"I just had a severe problem with my 6 months old hard disk and don't want to take any chances to lose data. I already ha"

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After an extensive review of online backup services, we have concluded that Mozy Pro is the all-around winner for those serious about online backup protection. Criteria for this evaluation included data transfer speed, software features, service capabilities, etc.

While Mozy also offers an unlimited home service plan, we do not suggest it for most due to the capped transfer speed and one problem that was experienced with the home-level service.

Intronis eSureIT is the runner-up in our testing. While their software is capable, and the service offers some very interesting features, such as Intelliblox and multiple PC backup support, higher pricing, slower transfer speeds, and the fact that revisions count against the disk space quota cause Mozy Pro to come out on top. We have also reported a few suggestions to Intronis regarding usability enhancements that should be made to the software.

IDrive deserves mention. The IDrive software is excellent, and the service works flawlessly for small backups. However, we encountered serious problems when backing up a large collection of files, such as icons or fonts. IDrive provides very attractive pricing. If the issue mentioned above were resolved, we could easily see IDrive moving into the top position.

The only downside we have noticed with Mozy Pro is a delay which often occurs when transitioning between files for upload and download operations. The delay can sometimes be frustrating, but in tests, the overall speed of Mozy Pro still beats the competition.

Update: Please see the comments for an evaluation of the ElephantDrive backup service.

A remote, online, or managed backup service is a service that provides users with an online system for backing up and storing computer files. Online backup providers are companies that provide this type of service.

Online backup systems are typically built around a client software program that runs on a schedule, typically once a day. This program collects, compresses, encrypts, and transfers the data to the remote backup service provider's servers. Other types of product are also available in the market, such as remote continuous data protection (CDP).

Providers of this type of service frequently target specific market segments. High-end LAN-based backup systems may offer services such as near-realtime transaction-level replication or open file backups. Consumer online backup companies frequently have beta software offerings and/or free-trial backup services.

History

Most online/remote backup services came into existence during the heyday of the dotcom boom in the late 1990s with the exception of a few early pioneers like industry originator Rob Cosgrove, CEO of Remote Backup Systems. While the initial years of these service providers were about capturing market share distributed among the top few providers, the large industry players took cognizance of the importance and the role that these online backup providers were playing in the web services arena and M&A activity has become quite predominant in the last few years. Today, most service providers of online backup services position their services using the SaaS (software as a service) strategy and its relevance is predicted to increase exponentially in the years to come as personal and enterprise data storage needs rise. The last few years have also witnessed a healthy rise in the number of online backup providers with them existing independently as also as part of a business unit of a larger industry behemoth.[citation needed]

It is important to have contingency plans in place should anything unexpected happen. I backup pretty regularly but recently the effectiveness of my backup procedures were put to the test!

Hard drive failure

Last Thursday, I switched on my laptop only to be greeted with the error message that my hard drive was corrupted. After trying to test the hard drive in the BIOS, it couldn’t be read. At this point I would have tried putting in the Windows disc to run a repair – the only problem is, I recently emigrated from the UK to the USA and found that I left this rather important disc at home.

Lost data

Fortunately, I practice what I preach. I regularly backup my files and remembered to bring my external hard drives with me to America. My fiancée has a Mac which I am (slowly getting used to) using in the meantime whilst I get someone from home to mail me out my drivers and operating system discs. I am hoping that I can run a repair job on the hard drive – if it has completely failed though, I can pick up a new drive for around $100/£50.

In the meantime, I needed to determine exactly what had been lost. My last backup was around two weeks prior – just before I left the UK. Therefore, my lost data includes:

* All emails received within the past two weeks (If you sent me an email recently and have not received a reply, please contact me again)
* Articles from freelance writers for the past two weeks for my new online community (they were able to resend the articles from their own backups, though)
* Personal photographs taken in the past couple of weeks that hadn’t yet been backed up
* Files sitting on my desktop that kept track of SEO and monetisation experiments and new site ideas/research

All in all, it could have been a lot worse. Having tested my external hard drive, everything I previously backed up is present. All I need to do is get my old laptop up and running, move over the files and I will pretty much be back to where I was before.

You cannot predict data loss

Of course, this had to happen at pretty much the worst time for me. I recently moved to a new country and have just moved into a new apartment. Just when I have the least amount of time to deal with a hard drive failure, one comes and hits me. What made the situation worse was the fact that I had absent-mindedly left the very discs I needed to do a system restore 3,000 miles away in the UK!

Imagine how much more of a nightmare this would have been if I didn’t keep regular backups. Imagine if my websites also went down and I had no backups. Use this article as a warning – backup now, and schedule a regular backup program so that when the worst happens, you are prepared.

9TH JULY, 2008 | COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT | BY MARTIN REED - COMMUNITY MANAGER
It’s not just other people that need to backup!

It is important to have contingency plans in place should anything unexpected happen. I backup pretty regularly but recently the effectiveness of my backup procedures were put to the test!
Hard drive failure
Last Thursday, I switched on my laptop only to be greeted with the error message that my hard drive was corrupted. After trying to test the hard drive in the BIOS, it couldn’t be read. At this point I would have tried putting in the Windows disc to run a repair – the only problem is, I recently emigrated from the UK to the USA and found that I left this rather important disc at home.
Lost data
Fortunately, I practice what I preach. I regularly backup my files and remembered to bring my external hard drives with me to America. My fiancée has a Mac which I am (slowly getting used to) using in the meantime whilst I get someone from home to mail me out my drivers and operating system discs. I am hoping that I can run a repair job on the hard drive – if it has completely failed though, I can pick up a new drive for around $100/£50.
In the meantime, I needed to determine exactly what had been lost. My last backup was around two weeks prior – just before I left the UK. Therefore, my lost data includes:
All emails received within the past two weeks (If you sent me an email recently and have not received a reply, please contact me again)
Articles from freelance writers for the past two weeks for my new online community (they were able to resend the articles from their own backups, though)
Personal photographs taken in the past couple of weeks that hadn’t yet been backed up
Files sitting on my desktop that kept track of SEO and monetisation experiments and new site ideas/research
All in all, it could have been a lot worse. Having tested my external hard drive, everything I previously backed up is present. All I need to do is get my old laptop up and running, move over the files and I will pretty much be back to where I was before.
You cannot predict data loss
Of course, this had to happen at pretty much the worst time for me. I recently moved to a new country and have just moved into a new apartment. Just when I have the least amount of time to deal with a hard drive failure, one comes and hits me. What made the situation worse was the fact that I had absent-mindedly left the very discs I needed to do a system restore 3,000 miles away in the UK!
Imagine how much more of a nightmare this would have been if I didn’t keep regular backups. Imagine if my websites also went down and I had no backups. Use this article as a warning – backup now, and schedule a regular backup program so that when the worst happens, you are prepared.
Your thoughts
Do you backup your data? How often? Have you lost important data because you failed to backup? Share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment below.

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25 Responses to “It’s not just other people that need to backup!”
Smiley Says:
July 10th, 2008 at 5:19 am
I always back up the site & the forums.. but.. never thought to back up my actual hard drive! I surely will start doing now, though!
Smiley Says:
July 10th, 2008 at 5:20 am
Congrats on your successful migration to America, by the way. I wish you & your fiancée the best of luck!
Bat Says:
July 10th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Eeeeeeek!! I,ve never backed anything up in my life!! Maybe I,d better start eh? Do you know what corrupted your hard drive Martin? I,m glad that didn,t happen to me, I,d have been on the phone to poor Charles for hours lol.
(REF URL http://www.communityspark.com/its-not-just-other-people-that-need-to-backup/)

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