What is IBackup? IBackup is a reliable online backup and restore service. IBackup safeguards your critical data, in case of system crash, by automatically backing it up. Customization options include the provision to modify your backup set, its schedule, reporting options and more.
Yet another best backup software for Mac, Acronis True Image is multi platform software. Let’s check out the features. Let’s check out the features. It protects everything with full image backup be it the operating system, programs, settings, files, or boot information.
Data is transferred and stored using 256-bit AES encryption with a user-defined key that is not stored anywhere on the servers. This ensures data is safe and secure. The graphical interface makes it easy to navigate through the application. Key features include bandwidth throttle, data compression and incremental backups that ensure fast backups, restore of previous versions of files and archive cleanup, among others.
To download the application, log into. How do I install IBackup? Follow the steps listed below to install the application:. Download the application.
Double-click IBackup.dmg and then IBackup.pkg. The Welcome to the IBackup Installer' screen is displayed. Click 'Continue' to proceed with the installation. The Software License Agreement screen appears. Click 'Agree' to proceed. Select the location where you want to install the application. To continue with the installation procedure, click ‘Continue’ in the dialog box that appears.
A screen is displayed for verification. Enter the valid system password (administrator password) and click 'OK'. On successful installation, the Installation Succeeded message is displayed. How can I regulate my Internet bandwidth usage for IBackup? The Bandwidth Throttle lets you set the Internet bandwidth to be used by the IBackup application for backups. By default, the bandwidth throttle value is set at 100%.
You can set Auto Pause option, which makes intelligent guesses on bandwidth throttle during backup operation to enable optimum desktop experience with the following options: Mac in use: This option lets you set the bandwidth to be used by IBackup for backups, when the Mac in use. By default, it is set to 25%. This allows other applications to run without hindrance. Mac not in use: This option lets you set the bandwidth to be used by IBackup for backups when the Mac is not in use.
By default, it is set to 100%. Note: The percentage set for Bandwidth Throttle is applicable for both scheduled and interactive backups. When I log into my machine for the first time, I notice that some folders have already been scheduled for backup. IBackup is an automated online backup application.
To safeguard your critical data, the Desktop, Documents, Library, Music, Movies and Pictures folders are selected for backup by default, with the scheduled time set to off-peak hours. If these settings are not altered, the application commences the backup of the default backup set, once the scheduled backup time is reached. However, you can change the settings as required.
On a first login to your account, a screen is displayed as below from where you can edit the contents of backup set by clicking on the 'Change' button, and schedule parameters. Do I need to pre-authorize IBackup in Mac OS Mojave to backup my privacy sensitive data? Yes, Mac OS Mojave requires user consent for applications to access privacy sensitive data. Hence you need to grant full disk access permissions to IBackup and IBDaemon, in order to backup privacy sensitive data.
To pre authorize IBackup.app and IBDaemon.app,. Choose 'System Preferences' from the Apple menu. Click 'Security & Privacy'. Select 'Full Disk Access' under 'Privacy'. Click and provide system authentication to allow changes. Navigate to 'Macintosh HD Applications' 'IBackup.app' to add 'IBackup' under Full Disk Access.
To pre authorize the IBDaemon.app, click. Navigate to 'Macintosh HD Library Application Support IBackupX IBackupHelperTools IBDaemon.app' and add 'IBDaemon' under Full Disk Access. Re-install the IBackup application or restart your computer for changes to reflect. Note: Privacy sensitive data on Mac OS Mojave includes:. Location services.
Contacts. Calendars. Reminders. Photos. Mail. Messages.
Safari Browsing History. HTTP Cookies. Call History. iTunes Backups. Time Machine Backups.
Camera. Microphone. Automation Backup. Start the backup immediately: Takes an immediate backup of your files or folders. Cut-Off Time: Set the time at which your scheduled backup should stop.
Email notification: Select this option to receive email notifications on the status of the scheduled backup job. Enter the email address on which you want to receive the notifications.
