. So is MozyHome.

I tried them both but decided to trust my external hard drives for full system images. I figured if my home goes up in flames I'll have a lot more to worry about than what's on my computer. But that's just me. I did invest in a fireproof safe that 's rated for 1200 degrees for 3 hours.

I subscribe to Carbonite, but I also have an external drive backup, backup periodically to DVDs, and save stuff on gmail. When I got my computer I created the Windows 7 system image as suggested and stored it on an external drive. If you've ever had hard disk failure -- and I have -- the loss of data is devastating. Ever since, I've backed up my data in as many ways as I can, especially those things that I never want to lose. I have scores of backup data disks of the same photos.

I signed up for Carbonite about 6 months ago and it does work as advertised. But there are some limitations. I have about 200 Gigs of video files that took *forever* to backup. I have 2 Mb/s upload bandwidth and Carbonite refuses to use more than half of it under the best of circumstances, and frequently will only use 200-300kb (or less) worth. So I had to leave my pc on for about 4 months to back it all up. I don't think I'll be renewing my subscription when it's up.

I've tried CrashPlan too, and it will use all my upload bandwidth if I want it to, but it keeps losing the connection with the backup servers. So I'm relying on two external hard drives instead. I keep one at work and swap them out every couple of weeks to keep an up-to-date backup at a remote location.

Hi there.

ONLINE backup IMO for HOME users is usually a WASTE of time -- since most home broadband connections have pretty terrible UPLOAD speeds (download speeds are usually fine).

So just imagine the time taken to backup up on an online service a typical music collection of 200 GB !!!!.

I'm not sure either that the offline backup services would allow you much more than a very small amount of free space -- quite often these days with music, photos, other multi-media, documents etc it's quite easy to need 1TB (One TB / terrabyte = 1,000 GB for those who aren't sure) or more of regular backups - you don't have to do it all at once but you can NEVER have too much backup.

That very well known law -- the only law in the known universe that has NO EXCEPTIONS-- states that the only time you actually haven't taken a backup is the time when YOU WILL NEED IT.

The best bet is to have TWO copies and store one say at a colleagues house, your office desk at work, your mum's - anywhere in fact away from your own house.

You could even rent one of those "self storage" places -- a bit overkill here I think.

The easiest solution is just take one of the backup copies to your work / school and store it in a desk / locker etc.


Hi to previous poster --- leaving your PC on for 4 months -- the cost of Electricity alone would have paid for about 3 or even 4 of the latest 1 TB external self powered small USB drives !!!!!! and where I am in IS. electricity (volcanoes permitting) is relatively cheap since most of it is locally thermally (clean) generated.


Cheers
jimbo

I loved carbonite until I realized it didn't back up external drives, when i have some money again I'm going to try backblaze.

Hi there
you must have a very understanding and FAST ISP broadband provider if you can regularly backup TB's (terrabytes) worth of data online.

Cheers
jimbo

As a broadband user with a 1Mbps upload speed, I don't have the throughput to really even consider online backups.

I use multiple USB 2.0 drives, and I simply keep them offsite in the event of catastrophe. I usually keep 1 locked in a desk drawer at work. Also considered a safety deposit box at the bank for the other drive. Pull it once a month and rotate it with the drive that I keep at work.

LOL, not quite that expensive here. Electricity costs about $0.15 per kWh, so it costs about $1.00 a day to run the PC for 24 hours. I could get one and a half 1TB external USB drives for 4 months of 24 hour a day PC usage.

Carbonite was just insanely sloooow. The external drives solution ended up being best for me.

If carbonite was seeded it would would work better. I'm now on crashplan which is pretty much just as slow but after the initial backup you dont need to upload TB of stuff anymoere, just small amounts of data.