Online backup services

by Staff writers on Jun 7, 2007

Tags: Online | backup | services

3 Comments

SOS Online Backup
SOS isn’t cheap, but it’s more powerful than any of the home-focused offerings. The sheer number of ways you can select files is initially confusing – intelligent filtering, common file-type searching, simple drag and drop – but it makes your options infinitely more flexible.

Backups can be scheduled to run automatically, but the real highlight is SOS LiveProtect, which continuously monitors your chosen files and backs up any changes immediately. It backs up differentially, and you can decide whether to send the whole file or just the modified portion, or even let the software choose for you based on the local disk space available for caching.

To further its business credentials, SOS can back up locked and open files, run as a background service on shared machines and users can also provide their own unrecoverable UltraSafe password for added peace of mind.

Using the website, users can access their saved files from any PC and can even email download links for files to colleagues. Files can be searched by date, size or type to make it simple to find the data you need, and restores can also be carried out across networks from one main interface. For small businesses, SOS’s features more than justify the cost, such as 247 live chat support, and recovery of large backups delivered on DVD. Advanced home users could opt for the Media edition, which restricts you to media files but costs half as much.
Score: 5/6

Ibackup
IBackup is similar to the superb SOS Online Backup, but has a few notable extras. For a start, it has the most comprehensive scheduler, ranging from hourly to monthly, and it can automatically shut down your PC upon completion. It can retain the full file structure of backups to ease restoration and it supports locked files.

SQL and Exchange Server backups are supported, so for larger businesses it may be the only viable option here. But the interface doesn’t make for smooth running; it’s essentially just a standard Explorer window with a few tabs at the top, so configuring and maintaining your detailed backups can be a chore.

We’ve listed the Economy pricing, but there’s also an Advanced subscription that costs around twice the price but has extra features. Snapshots is one, allowing you to restore files from various points in time, and Sub-Accounts can be created on larger subscription plans to allow limited access by employees.

Larger businesses will find IBackup the best option thanks to its advanced features, and it still offers fairly good value. But for smaller businesses without servers, or even home users who want that extra level of control over their data, it can’t match the superb design and implementation of SOS.
4/6

How we tested
In order to test the services, we uploaded 500MB of files from our My Documents folder and then uploaded a further 250MB after a week, once some of the original files had been modified, and new files had been created. At the end of the month, we restored all files to a fresh test rig.

Buyers' Guide
These services can’t all be compared directly, as some are aimed at home users, while others offer business features. Therefore, it’s important to decide exactly what you want from a backup service before you make your decision. Mozy, Carbonite, Boomerang and BullGuard are aimed explicitly at home users, backing up anything from emails and Word documents to music files and videos. They specialise in affordable prices for relatively small capacities. For most people needing to back up a home PC, they offer everything you could need. The only reason home users should consider the others would be for files that are regularly updated or particularly critical. Small businesses will handle both of these on a daily basis, and will have significantly more data to back up remotely, so SOS and IBackup are much more appropriate services.

Pricing Plans

	Mozy	Carbonit	Boomerang	Bullguard Backup	SOS Online Backup	IBackup
Billing	Monthly or Annual	Annual	Annual	Annual	Monthly or Annual	Monthly or Annual
Website	Mozy	Carbonite	Data Barracks	Bullguard	SOS Online Backup	IBackup
1GB	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	US$75	N/A
2GB	Free	N/A	GBP24	$50	US$93	N/A
5GB	N/A	N/A	GBP45	N/A	US$147	US$100
10GB	N/A	N/A	GBP60	N/A	US$237	US$200
20GB	N/A	N/A	GBP72	N/A	US$327	N/A
30GB	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	US$597	N/A
50GB	N/A	N/A	GBP150	N/A	US$957	US$500
60GB	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
100GB	N/A	N/A	GBP240	N/A	US$1857	US$1000
Other	US$5 per month, unlimited	US$50, unlimited	N/A	$25 for each extra GB	Media-only subscription half-price	See website for advance options

This article appeared in the June, 2007 issue of PC Authority.

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Comments: 3

adampasso Oct 10, 2008 9:56 PM	This makes backing up easy and effortless, great for the business user. I’m not to sure if these offer a monitoring service. Try some of these Australian based ones like Quick Backup (www.quickbackup.com.au) or Backup Express. Comment made about the PC Authority article: Online backup services? Guarantee your data is secure by backing it up remotely. We test six of the most popular services. What do you think? Join the discussion.
Hobo_Joe Oct 12, 2008 10:32 AM	Alot of articles on these online backup sites say "Keep your information secure by backing up online" or something to that effect. My question is, how secure are these websites/webservers anyway? I mean isn't it possible that your information being on a remote server under someone elses control could be a little risky? Yes the ones designed for businesses would put extensive security in place to protect their own behinds, but still.. I'd feel a little more at ease knowing my info was secure on my backup configuration.
Nat.W¿LL¿ Oct 12, 2008 10:37 AM	yea i agree there julian. there been alot of talk about this in my course and yea we agreed that how secure is your information in other ppls servers and how reliable are their own backup services if one of their servers kicks the bucket?...or do i just have trust issues:P