Notify me on desktop: Receive notifications on the desktop regarding the status of scheduled backup job. Start the missed scheduled backup when the computer is turned on: Select this option to resume a missed scheduled backup job due to the computer being turned off. I am not receiving email notification for the scheduled backup jobs.
Step 1: Ensure that the ‘Email notification’ check box is selected in the Scheduler tab and the email address provided by you is valid. It is possible that the email notifications from IBackup are reaching the Spam or Bulk folder of your email box. Step 2: Ensure that your computer does not go to Sleep or Standby mode so that the scheduled backups take place without fail and the email notification is sent to you. For confirmation of the backup process, you can view the application logs by clicking the 'View Logs' button on the top-right corner of the IBackup window. I am backing up an external network drive to my IBackup account. If I use a new Mac machine with the same external network drive attached to it, will it impact the backups?
By default, IBackup creates a unique root folder with the Mac name to backup data which mirrors the complete data structure hierarchy of your Mac. So your files from external drives will be backed up to the connected Mac name folder. If you now connect your external drive to the new Mac machine and perform the backup, your backups will be impacted, as data from the external drive will be backed up to the new Mac name folder created under your account. However, in case the Mac machine names are same on both the old and new systems, your backups will not be impacted. Also, you can re-direct the data from the new Mac machine to be backed up to previous Mac machine folder by entering the folder name in the ‘Backup location on your IBackup Account’ field.
How can I exclude certain files/folders from being backed up? IBackup lets you exclude files/folders in your computer from being backed up by using the View Excluded feature. To exclude file/ folder from backup, Based on full path names. On the Backup screen, click ‘View Excluded Files’. The Exclude Files window appears.
Select Files / Folders with full path names. Right-click and select Add or click. To insert a folder, browse to select a folder and click Open. Alternatively, to insert a file choose the file and click Open. Click ‘Save Changes’. You can also exclude hidden files / folders.
From the Backup screen, click View Excluded Files. Select ‘Exclude hidden files/folders’.
Click ‘Save Changes’. Note:. The excluded folders are marked in Orange color on the 'My Local' pane. To backup an item which is on the exclude list, right-click the corresponding list box and select 'Remove' from the sub-menu. Alternatively, select the item and click.
Files and folders excluded by default by the application cannot be removed from the list. Will a missed scheduled backup take place when the Mac is restarted after the scheduled time? The scheduled backup will commence as soon as you restart the Mac even if it is after the scheduled time. However, this is applicable only if you have selected the Start the missed scheduled backup when the computer is turned on option from the Scheduler tab. In case, you have not selected the option, then the scheduled backup will commence only if you restart the computer within 30 minutes of the scheduled time. If you restart the Mac after 30 minutes of the scheduled time, the scheduled backup will commence at the next frequency (as per the date and time that was set earlier).
Do I need to backup the Time Machine data folder to my IBackup account? Yes, you can backup Time Machine data to your IBackup account. However, if you have selected all the required files/folders that needs to be backed up from your Mac then there is no need to backup Time Machine data again, as it will duplicate the backup data on your IBackup account. To avoid this duplicate copy, by default IBackup will exclude Time Machine data ('Backups.backupdb') folder from your backup set.
To include Time Machine folder in your backup set,. In the 'Backup' tab, click 'View Excluded files'. Select the 'Files/Folders with partial names' option in the 'Exclude Files' window. Deselect the 'Backups.backupdb' folder to include in the backup set. What is Continuous Data Protection (CDP)? The Continuous Data Protection (CDP) feature automatically recognizes the changes made to the files/folders (up to 500 MB in size) in the backup set and backs them up in real-time.
CDP is executed only for smaller files as frequently modified data tends to be small. Also, it avoids slowing down your machine while you work on it. The temporary files and system files are excluded from the operation. CDP is not a replacement for the traditional schedule backup feature but works along with the scheduled backup to provide timely protection for your data. Not all modified files in my backup set were backed up.
