Would like opinions on Carbonite

[Ken90630]

Any of you guys/gals use it, and if so, what's your take? What are the pros & cons? And how does it compare to Mozy?

Someone told me that Carbonite backs up at random times whenever the computer is online, but I don't know if that's true. I would think that could be annoying if the user were right in the middle of something and had to deal with a slowdown while their PC uploaded gigs of data to Carbonite's storage server.

Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[yinan]

The basic version does not backup network drives. But I do not think a user would experience a slow down because their drive is more than likely faster than their upload speed.

I have considered getting it so I can have another backup of my media library. I just wonder how long it would take to upload 10TB of stuff.....

 

[r0k]

I haven't tried carbonite. I use crashplan. I've been very happy so far and we have had to recover one of our machines using crashplan so I know it works. We use Macs but crashplan works on Windows and Linux as well. Crashplan costs money to store files on their servers. I haven't tried backing up a network drive just yet but I expect it would work just fine.

 

[corkyg]

I would never rely on the cloud for anything. I keep all my data backed up on duplicate drives in different computers.

But, Carbonite is as good as any.

 

[FoxFifth]

I like Mozy but haven't used Carbonite so can't compare the two. I also back up to an external USB drive -- but in the event of fire or theft having a cloud backup seems like a good idea.

 

[mike2fix]

I've been using Carbonite for a year or two, quite pleased with it. The initial backup which was around 100G took about a month as I recall. Once it does the initial backup, the updates are pretty seamless, it immediately marks changed files and backs them up in the background, I have seen no slowdown due to this process and usually can't tell it's happening. There are green dots on the files that are backed up or yellow/orange if pending backup.

 

[corkyg]

Another good option for specific valuables is a DVD or drive stored off site as in a bank safe deposit box.

 

[Gooberlx2]

I haven't tried carbonite. I use crashplan. I've been very happy so far and we have had to recover one of our machines using crashplan so I know it works. We use Macs but crashplan works on Windows and Linux as well. Crashplan costs money to store files on their servers. I haven't tried backing up a network drive just yet but I expect it would work just fine.

Yeah, Crashplan works well for me at both home and work. I have it running on a server which all the other systems (under the same account) can automatically use as a backup destination.

I believe the consumer version won't backup to/from a network drive without some workarounds. The issue is because a user's mapped drive isn't seen by a system service. The workaround is something like making a scheduled task, which runs at boot, executed by the system, to map the desired drive.

 

[Miramonti]

I would never rely on the cloud for anything. I keep all my data backed up on duplicate drives in different computers.

But, Carbonite is as good as any.

Another good option for specific valuables is a DVD or drive stored off site as in a bank safe deposit box.

That's crazy.

The cloud is an excellent additional layer of protection, and usually the best offsite option for someone. A bank safe would only make sense for critical data who's state doesn't change.

If you're going to store anything critical on a dvd and put it in a bank safe deposit box, you better make multiple copies on different brand dvd's because they often don't last long and are very unreliable over time, even stored in a temperature controlled room in the dark. Burned disc media sucks for permanent storage imo.

 

[pcslookout]

I use my own service because it is free and I can add as much storage as I want. The biggest advantage is I don't have to worry about the speed of my connection. Though when I need to access data remotely away from home I easily can. Normally stream it so it is loading while I am using it. Feels much faster and I don't have to wait.