|
I have Carbonite (similar to Mozy) for my online back up. I was also backing up to a USB external drive but recently I exceeded it's capacity so I need to get on the stick and finish modding the case (Antec 200) I'm going to move my current computer innards into so I can get another 1TB HDD and use it in the 3.5" external swap bay of the new case. I don't want to get a USB dock like Adoby's (the USB dock is a good idea, though, if anyone is interested) because I don't really have room for more hardware knocking about now and I plan on moving into even smaller quarters in the not too distant future.
I like Carbonite (I'm sure Mozy isn't much different) because it does it's thing without intervention on my part (there are a few file types not automatically backed up, such as .exe files and files over a certain size, 4GB, I believe, but thoise can be manually set; it's so rare I have to do that--mostly for program installation files I've downloaded and keep a copy of--it's not a big deal). It hovers in the background, using little ram, waiting for a lull in activity before starting to upload back ups to its servers. If I create, download, whatever, a critical file, I can manually tell Carbonite to back it up now. With Carbonite, I don't have to worry about remembering to do my backups; forgetting once in a while won't be fatal.
Carbonite doesn't do system backups. It will back up multiple HHDs but not external HHDs. Because of the massive amount of data being transmitted, a constant on broadband connection is needed; it will not work with dialup. Because of the amount of time required to retrieve large blocks of data and because it is intended just for data and not system files, I do not recommend it as a primary backup scheme. However, because it does relatively instant incremental backups with time limited versioning, it is an excellent secondary back up scheme for the periods between your manual backups and will preserve all your data should the worst happen and you lose both your machine and your local backup (such as from fire, flood, storm, or theft). The home version is inexpensive: $55/year for unlimited back ups (I believe Mozy is $60; both get good reviews).
(Disclaimer: I do not work for Carbonite nor own Carbonite stock.)
|