There are some default rules including size that decide the files that will be considered for the Continuous Data Protection operation. To minimize the impact of CDP on your normal Mac functions at regular hours, the operation is executed only for files less than 500 MB. This usually covers most office and other documents that you work on during the day. The remaining files (in the backup set) are considered during the normal Scheduled/Interactive backups. Temporary files and system files are excluded from the Continuous Data Protection operation.
The scheduled backup is indispensable to ensure complete data backup. Click 'Yes' to confirm schedule restore. You can set the following options: Restore Start Time - Set the time at which your scheduled restore should start. Daily schedule - To run your restore jobs daily, select this option. You can also set specific days for restore. Week-Day(s) - Select the days of the week on which you wish to run your backup jobs.
Start the Restore immediately - Select this option to start a restore job immediately. Email notification - Enter your email address to receive restore status notifications. Notify me on desktop - Select this option to receive restore notifications on your desktop. Start the missed scheduled backup/restore when computer is turned on - On selecting this option, your missed scheduled restore jobs will start automatically once you turn on your Mac. Note:. Archive Cleanup has controls to avoid inadvertent data deletion.
It by default considers up to 25% of files for deletion. You can also regulate the percentage according to your preference. The percentage mention refers to files considered for deletion in your account as a percentage of total number of files. The purpose of this percentage based control is to avoid large-scale deletion of files in your account due to some unforeseen event on your computer.
Archive Cleanup is not supported for USB and network mounted drives. What is Periodic Cleanup? You can set up automated cleanup periodically by enabling Periodic Cleanup. Periodic Cleanup gives you more control by allowing you to set the frequency as well as the percentage of files to be considered. The frequency can be set to anything between 10 and 30 days; percentage to anything between 5% and 25%.
To enable Periodic Cleanup,. Click 'Archive Cleanup', under the Backup tab. Select 'Periodic Cleanup' by using the check box.
Set the number of days and percentage of data to be considered for cleanup. How do I share files or folders directly from IBackup? To share files and folders,. Log into IBackup desktop application and click the ‘Restore’ tab. Select files or folders and click the icon on the tool bar.
You will be re-directed to the web account, from where you can set the share parameters. You can share your files and folders via email, Facebook and Twitter. You can password protect and write-enable your shared files/folders. Click ‘Send email’ to send an email with the share link. Does IBackup support folder-wise restore of files with earlier versions? Yes, to restore a folder with earlier versions of files, you can right click on the required folder and choose 'Restore Versions' menu, under which you have the following menu options:.
Most Recent - Use this option to restore all the latest versions of files in the folder. Example: If a folder has 5 files, all the 5 files will be restored in its latest versions available. 2nd Most Recent - Use this option to restore files prior to the last backed up version. Example: If a file in the folder has 3 different versions, this feature will restore only the version prior to the last backed up, i.e., file version 2. 3rd Most Recent - Use this option to restore third last version of a file in a folder.
Example: If a file in the folder has 3 different versions, this feature will only restore file version 1. More - Provides an option to restore from fourth to tenth most recent version of files in a folder.
. How to find the best cloud backup service? Deciding to finally backup your computer is one thing; finding the right provider from all the is another. Given that the initial backup of your hard drive can take days or even weeks depending on how many gigabytes you’ve got to protect and that many backup services require an annual subscription, chances are you’re in the relationship for a long haul.
If you’re as picky about your technology as we are here at Cloudwards.net, you’ll no doubt want to know everything there is to know about your backup-to-be before tying the knot. That’s why we put together this handy guide to finding the best online backup solution, as well as around 30. Below, you’ll find our picks across a variety of categories that we feel define the modern online backup space. But first, let’s make sure you’re in the right place. Best Online Backup Services 2018. The Difference Between Online Backup and Cloud Storage When shopping for an online backup tool, one of the first things you should understand is that there’s a fundamental difference between online backup and cloud storage.
