Online Computer Backups

We are a nonprofit of 7 people (1 mac, 5 pc laptops, 1 pc desktop) in multiple locations.  It doesn't make sense for us to have a server.

Does anyone know of a free/cheap online document backup company that does it automatically?  (automatic is key here-- we want to set it up and then for it to just happen, and never think of it again unless disaster strikes and a computer crashes)

Thanks so much,

Dana

Free?  I'm not aware of any.  Cheap?  The cheapest I know of is JungleDisk [ www.jungledisk.com ] - they've included a workgroup version and now support Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.  I don't know that its the easiest to set up, but at $0.15 per GB per month - plus some very small transfer fees and licensing fees.  It's pretty cheap.

The other two that I know of are Mozy and Carbonite.  They are, in my opinion, neck-and-neck competitors when it comes to the service they offer.  I prefer Mozy, but either would work for you.  They each have "home" accounts for sale at about $50 / yr with unlimited storage.  Mozy also has a MozyPro service, which is more managable from a control panel, but its a bit of a bear to use.

Great- thanks.  We'll look into all 3 of those suggestions.

Best,

Dana

Hi Dana,

Mozy is a popular online backup service.  Their free service gives you 2GB of online storage.  An unlimited-backup plan is also offered @ $4.95/month per computer.  Also check out their MozyPro service which seems to provide good value.  The one drawback I've experienced using Mozy is the slow speed (takes a while to perform backups), but the MozyPro service should be faster.

Additional backup providers that come recommended:

- IDrive

- Intronis

These two players offer decent pricing as well.  I'd check them out too.

Yann

Either you roll your own solution and/or do it manually OR you buy a service like Mozy or Carbonite.

It all boils down to fast, good, and cheap...pick any two. :)

Rolling your own solution = good and cheap

Mozy/Carbonite = fast and good

If you're rolling you're own, consider LogMeIn Backup (if you have only Windows systems).  It can be a lot cheaper if you have a lot of data.

For the "roll your own" option...we already rent web hosting space...enough to use multi-GB for file backup purposes. I have GoodSync Pro ($29.95 one time) on my machine. It keeps all computers on my network in sync with the backup files out on the Internet, plus GoodSync makes local backups, as well. It is very flexible on scheduling, selecting which folders to backup and whether to sync one way or both ways, etc. If you are already paying for excess storage space on the Internet (with a web host), then a one-time $29.95 charge is hard to beat for cheap.