Online Backup: Are You Working Without A Net?

Many, many moons ago, I finished a lengthy document and saved it to one of those portable thumb drives? Shortly thereafter the crappy little thing died, the document was irretrievably lost, and I had to do it over.

A short and somewhat ordinary story in retrospect, but if you’ve ever lost a document—or an afternoon’s work—you know that the actual moment was long and vibrant, full of colorful language, whimpers of denial, and gnashing of teeth.

The aftermath was just as exciting, between trying to revive the thumb drive (deader than a hammer), attempting to recover something—anything!—from the computer I had worked on (a public PC wiped clean between users), then sadly and frantically recreating what I had lost. All before a nearing deadline.

And all because I didn’t have a backup. I could have avoided those hours of tearful re-work by simply emailing myself a copy.

Thankfully, with nifty Web tools and the Internet’s nostalgic tendency, it’s nearly as simple to store all of our files somewhere (else) safe and recover archived copies of our Web work.

Online Backup Services

When we’re at our computers, external hard drives and such are perfect for storing copies of our data right at hand. I also keep a backup of my backup on CDs/DVDs in a fireproof safe particularly rated for computer media. Yeah, I’m crazy like that.

Still, I believe my remote backup is the most critical part of my data protection setup. Here’s why—

• If our place was burgled, the thieves would likely take the server and the safe, along with the computer…leaving me with nothing.
• If it was destroyed by fire or flood or whatever, who knows when I’d be allowed to pick through the ashes/wreckage to recover my work?

Dreadful scenarios to consider, but valid arguments for storing data offsite. And so I value my remote backup the most, and I heart Carbonite* because it’s easy to setup, secure, relatively cheap at $54.95/year, and offers unlimited storage space.

Best bit about Carbonite: my new and edited files are automatically backed up throughout the day. I “set it and forget it” over a year ago, and it’s saved my heiny more than once.

Mozy looks like another good’un, though I haven’t tried it. The service is free for up to 2G, but unlimited storage costs $4.95/mth = $59.40/year). There are plenty of other online backup services, but these two look the best to me.

That said, I’m wary of iDrive, which looks and prices the same as Carbonite and Mozy, but does not offer unlimited storage. Also, while iDrive Pro has additional features for managing backups on multiple workstations, it costs twice as much for far less storage space than iDrive Basic, and also a monthly fee if we go over our storage limit and don’t upgrade to a beefier (and more expensive) plan. Hmph.

Last Thoughts On Online Backups

A key issue with any backup system that doesn’t go without saying: data storage is only half the solution, recovering your data is the rest. Whether you’ve got dedicated hardware, special software, or an online service—

• Test the recovery process to make sure it works! I’ve restored both files and folders from Carbonite with easy success.
  Note: I need to try recovering the whole kit-and-kaboodle too…
  
• Because of data structure, it may not be possible to restore data to a different operating system.
  Example, a Windows XP workstation’s backup may not restore easily (or at all) to a Windows Vista workstation or a Mac.
  

* Yup, this is an affiliate link because Carbonite is a product I enjoy, recommend, and use every day.

Next time » Online Backup Resources: The Internet Remembers

Et tu? How do you protect your work? Do you keep it in a safe? Do you keep it out in space? Do you stick it some other place? Lemme know down below…

Tagged as: backup

Photo credit: Mark Setchell