For many people, their backup solution is. However, strictly speaking, those are cloud storage solutions. Unlike online backup, they aren’t equipped for disaster recovery. They don’t have schedulers to automate routine backups, don’t generally maintain your file structure when saving to the cloud and don’t have click-and-restore capabilities. Despite those limitations, cloud storage tools are good for many things that online backup tools aren’t.
For one, cloud storage is designed to help you reduce the space files take up on your hard drive by offloading them to remote data centers. Online backup, meanwhile, is usually designed for replication rather than replacement. Most modern cloud storage tools can also perform device synchronization, which is a means of making the same file content available on multiple devices, even reflecting changes to files in near real-time. Very few online backup tools can sync content.
Cloud storage tools are also usually more geared towards content sharing than online backup tools, whether that’s sharing individual files or inviting others to access your folders. In that way, cloud storage is great for facilitating collaboration; online backup isn’t.
Some cloud storage tools also integrate with productivity apps like Office Online and Google Docs. So, another way to think about cloud storage is as a productivity tool. When it comes to collaboration and productivity, online backup tools will rarely meet your needs. If you’d like to learn more about the subject, we have an article detailing the.
If its cloud storage you’re looking for, be sure and read our article on finding the solution. For now, let’s talk more about the value of adding an online backup tool. What Backup Does When it comes to the term “disaster recovery,” many users probably think of hard drive issues. That makes sense. Some of us have had the unfortunate experience of a hard drive crash, while most of us have probably heard horror stories from others. Hard drives are made from moving parts that can break, particularly if you carry your laptop around in a jostling backpack.
File system corruptions can occur too, leading to logical failures. Also, partitions can be accidentally deleted or formatted However, there are other kinds of disasters that can necessitate recovery. Topping the list are lost and stolen laptops.
Research from Gartner performed in 2015 suggests a laptop is stolen every 53 seconds. This is a good reason to. It’s also a good reason to back it up. We store more files on our hard drive that we can easily move to cloud storage. That means a crashed, damaged, stolen or misplaced hard drive will almost certainly result in the loss of important files if you haven’t implemented a true backup solution.
These could be family photos, financial records, emails or other irreplaceable files. Online backup solutions ease the process of protecting these files through automatic backup. Some automatically tag common folders like your user and desktop folder for backup, while others go a step further and automatically backup all files with certain extensions. In the event of a disaster, online backup tools let you recover everything at once onto your repaired or replaced hard drive, keeping the same file system structure you had previously. Alternatively, they also let you recover individual files if there’s something specific you need. This can usually be done through a web browser or mobile app, too, giving your remote access to your computer content.
While the basic concept behind online backup is the same for all providers, there are substantial variations in how services approach the backup experience. As we mentioned in the introduction, the initial backup process can take some time, so you’ll want sure you’re well-versed in what these variations are before committing your money. The goal for the remainder of this roundup is to help you reach that level of understanding; think of it as a buyer’s guide. Online Backup Comparison This guide will show you what – in our opinion – is the best online backup service in 2018. We take a comparative approach ranking each of the major services by features and categories. Cost While it certainly isn’t the only component of establishing the value of an online backup service, the bottom line is obviously of great importance.
In addition to sticker price, you’ll want to consider how much backup space a subscription gives you and how many devices it covers. Effective August 22, 2017, CrashPlan got out of the consumer backup game, taking its family backup plan — one of the best deals in online backup — with it. Unfortunately, there aren’t really any other family plans worth mentioning at this time. However, there are still some very good out there if you’re looking for an option that won’t break the bank. First Place: Backblaze Backblaze not only gives you unlimited storage, it’s also cheap.
