Online Backup Systems

Is there a service or program that has easy, automatic online backups? Namely, specifying a few folders to be automatically backed up to an off-site server? I've got about a dozen computers all in different locations that need regular backups and I can't trust the managers to do it manually.

I could probably setup my own server to accept the files, but I'd just as soon use an existing service for that.

http://www.backup.com/

Might have something along the lines of what you're looking for.

Ungh. Have you tried this service? It seems ok until you try to uninstall it. On Windows XP the uninstall doesn't seem to function and the only way to cancel your account is to email their support, which is lame.

So I'm stuck with this damn "backup neighborhood" icon on my desktop until I figure out how to delete it... since apparently they've locked it on there. Awful.

Hey Certis, if you haven't looked at this from this forum, check it out since there are some more choices.

I use a program called Genie Backup manager Pro. It is a well received backup software, and you can schedule it to back up stuff to a FTP server too. Using this software and a service like http://www.ixwebhosting.com/ could work. I have not tested with that hosting place so I cannot say much more about it. But it is another option to consider.

Don't know what you want to spend but at work we recently switched to LiveVault and I believe they offer a personal service as well as business.

A new contender Mozy introduces service with first 2GB free. PC Mag has a review where they speak about it very favorably.

Nice find!

An article by a developer of Omnidrive (another online storage in beta) on the pricing of online utilities.

An interesting perspective on the bidness side of things.

Oh, and they're looking for beta testers.

For those of you who haven't pinged us about geting private beta access, please do so. We are looking for people of fighting age, that know how to fill out a feedback form and are connected to one of the Internets. If this is you, email [email protected] now.

Looks like this Omnidrive service is another round of what has already been done numerously back in dot-com era. However, what we're talking about here is backup -- with automated or scheduled backing up of whole folder structures, with versioning, reports, etc.

Speaking of versioning, BTW, has anyone checked out Startdock's KeepSafe?

So has anyone here used the $4.95 MozyHome? I'm thinking of signing up, but I would like to get some input from people who use it.

I use the free version of Mozy. I only had to use the restore service once, and it worked without any issues. The service that your PC runs continuously has a rather small footprint and is very inobstrusive. Nothing to complain about really.

Gorilla.800.lbs wrote:

The service that your PC runs continuously has a rather small footprint and is very inobstrusive.

Can you set the service to only run at a specific time?

It runs continuously, but you can schedule the actual backup passes to happen at pre-determined times, or to run in detected idle intervals whenever possible.

Mozy can be both set to

a) start backups at a specific time
b) restrict the actual transfer of files to a specific time interval of the day, as well as throttle bandwidth if needed

I've been using it for over a month now. It is selective about which external USB drives it would allow you to backup (only ones that report themselves as local drives apparently) so I got lucky there. It doesn't backup network drives.

In general it is solid. I like it because it allows to backup open Outlook .pst files and it does incremental block-level transfers, i.e. only sends the parts of the file that changed.

Also, it is UNLIMITED STORAGE.

Thanks for the info - I just signed up. If anyone here has a referral code, post and I'll add it; not sure how long the page will be valid for.

I'm using MozyHome, very happy with it. I turn it off until a certain time at night, then it goes and looks for stuff to back up. Easy to set up, then just set the policies and forget it.

I think there's a discount for multiple systems.