Online backup services

December 16, 2008 12:25 PM

What is the best online backup service?

I have two computers that I would like to backup (work and home). They share some files, but not others. Ideally I would like one solution that would allow me to backup all of the files online as well as sync the files that are shared on both machines.

Right now my preference is for online so I don't have to worry about a loss because of theft, or fire, etc. of an external drive. Also using an external drive for both of my machines requires me to lug it back and forth every day.

I am willing to pay, but cheaper is better. In total with music and pictures I probably have around 25GB of files total.

BTW, this was prompted by this earlier question.

posted by bove to computers & internet (14 answers total)

Dropbox will allow you to sync the files as well as online. You get 5 GB to start with and then can be upgraded to 50GB for $9.99 a month or $99 a year. The only downside is that you have to put the files in the "dropbox" folder.
posted by lilkeith07 at 12:38 PM on December 16, 2008

Dropbox.

And there are ways around the dropbox-folder thing.
posted by dmd at 12:39 PM on December 16, 2008

Any personal experience with Mozy or Carbonite? Is there a reason Dropbox is better than one of them?
posted by bove at 12:44 PM on December 16, 2008

I like Mozy, but I've never tried any other service. It just works and getting access to your backups is relatively painless. You would have to pay for that much space, though--I think you get 2GB free.

Microsoft SkyDrive just went live and gives you 25gb of space free. Haven't tried it, but planning to--I've used their Office Live workspace and Foldershare apps and liked both, so no reason to think SkyDrive wouldn't be equally as functional (or disfunctional, depending on your personal feelings about Microsoft).
posted by jtfowl0 at 1:13 PM on December 16, 2008

Oops...sorry. SkyDrive doesn't seem to be a backup service so much as just storage space where you have to upload files yourself. Still could be useful for a music and picture collection, though.
posted by jtfowl0 at 1:16 PM on December 16, 2008

Check Lifehacker, they did a Mozy v. Carbonite nerd-off and there's a lot of good observations there. You can search for it.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 1:27 PM on December 16, 2008

Also, when you posted this question I think you saw a link to this related question from seven months ago. it's the same one you're asking now.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 1:29 PM on December 16, 2008

I've been using JungleDisk based on the previous rec and love it.
posted by miss tea at 1:36 PM on December 16, 2008

I've been using Mozy for a while now and like it quite a bit, but I think SugarSync is what you're looking for.
posted by MattS at 2:15 PM on December 16, 2008

I use Data Deposit Box for my data (my photos are on smugmug and flickr). Very reliable for years.
posted by bru at 2:46 PM on December 16, 2008

Yes, I had seen the previous post, but I wasn't sure if Mozy would work for my syncing needs as well as just backup. SugarSync looks really intriguing on both the features and price front.
posted by bove at 3:20 PM on December 16, 2008

Dropbox, though if you're using a Mac forget it for backup, as it drops resource forks and mangles packages.
posted by bonaldi at 7:57 PM on December 16, 2008

How sensitive is your data? Would you feel better if it was encrypted with a key only you have access to, or would you really not care if it's just dumped unencrypted on some random bunch of disks somewhere provided it's somewhere rather safe from data loss?
posted by Freaky at 6:04 PM on December 17, 2008

I ended up going with Dropbox. SugarSync was a little cheaper but Dropbox had the best combination of features and price (as well as an active community for support).

I signed up for their expanded account and so far have nothing but praise for the service. I have especially been impressed by the speed with which everything worked.
posted by bove at 1:18 PM on December 18, 2008