That makes it our pick for the best overall value in online backup: The monthly cost is just $5 per computer. On top of that, Backblaze is one of the few good online backup services that even has a month-to-month option. It also has annual and biannual subscription offers if you’d like to save even more money. An annual subscription saves you $10 and a biannual subscription saves you $25; make sure to read our for more on the service’s pricing. $ 95 00 2 years Storage Unlimited GB Details Plan is for one computer.
Prior to committing, you can try, but it doesn’t offer any sort of free plan. Second Place: IDrive IDrive doesn’t offer unlimited storage.
However, it’s 2TB of storage plan can be used to backup unlimited devices, which for some people will be more important. Also, it’s pretty cheap, at just $52 for the first year of service. You can also sign up for two years in advance at that price. Afterward, it reverts to the normal monthly cost of $69.50. IDrive doesn’t have a month-to-month option. If 2TB isn’t enough for you, IDrive offers a very good deal on 5TB of storage that also covers unlimited devices. If you’d like to avoid spending any money at all, IDrive also offers.
$ 749 25 2 years Storage 5 GB 2000 GB 5000 GB 250 GB 500 GB 1250 GB Details The cost for backup itself is a good deal, but IDrive sweetens the offer with matching sync space. Very few backup services offer device synchronization, which, as we mentioned earlier, is really a cloud storage feature; for more particulars, check out our. Third Place: Carbonite Carbonite gives you unlimited backup for one device, like Backblaze, but its $59.99 Basic plan is a touch more expensive. That plan also doesn’t include external drive backup. If you want that, you’ll need pony up $99.99 per year. Carbonite also has a very expensive Prime plan that costs $149.99 and includes automatic video backup and courier service.
Also unlike Backblaze, Carbonite doesn’t have a month-to-month option, which you can read more about in our. $ 149 99 yearly Storage Unlimited GB Unlimited GB Unlimited GB Details Doesn't include external hard drives. Includes external hard drive backup and automatic video backup.
Includes courier service. Carbonite has a 30-day, no-commitment, however, if you want to try it out before buying. Ease of Use Most online backup solutions make hard drive protection easy relative to cloud storage tools, but some make it much easier than others. It’s very likely that any one you pick will at least select certain common folders for backup. You’ll then be left to go through your file system and tag everything else on your own.
The best solutions spare you from all that work. After installation, they automatically scan your hard drive and start backing up all of your documents, photos, videos, emails, bookmarks and other common file types. Usually, the only thing not backed up are system files and temporary files, which can cause issues if you restore them to a new machine. When evaluating ease of use, here at Cloudwards.net we also evaluate the user friendliness of desktop clients, web interfaces and mobile apps. Good tools flatten the learning curve, after all. First Place: Backblaze Backblaze is designed for people who really don’t want to be bothered with backing up their computer, but still want it backed up anyway.
Backblaze takes advantage of its position as an unlimited backup service by simply backing up all the important files on your computer. Once you install the desktop client, it’ll do a quick scan of your computer for everything it thinks should be saved and give you a readout of that information. Click “ok” and it will kick off the backup process. You can go about your life without having to bother any more about making sure your hard drive is secure The interface design is about as minimal as it gets. There are only a few settings play with, including switching from continuous backup to scheduled backups, picking which drives on your computer get protected and modifying folder and file type exclusions that don’t get backed up. Backblaze also has a web browser, which is where you’ll go to recover individual files.
Mobile apps or iOS and Android are also available for file access. Both the browser and smartphone experience are as simple as they can be without limiting functionality.
Overall, the approach is really the epitome of ease of use, making it the easy choice for the number one spot in this category. Second Place: Carbonite Like Backblaze, once you install its desktop client, automatically scans your hard drive for certain file types (minus system files) and starts backing them up without you having to closely manage the process. The initial Carbonite backup doesn’t provide as much useful information you get from the Backblaze interface, like telling you how many files are marked for backup.
Backblaze also has a website link that gives you an estimate of how long your backup is going to take and how fast your connection speeds to the data center are, so you’re not left quite so much in the dark as you are with Carbonite. Beyond that, however, the user experience isn’t too far behind Backblaze, which is why it earned our nod as runner up.
