Backing Up
December 25th 2009 06:35
The other day I received an ezine recommending the back-up service Carbonite. The information given made it seem a pretty good option - basically it backs up anything that's changed as soon as the computer is idle. The price wasn't so hot - $55US, which translates into some $100NZ - but that wasn't the biggest deal.
It was when I started to look around and see what other people said about it that I began to have qualms about its value. Now I have to say that the worst reviews of it I've seen have been from 2007/8, which should have given Carbonite time to pick up any problems.
The reviews on Amazon are basically pretty negative - the system works well when you're uploading, but woe to you when you want:
(1) help
(2) to restore your data.
Carbonite doesn't come across well in either of these areas. On the FreshThinking blog there's even the ironical sight of a blogger complaining about the lack of customer service for three whole weeks after a complaint was sent which suddenly gets replied to just after the blog post appears. Nothing like a bit of negative blogging to bring the customer service people out of the woodwork. When you treat your customers like mugs ('custom mugs', we might call them!) don't expect your customer to suddenly kowtow to your arrival on the scene.
In this blog there's also some good discussion amongst the comments of another online backup service: Mozy. Mozy comes off better than Carbonite in these comments, but you'll note that instead of annual fee, there's a monthly one, which, of course, quickly adds up the cost. Apparently if you pay the year in advance you get one month free, so it's compatible with Carbonite's cost.
Simply Offsite is another option mentioned, but their site is minimal in information, to say the least. Which is odd, considering they're supposed to be more expensive. They're obviously not using the profit to upgrade their site!
Crashplan looks more promising. It certainly explains a lot more, and seems to be pretty well priced. It would be one I'd consider if I was making decisions. Certainly the reviews in general seem to be more positive than not. Here's one example.
It was when I started to look around and see what other people said about it that I began to have qualms about its value. Now I have to say that the worst reviews of it I've seen have been from 2007/8, which should have given Carbonite time to pick up any problems.
The reviews on Amazon are basically pretty negative - the system works well when you're uploading, but woe to you when you want:
(1) help
(2) to restore your data.
Carbonite doesn't come across well in either of these areas. On the FreshThinking blog there's even the ironical sight of a blogger complaining about the lack of customer service for three whole weeks after a complaint was sent which suddenly gets replied to just after the blog post appears. Nothing like a bit of negative blogging to bring the customer service people out of the woodwork. When you treat your customers like mugs ('custom mugs', we might call them!) don't expect your customer to suddenly kowtow to your arrival on the scene.
In this blog there's also some good discussion amongst the comments of another online backup service: Mozy. Mozy comes off better than Carbonite in these comments, but you'll note that instead of annual fee, there's a monthly one, which, of course, quickly adds up the cost. Apparently if you pay the year in advance you get one month free, so it's compatible with Carbonite's cost.
Simply Offsite is another option mentioned, but their site is minimal in information, to say the least. Which is odd, considering they're supposed to be more expensive. They're obviously not using the profit to upgrade their site!
Crashplan looks more promising. It certainly explains a lot more, and seems to be pretty well priced. It would be one I'd consider if I was making decisions. Certainly the reviews in general seem to be more positive than not. Here's one example.
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