Service like Backupify that doesn't require Google Apps?

January 15, 2013 5:49 AM

I am finally going to stop using a paper calendar and start using my laptop/iPhone/iPad instead. However, having used ol' reliable paper for so many years, I'm a bit paranoid about using Google calendar (or an app) and then losing all my data somehow... Is there an iPhone/iPad calendar app that would make me feel more "secure," or is there a service like Backupify that doesn't require a Google Apps account? I'd love to back up my Gmail too, if possible. (Am I just worrying too much? Is using iCloud enough? I am clearly clueless.)
posted by trillian to technology (9 answers total)

How to make a local backup of pretty much everything Google.
posted by flabdablet at 6:08 AM on January 15 [2 favorites]

enabling offline mode in google calendar might relieve some of your anxiety. It downloads your date from the google cloud to your computer, you can access it when you're not online. That also means, of course, that should Google melt down and lose all your data, it's on your computer....

Personally, if the issue isn't privacy, I believe the redundancy of Google's system secures and maintains my info better than either my own computer or a paper calendar....
posted by HuronBob at 7:06 AM on January 15

I strongly believe that in order for google to loose my info something has gone so wrong in the world that needing to know what time my dental appointment is on Saturday is not going to be an issue.
posted by magnetsphere at 7:15 AM on January 15 [2 favorites]

As far as services that store data for you (like Google apps) I would say that Google Apps is one of the best places because Google is such a big company with many years of experience and a solid infrastructure dedicated just to storing data reliably for their users.

That said, what you should prepare for is that you might accidentally delete something you realize you shouldn't have, so it's always a good idea to keep recent backups of your data. flabdablet has shared a useful link above, and there's also http://www.dataliberation.org/ which is run by a team at Google and is all about exporting data out of their services.

I'm not familiar with Backupify but it seems like they basically automate the task of creating the backups described above and then restoring the data for you. If you'd like someone else to do that work for you (especially if you would like it done on a very frequent and regular basis) then go ahead and use it, it doesn't seem too expensive especially if it's user friendly and can restore your data for you automatically. I'm not sure what you mean by "a service like Backupify that doesn't require a Google Apps account". Google Apps is where all your data is in this case, and Backupify would just keep historical copies of it in case you need to restore data. If you're not using Google Apps then you'd still need some other Calendar data provider but if you're talking about using a synced up calendar on all your mobile devices then you have to use something like Google Apps.

Here's a blog post from backupify about the causes of data loss from google apps http://blog.backupify.com/2011/10/06/infographic-63-of-google-apps-data-loss-is-due-to-user-error-0-is-due-to-google/
I know that company blogs are marketing devices but consider that Backupfy would have a lot to gain from data loss on Google's part.

It's tough to know how far to take your trust when you can't see the stuff being stored but your data at Google is stored in multiple hard drives on multiple computers in multiple physical places in the country if not the rest of the world. There's more redundancy in the way Google stores your data than you could possibly set up on your own or through most other services. It's worth trusting in my opinion.
posted by musicismath at 7:16 AM on January 15

Backupify is for users of Google Apps For Your Domain, not regular gmail/calendar users, if I read their website right. The OP is a regular gmail/calendar user and looking for an equivalent to backupify.
posted by jacalata at 9:44 AM on January 15

I don't think there is a web service to backup a personal google account like backupify (which I use for a client's domain on Google Apps) but if you have a Mac with 10.7+ you can use CloudPull. It runs automatically every X hours so you can set it and forget it and it will be continuously making backups.

If seems like you're asking if iCloud backs up your gmail, by which I assume you are asking if the iPhone's iCloud backup is backing up Gmail? The answer to that is no, it's backing up the settings to add the account to your phone so you don't have to re-enter the info if you get a new phone. iTunes backups of the phone would likewise also not backup Gmail, only the settings for the account.

It's tough to know how far to take your trust when you can't see the stuff being stored but your data at Google is stored in multiple hard drives on multiple computers in multiple physical places in the country if not the rest of the world. There's more redundancy in the way Google stores your data than you could possibly set up on your own or through most other services. It's worth trusting in my opinion.

Wow, I couldn't disagree with this more. Google makes mistakes, and there is no support number for you to call. People have had success with getting their data restored from Google but plenty have not and the process will be difficult. People also routinely get their google accounts broken into and sometimes the perpetrator erases all of the email.
posted by ridogi at 10:41 AM on January 15

Thanks, everyone.
posted by trillian at 11:43 AM on January 15

Good point ridogi. Google does not have a good support system when things go wrong.

Also, it's worth mentioning that if you're using any Google products, enabling two step verification drastically reduces the chances that someone could steal your login. I think everyone using any Google service should have this enabled. Many other large service providers for email and data offer this feature as well. Everyone who I have personally known to have their email password stolen did not have this feature enabled.
posted by musicismath at 3:21 PM on January 15

Also worth a reminder is the fact that any backup on a device you can't physically put your hands on is not your backup. The Cloud is cute and all, but clouds do occasionally blow away.
posted by flabdablet at 2:29 AM on January 16