Carbonite On Line Backup ?

Mark Phelps said:

WARNING: Personal opinion follows ...

Given the low cost of external drives today, I don't see any value in using an online service to do data backups.

Additionally, I'm not really comfortable with the idea of some online service having easy access to all my data. I don't care what their Terms of Service say, the harsh reality is that, any System Admin with access to the data is a target for data mining -- and that's presuming that such info is not made public by accident. Every week, I read about another online service that has "accidentally" released the contents of thousands, or tens of thousands, of customer info records.

So, no -- I'd rather NOT use an online service when I can get a 2TB drive locally for under $75. And, when done, lock that drive up in a place which will survive breakins and fires. And, if you're really worried about your house burning down, there is the option of putting the drive into a Safe Deposit Box.

But ... as I said, personal opinion.

Hi there

I think if your house burned down you really would have mega other problems to worry about than recovering PC data.

However facetiousness aside you really ARE better off with external USB's for taking data backups.

Just ensure that you have critical / important / non reproduceable data backed up to 2 DIFFERENT pieces of media just in case one fails -- cost of your Music / Photos / whatever will be FAR FAR more than the cost of one or two cheap external USB drives.

Online backups are OK if you are only talking about a few CD's worth of data -- these days that's not even the amount you could store on an average usb stick -- Never mind the amount of data you could fit on to an external drive.

As Pparks1 has said (and I said it too !!) a good place to store a second backup is in your desk at work / school. If you aren't working try your Mum's or a friend's place for the 2nd copy -- but DO HAVE 2 COPIES.

Cheers

jimbo

Portable TB drives and a fire safe here.

Most files are Acronis Images of my own machines and clients machines from my little side business which still carries a large amount of liability (if you know what I mean) :)

I have used Carbonite for a short while and it was really complicated contacting their support team is almost impossible I don’t recommend using it at all, glad that I cancelled my subscription with them. I had to start looking for an alternative as the external hard drive is not safe as you said in case of any unexpected disasters, currently I am using Timeline Cloud the set up was very easy it took few minutes only ,also I am enjoying the ability to view my data through Android . Definitely recommend checking it. You can check them here: Timeline Cloud | Pure Cloud Backup, Restore & Disaster Recovery Solution for Businesses

CharlesD said:

I have used Carbonite for a short while and it was really complicated contacting their support team is almost impossible I don’t recommend using it at all, glad that I cancelled my subscription with them. I had to start looking for an alternative as the external hard drive is not safe as you said in case of any unexpected disasters, currently I am using Timeline Cloud the set up was very easy it took few minutes only ,also I am enjoying the ability to view my data through Android . Definitely recommend checking it. You can check them here: Timeline Cloud | Pure Cloud Backup, Restore & Disaster Recovery Solution for Businesses

I found that contacting them was easy. I just clicked on the "chat" option and within seconds was dealing with a tech.

I think the beauty of these "cloud" backups is that they are there just in case. They are just another backup option. They will not replace the use of external drives but supplement them.

However my backup started on 19th May and is still going ! 114 GB done 22GB to go.