The desktop client is well-designed without too many confusing menus and setting and the web interface lets you easily sort through your files to for remote restore. Third Place: IDrive IDrive subscriptions plans are either 2TB or 5TB. As such, automatic backup by file type won’t work with this service since that could easily lead with people exceeding their backup space with no easy way to get back below it. Instead, IDrive automatically tags important folders for backup, including your desktop and documents folder. You can add additional folders easily from the backup tab of the IDrive client. You can also select individual files.
The IDrive interface is a bit more complex than that of either Backblaze or Carbonite, too. However, some users, particularly those that prefer to closely manage their backup process, will prefer that. For example, IDrive offers far more customizable scheduling options, including the ability to set both start and cut-off times for backups. That same complexity overflows to the web experience, although that’s largely a product of the fact that IDrive incorporates cloud storage features like sync, which do not. The is one of the best we’ve seen for an online backup service, letting you easily backup phone data. We’ll talk more about those capabilities in our next section.
Flexibility When evaluating the options to find the best fit for your needs, there are standard and not-so-standard features you might want to be on the lookout for that greatly enhance an online backup service’s utility. One such feature is external hard-drive backup. Some backup services can be used to backup local storage devices, while some can be used to backup to local storage devices (in addition to the cloud). This occasionally includes.
Most online backup services have smartphone apps that let you access files. Fewer can actually be used to backup your smartphone.
If you have photos, contact lists and text messages you want to protect, make sure your online backup service can accommodate or you may have to purchase a separate service. Perhaps the most uncommon features that extends a backup service’s usefulness are those that more commonly belong to cloud storage tools.
A few years ago, several top backup services incorporated sync as a feature. Today, only a handful still do. More common are file sharing features that enable collaboration. First Place: IDrive IDrive is one of the few online backup companies that’s still trying to complete in the cloud storage space, too.
It does this by giving users equal storage allotments for both file backup and file sync. IDrive creates a sync folder on your hard drive, which is the same approach taken by Dropbox, Google Drive and other cloud storage services. Any files you put in this folder get stored in your cloud sync space and sent other devices with IDrive clients installed.
IDrive also lets you share files and folders to specific individuals via email, or generate links that anybody can use. These links can even be posted to Facebook and Twitter. Beyond doubling as a cloud storage service, is one of the few backup services that offers comprehensive. This includes photos, music, video, calendars and contacts for iOS and Android devices. The Android app can also backup text messages. IDrive SmartDocs lets you scan documents like identification cards and save them to the cloud. It will even check the expiration dates on your IDs and send you reminders when it’s time to renew them.
On top of that, IDrive can be used to backup photos and video from your Facebook and Instagram accounts, including those you’ve been tagged in. IDrive will also backup any mapped local storage, including USB drives and external hard drives. You can also backup to external drives if you’d like to keep a local copy of your backup on hand. To help support its flexibility, IDrive can be used to backup unlimited devices with a single user subscription. Second Place: SpiderOak ONE Like IDrive, provides cloud storage capabilities, which naturally gives it a good deal more flexibility than most backup services. Its cloud storage features include a sync folder called “SpiderOak Hive,” which you can read more about in our. However, its sharing capabilities aren’t quite as advanced as IDrive or Jottacloud.
The experience hinges on what the company calls “ShareRooms.” ShareRooms can be linked to folders that you have stored in the cloud. It’s a nice way of compartmentalizing things, but we wish there was a way of share individual files by generating links. SpiderOak ONE also falls short of IDrive in that it only lets you access files from its smartphone app. There’s no option to backup your smartphone. The service does, however, let you backup external hard drives and, like IDrive, a single user subscription can be used to backup unlimited devices. Third Place: CloudBerry Backup CloudBerry Backup doesn’t provide the cloud storage features of, however, it does let you turn your cloud storage service into online backup space. Rather than providing its own server facilities for you to use, the service lets you pair the software with any of over 50 different storage options.
