Online backup
With online services easier to use and cheaper than ever, there’s now no excuse not to back up your files, says Stuart Andrews.
Amazingly, according to research from Harris Interactive, 35% of PC users still don’t have any sort of personal backup regime in place.
Given the ever-increasing threat of malware, the risk of hardware failure, and the less than perfect stability of Windows and its applications, that isn’t just foolish, it’s also irresponsible.
There really is no excuse. Even if you or your business don’t want to invest time or money in backup hardware, online backup services now provide an inexpensive, highly convenient way to keep your most vital data safe, whatever happens.
In fact, online solutions have several advantages over the standard software/hardware approach. First, there are no initial hardware costs, just a regular monthly or annual subscription.
And the services are designed for convenience: decide what you want to back up and how often you want to do it, and the service takes care of it for you.
All you need is an internet connection. Some services even offer live protection, meaning any files or folders you’ve selected are backed up as soon as any changes are made to them.
Best of all, because the services are off-site, your data is safe whatever happens to your computer, home or business. Lost laptop? House fire? Flood? At least your files will still be in one piece, and can be restored within a matter of minutes.
The only major drawbacks are that online backup can be slow – it can take more than 12 hours to transfer a single gigabyte of data over an ADSL connection – and as you usually pay for capacity, this means it isn’t suitable for full-scale backups of an entire disk.
Nonetheless, don’t underestimate what you can store; in most services the initial backup takes a long time, but after that the service only uploads any changes to the stored data, sometimes to the binary bit level.
We’ve tested eight of the most popular online backup services here, evaluating them for convenience, speed of transfer, the security of your data, and the efficiency of any live protection systems. With services starting from no cost at all, there’s no reason not to get protected.
How we test
And, how the products are rated:
If you’re putting your own personal data online or backing up your business files, security is of paramount importance. By security, we mean two things.
First, physical security: you need to know your data resides on protected servers in a safe place. Any good online backup service will store user files on locked and guarded premises with CCTV coverage. The data may also be mirrored across one or more servers or even one or more datacenters.
Second, we mean electronic security. Major backup services will use SSL or TLS encryption, and files will usually be encrypted either before or after transfer using a 256- to 448-bit Blowfish algorithm, or 256-bit AES. Neither system has yet been broken.
Some vendors also allow you to supply your own password, ensuring that even the people holding your data won’t be able to access it.
Easy does itEase of use, convenience and efficiency are also important. Online backup services provide scheduled and/or automatic backups. In the first case, the service makes an initial backup then copies over any changed files in protected folders at a set time each day or week.
In the latter case, any new or changed files are backed up within hours or even minutes of alteration.
Automatic services can be designed to run while your PC is idle, and some include a bandwidth throttle to limit the amount of bandwidth used.
The initial backup is best run at night, when online traffic is at its lowest. The initial backup may be a pain, but you should only have to do it once – the speed of the restore is more important.
Some services also support a drag-and-drop mode, enabling you to back up or restore files just by dragging and dropping them as if with a networked drive. Others provide “versioning” or “snapshot” support, where multiple versions of a file are stored to protect against corruption or changes made by mistake.
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| Feature table (click on image for larger size) |
Finally, it’s worth noting whether services can deal with open or locked files. For instance, you may need to back up your Outlook .pst file while the program is still running.
Different strokesOnline backup services come in both consumer and business or enterprise-level varieties, with the latter typically having better technical support (often 24-hour phone support), plus options to back up servers or SQL databases and request recovery files on hard disk or DVD.
Obviously, such features will be most useful in the business arena, and if you’re merely looking to store personal data, a more basic service will be easier to use and cheaper – or even free.
If you’re putting your own personal data online or backing up your business files, security is of paramount importance. By security, we mean two things.
First, physical security: you need to know your data resides on protected servers in a safe place. Any good online backup service will store user files on locked and guarded premises with CCTV coverage.
The data may also be mirrored across one or more servers or even one or more datacenters.
Second, we mean electronic security. Major backup services will use SSL or TLS encryption, and files will usually be encrypted either before or after transfer using a 256- to 448-bit Blowfish algorithm, or 256-bit AES. Neither system has yet been broken.
Some vendors also allow you to supply your own password, ensuring that even the people holding your data won’t be able to access it.
Easy does itEase of use, convenience and efficiency are also important. Online backup services provide scheduled and/or automatic backups. In the first case, the service makes an initial backup then copies over any changed files in protected folders at a set time each day or week.
In the latter case, any new or changed files are backed up within hours or even minutes of alteration.
Automatic services can be designed to run while your PC is idle, and some include a bandwidth throttle to limit the amount of bandwidth used. The initial backup is best run at night, when online traffic is at its lowest.
The initial backup may be a pain, but you should only have to do it once – the speed of the restore is more important.
Some services also support a drag-and-drop mode, enabling you to back up or restore files just by dragging and dropping them as if with a networked drive. Others provide “versioning” or “snapshot” support, where multiple versions of a file are stored to protect against corruption or changes made by mistake.
Finally, it’s worth noting whether services can deal with open or locked files. For instance, you may need to back up your Outlook .pst file while the program is still running.
Different strokesOnline backup services come in both consumer and business or enterprise-level varieties, with the latter typically having better technical support (often 24-hour phone support), plus options to back up servers or SQL databases and request recovery files on hard disk or DVD.
Obviously, such features will be most useful in the business arena, and if you’re merely looking to store personal data, a more basic service will be easier to use and cheaper – or even free.
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This Group Test appeared in the February, 2009 issue of PC & Tech Authority Magazine
