There’s a lot of important stuff on our computer. Pictures of Annie and Andy, blog post archives and photos, recipes, family stuff, etc. All of that is stored on one little hard drive, just waiting to die. That’s scary…like scarier than Halloween scary. So this week I wanted to talk about some of the options for keeping your data safe and backing it up so if (when) something goes wrong with your laptop (insert thought of toddler pouring milk on the keyboard just to see what happens) you won’t lose all your files – only your mind. By the way, some of this stuff will apply to your cell phone/iPhone, tablet/iPad as well. Since I’ve used several of these products and haven’t used several others, I’ll only give you the details on the three we use and I know work well.
Dropbox (FREE, 2GB, for computer/phone/tablet)
I’ve used this service for about three years now and would be very sad without it. I use it as a go-between on my home and work computers and my iPhone and iPad. Quick example: since I’m a nerd and keep my checkbook register and our budget in Excel, I can keep the files in Dropbox and access them anywhere I have internet. There are two ways I use Dropbox: 1) download the software and put stuff in the folder it creates on your computer. It will automatically backup anything in that folder online. 2) Go to www.dropbox.com and sign in to access any of the files from your computer’s Dropbox folder or to add to/modify/delete what’s already there. The only downside to Dropbox is it is limited to 2GB of space. That’s a lot for basic files and I’ve not maxed out, but partially because you can refer friends and get a lot more space pretty easily by doing so. Love me? Sign up for Dropbox using my link. We’ll both get extra space if you and it won’t cost either of us anything.
Google Drive (FREE, 5GB, for computer/phone/tablet)
Google Drive is one that’s a little newer to me, but I’m learning to love it for some things. Tied to my Gmail account, Google Drive replaced Google Docs (confused yet?). Let me try to simplify. Just like Dropbox, Google Drive offers free online backup of any files you put in a specific folder on your computer after you download the software. The big difference, however, is that Google Drive likes to work with Google, so if you don’t have Gmail already, this one is probably not for you. It also likes to put everything in a Google Docs format, so if you don’t love that, this one probably isn’t for you. Here’s where Google Drive shines: Stacy and I have several files we share (the family Christmas list, financial data for Humorous Homemaking, etc.). Because we both have Gmail accounts, this works beautifully because either of can log in to our own Gmail account, click DRIVE at the top and voila. The files are there, shared and easy to collaborate on. GCP direct connect is a great option to connect to Google’s cloud. Even though I find it to be a little more restrictive than Dropbox, if you’re a big Google user, this may be the service for you. If you need extra storage, you can buy it from Google.
Carbonite (NOT FREE, UNLIMITED SPACE, for computer/phone/tablet)
We’ve used Carbonite happily for a couple of years and it is an excellent failsafe for ALL our files. We kept hearing about it and wanted some way we could create an automatic backup of every file on our computer so we gave it a try. Carbonite shines at easy, no-fuss backups of your complete computer. How much space do you get? Unlike the other two services I mentioned, they limit the storage to a single computer, so the only limit is the size of your computer’s hard drive. You can also go to carbonite.com and get your data from any internet device (just like the services above). The only downside to Carbonite is that it does cost money. Right now it is $59 per year for Mac or Windows. That’s a lot, but I had a hard drive crash a few years ago and it was awful. I’d pay twice that to avoid having that happen again. Carbonite does give you a free, 15-day trial to see if it is what you want before you have to pay for it.
I’m familiar with some other programs like Mozy, Amazon Cloud Drive, ADrive, IDrive, etc. but since I’ve not used them, I can’t say whether or not I’d recommend them. There have also been a few recent cases of cyber-crime that we have seen recently where a leading cyber-crime lawyer has done very well indeed, so if you are facing cyber-crime charges then you should certainly contact them. Most of these services are online platforms so you need to make sure that you have a reliable fiber internet access so you won’t have difficulties uploading or downloading your files. Do you have any online backup services you love? If so, why? Also, check out this article on How to Install mSpy on Android Phones and Devices if you want to easily monitor social media apps of a device.
i recently switched from Carbonite to CrashPlan … compare the 2 options. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 crashplan … i keep all my pictures and things on an external harddrive so i needed something that would back that up as well. crashplan does it without having to pay a ton more extra (which carbonite wanted)
We have used Carbonite as well, but I let it lapse. Time to renew it. I also use Time Machine on my mac to back up everything to a 1TB external hard drive. When I switched stuff to my new computer, I just opened Time Machine, and it copied everything to my new computer.