For more details on how this works we recommend you read our. The choices include popular cloud storage options like Google Drive and OneDrive, as well as scalable storage options like. In addition, can be used to send data to local storage devices.
A handful of other cloud backup options, including Duplicati and Arq, also let you pick your storage options, but none currently offer as many choices as CloudBerry Backup. For a matchup between these three services, check out our battle. Restore Process Getting your data into the cloud can take weeks.
Generally speaking, the disaster recovery process tends to run more quickly because most Internet service providers provide faster download than upload connections. Still, if you need files quickly, you may not have time to wait. Most backup services let you let you access files remotely and restore them individually rather than having to restore everything at once. A select few, including our three top picks for this category, will also mail you your files in an external drive. If you’ve got hundreds of gigabytes of data to backup, that can make a substantial difference. First Place: IDrive IDrive provides to get your files back.
You can restore all of your files or individual files directly from the desktop client, both from the IDrive cloud or an external drive, if you’ve save your files to one. IDrive supports backup of unlimited machines and you can restore from any of them via your desktop client.
You can also download any folder or file stored from the IDrive web client and IDrive smartphone app. What puts IDrive ahead of every other online backup tool, though, is its IDrive Express service. Available only to U.S.
Customers, IDrive Express is a free delivery courier delivery service for up to 3TB of data. While other providers offer courier delivery service, only IDrive offers it for free, once a year for Personal plan subscribers. It can be used for initial backups, too. Second Place: Carbonite Carbonite gives you the option of restore all of your files from the desktop client or going to the web interface to select and download specific files. When restoring all files, you can choose to restore them to their original location or save them all to a zip file. Web restores let you restore based on your file system hierarchy. There’s also an option to search for specific files if you know exactly what you’re looking for.
You can also access files from the. The reason we rank Carbonite lower than IDrive is that its courier service is only included for free with the Carbonite Prime subscription, which costs $150 a year — and even then, you have to pay for shipping.
Carbonite Basic and Carbonite Plus users can still get an external drive delivered to expedite recovery, but it’ll cost at least $99. Third Place: Backblaze Backblaze doesn’t let you restore files directly from its desktop client; you have to login into the website. When restoring from the website, there’s no option to restore files to their original locations. You have to download a zip file. However, you can select to download all of your files or select files to speed the process up. Once the zip file is ready to download, Backblaze will send you an email. Also has a courier recovery service that sends you either a flash drive with up to 128GB of files or a hard drive with up to 4TB of files.
Neither is free up front; the flash drive costs $99 and the hard drive costs $189. However, if you send them back, Backblaze will issue a refund. Versioning Another useful restore feature to look out for when selecting an online backup service is versioning, which is a means of retaining previous states of files after changes are made.
Versioning protects you from accidental changes and file corruptions, including corruptions caused by ransomware programs like WannaCry. Most online backup services incorporate versioning, but some have have better versioning policies than others.
Common versioning attributes to look out for include how long file versions are retained and how many file versions are retained. First Place: SpiderOak Whenever a file stored in SpiderOak is altered, the service stores the of that file indefinitely. There’s no 30-day limit and no limit on how many versions you can keep. Also, stored versions don’t count against your backup space. The only issue we have with SpiderOak’s approach to versioning is that there’s no way to set limits to how many versions are kept. If you don’t want them, you can delete them manually, but that takes time.
Second Place: IDrive IDrive takes a more to backup than SpiderOak: The last 10 versions of any given file are kept indefinitely. While not as impressive as keeping all of your file versions, in most cases this should be more than enough protection against unwanted file changes or file corruptions. Like SpiderOak, stored file versions don’t count against your backup space, so you don’t have to worry about monitoring the extra usage. IDrive also makes it easier to bound back from a system-wide corruption with its IDrive Rewind feature. With Rewind, you can restore to previous version states en masse for all files within a folder. Third Place: Carbonite With Carbonite, the last of any file are kept, regardless of age.
