After all the articles I’ve written on the merits of Online Backup, I thought it worthwhile to compile those thoughts into an eHow article for the Internet masses. Each of the different service providers offer different feature sets, work with different types of devices and/or Operating systems, and it seems like it could quickly and easily get confusing for a “non-techie”. In the article I cover the following popular services (all of which I’ve mentioned on this blog in the past): Mozy, BackBlaze, SugarSync, DropBox, and iDrive.
As such, I bring you my latest eHow creation: How to Choose Between Online Backup Service Providers.
UPDATE: Ehow cancelled their Writers Compensation Program and returned the article publishing rights to me exclusively. As such, here is the article I published:
How to Choose Between Online Backup Service Providers
With Online Data Backup services becoming more affordable and commonplace, it becomes difficult to determine which service will meet your needs. Many of the services offer similar functionality at different prices. This article aims to help Home or Small Business IT decision-makers determine the Online Backup (or “Remote Backup”) solution that best fits their needs. In this article we examine the differences between several of the top Online Backup providers: Mozy, BackBlaze, iDrive, DropBox, and Sugarsync.
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Instructions
Things You’ll Need
- Credit Card
- USB Hard Drive (Optional)
Are you backing up information at Home or at your Business?
Home: iDrive, Dropbox, and Mozy offer FREE accounts with 2 to 5 GB of space for home users. Backblaze and Sugarsync work for home as well, but require a paid subscription.
Business: Mozy has the most bells and whistles with their dedicated business plans, including support for backup of Exchange and SQL. iDrive has a dedicated Business plan with quite a number of features. Backblaze is the most basic, but provides unlimited storage capacity.
Decide the Amount of Space Required
NOTE: Mozy, iDrive, SugarSync, and Dropbox all offer a free account with 2 to 5GB of storage space.
Unlimited: Backblaze and Mozy are the only services in this comparison that offer unlimited storage capacity. Backblaze is also the only one that offers to mail you your data on a USB Hard Drive if you need to retrieve it. Mozy and Backblaze offer the ability to have DVD’s of your data mailed to you.
Metered: You have the following “tiers” of data storage (Home – Business)
- iDrive: 150Gb, 500GB – 50GB, 100GB, 500GB
- Mozy:
Unlimited, no metering – Unlimited for Business, but metered and charged per GB.Mozy is now a Metered service in much the same way iDrive and SugarSync are. - SugarSync: 30GB, 60GB, 100GB, 250GB
- DropBox: 50GB, 100GB
Backup or Sync?
Do you want to sync files between multiple computers? In other words, if you change a file on your desktop, do you want it automatically copied to your laptop?
Yes: Sugarsync and Dropbox are the only two services in this comparison which have this feature. This is great if you want to move data between a number of machines (such as laptop and desktop), or want to share files with other people.
No/Don’t Care: BackBlaze, iDrive, and Mozy deal more with backup and restore of data on individual machines, rather than moving data around between a number of machines.
Special Features:
Do you require any of the following specialized features?
- Versioning: This allows you to restore a previous copy of a backed-up file. BackBlaze, DropBox, and Mozy keep 30 days worth of previous versions of your files. IDrive keeps the last 30 versions, and Sugarsync keeps the latest 5 versions of a file.
- Continuous Data Protection: Automatic backup of files after they have been created or changed. Backblaze, iDrive, DropBox, Mozy and SugarSync provide near continuous data protection.
- Mobile Access: Dropbox has an application for iPhone. Sugarsync supports iPhone/iPad, Android, and a few other mobile devices.
- Locked File Support: This allows the backup client to save files which are open and/or locked (such is usually the case with Outlook PST or Quickbooks files). Mozy and iDrive support backup of open/locked files.
- Network Drive Support: Backblaze is currently the only service in this comparison that does not allow backup of Network/Mapped drives.
- Large File Support: Backblaze is currently the only service that caps the allowable size (4GB) of an individual file.
Looking for us to make the decision for you?
If you still can’t figure out what works best for you, here are our recommendations:
- Home User (1 computer):
- Home User (multiple computers and/or mobile devices): SugarSync
- Home User (Linux OS’s): DropBox
- Business User: Mozy Pro (first choice), iDrive (2nd Choice), BackBlaze (3rd Choice).
Tips & Warnings
- If you prefer to manually control your backup times through scheduling, be sure to stagger your backup times so that you don’t overwhelm your Internet connection.
- If you do not have broadband Internet, check out the iDrive Portable software or CrashPlan as an interim solution until you are ready for broadband Internet and Online Backup.
- If you wish to use an Online Backup provider, be sure you have a broadband Internet connection.
- The first backup takes the most time and bandwidth, as all the contents you’ve selected for backup must be pushed to your service provider. If you are setting up multiple computers for Online Backup, be sure to stagger the first backups so that you don’t overwhelm your Internet connection!
- Scheduled backup jobs will only run when the computer is powered on. Make sure you don’t leave your computer powered off if you wish to keep your your backups up-to-date.
I hope this article sheds some light on the differences between the previously mentioned Online Backup providers. I also realize there are other providers as well, and if there is a strong outcry I can add them to the article. As always, I’m available if you have additional questions or feedback – just leave a comment or Contact Me. Thanks!
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