Gosh…Mac people! (totally kidding). As a PC guy myself, we have backup options as well, especially as you get into Windows 7, but I still don’t like relying on an external hard drive if I really want to automatically and consistently back up files. That’s the BIG perk to an online, automatic backup.
Haha…yes, we can tend to be snobs. LOL. I do need to sign up for Carbonite again. I liked having both options and did like the automatic option. Time Machine does backup automatically every night as well.
Mozy is another backup service that operates like Carbonite. I’ve been using Mozy for several years and have been very pleased with it. I also save important files to Dropbox and G Drive. And on top of that, I also back up the really, really important stuff to a flash memory drive. These days you can get 16 Gig of flash memory at Wal-Mart for $10 – $15. Money well spent.
When we were shopping for an automatic online backup service, Mozy was the other option we considered. We landed on Carbonite based on the reviews at the time, although the services are VERY close. I’ve heard from several that Mozy is a good service.
I love carbonite and I got my dad to use it too. Have lost too much in the past. I don’t have to think about backing up to something I won’t remember to do on a regular basis. Highly recommend it 🙂
Carbonite will not back up email folders or Excel folders. I called Carbonite. They said that is correct; Carbonite does not work on Outlook or Outlook Express and some others.
Good point, Ralph, about not every single file getting backed up automatically. By design, Carbonite is not making a mirror image of your drive out in cyberspace, so not every single file will be backed up by default. I’ve never had an issue with it backing up Excel files (I have hundreds that are backed up and it works fine for me), so I’ll have to take your word for it. I use Google Apps for my email so the email folders consideration hasn’t been an issue for me either. However, I see two good/easy potential solutions for both of these potential problems. First, you should be able to “tell” Carbonite to back up any file you want by right-clicking on the file and choosing for Carbonite to back it up. You can always tell if a file is backed up by the little green dot in the lower portion of the file’s icon. If you aren’t sure you want to check some of those detailed types of files, you can pair Dropbox (free) with Carbonite. Drop your .pst (Outlook) or any other file you want to be 100% sure of into your Dropbox folder and it would keep a backup copy for you. For anyone reading this comment/reply, I would recommend you read what Carbonite has to say about what files they do/don’t back up: http://carbonite.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/partner/carbonite/a_id/1381/default.php. Thanks for bringing this up, Ralph!
I tried the “ask / right click” method for Carbonite. Does not work for email folders.
Is there a way to drag or copy entire email folders to Dropbox with out doing each email in a folder separately? I did it once, but now can not figure out how. Thanks.
Are you using Outlook? If so, you should have a single .pst file that stores all your non-server-based messages/folders. Just move that file to Dropbox. Once you’ve done that, you may have to remap it in Outlook (but you can find directions for that all over Google).
I was wondering about backing them up the old fashioned way. On a disc or even a memory card or stick? Is that also a good way to back up files? Just curious. I don’t have the money for a storage bank and feel a little uncomfortable about my stuff being stored somewhere out there on the web. Thank you 🙂
You can still do backups the good old fashioned way but it is all manual. While this is fine for archiving, inevitably your computer will crash when you’ve not done one of these manual methods in a while. I didn’t specifically mention it in the post but unless it is an automatic backup I don’t consider it a good option for protecting files. That being said, there are external drives you can purchase specifically to do automatic backups. These are usually $100+ so carbonite wins out to me because it would take 2 years to make up that money and your’e not tied to a hard drive sitting around somewhere. Good question!