On top of that, one version is also kept for each of the previous seven days, one for for each of the previous three weeks and one for each of previous two months. Given that Carbonite is an unlimited backup service, you don’t have to worry about how much space these versions are taking up.
Word of warning: If you’re using a Mac and require versioning, you’ll want to look elsewhere. Right now, Carbonite doesn’t support versioning capabilities for them.
However, for PC users, it’s versioning policy is better than most. Security Knowing your file are secure in the cloud is of paramount importance. This is more true of online backup than cloud storage, since online backup services tend to upload more files than you’re aware of.
When evaluating an online backup service, you’ll want to be sure that it scrambles your files while at rest on the server either using. That way, nobody who obtains those files can read them without the encryption key. Most online backup services retain those encryption keys for you. A few, however, give you the option to set up private encryption. With private encryption, you create your own encryption key and the service never knows what it is.
Also known as, this prevents anyone but you from ever reading your files. Even with AES or Blowfish encryption in place, can be easily exploited by those who know how to conduct brute force attacks. To protect against that, many online backup services offer, which will require that a security code sent to your phone be entered when logging into your account from an unfamiliar machine. You also want to make sure your backup provider stores data in designed to withstand natural disasters and physical and virtual attacks.
First Place: Acronis True Image Acronis True Image incorporates many attractive standards and non-standard security features, which led to a top ranking in this category. The most important security feature it offers is private, end-to-end encryption that’s truly zero knowledge. By default, files aren’t encrypted, but by toggling “encrypt backup” when creating your backup plan, they’ll be scrambled before leaving your computer for the Acronis cloud.
You’ll be asked to set a password, which is used to generate your encryption key. Acronis never knows this password, even when recovering your files, so the company will never be able to replicate that key. The encryption protocol used is AES 256, which means its a 256-bit key.
It’s estimated that it would take several billion years to for the world’s most advanced supercomputers to brute-force crack a 256-bit key, so your data should be pretty safe — from mere mortals, anyway. The big issue we have with Acronis is that it doesn’t also provide an option for two-factor authentication. While supposedly on the Acronis to-do list, there hasn’t been any word of an implementation date yet. Despite this big miss, we still ranked Acronis number one because of some innovative security features that you won’t find anywhere else. The best of these is Acronis Active Protection, which intelligently scans your backup for possible ransomware corruption. The Acronis Cloud consists of data centers around the world, each of which is designed to rebuff both physical and virtual attacks. They’re patrolled by security 24/7, monitored and protected with high fences, biometric scanners and key cards.
Second Place: Carbonite are protected with a range of checks to protect your data. These include climate control systems, battery backup, CCTV surveillance, guard patrols, biometric scanners and electronic key cards. All data stored on its servers are scrambled using AES. Normally, Carbonite retains the encryption keys for you. However, when you first sign up you’re given the option of setting up a private encryption key instead.
If Carbonite retains your encryption keys, it uses 128-bit AES. If you set up private encryption, it uses 256-bit encryption. Carbonite also lets you set up two-factor authentication, Third Place: Backblaze Backblaze rounds out our top three security picks for online backup. The main reason that it didn’t finish higher is that we have some concerns about its implementation of private encryption. By default, Backblaze holds onto your encryption key. However, you can set up a private encryption key when backing up your data that the company will not know or record. The muff on Backblaze’s part is that the company requires that you give them your passphrase when you recover data so that they can decrypt your data before zipping it and sending it to you.
Backblaze claims that it doesn’t record key and destroys it once decryption is complete, but we would prefer files simply remain encrypted until arriving at your machine, where they can be decrypted privately. With Backblaze, whether the company or you hold your encryption key, 128-bit encryption is used.
While we prefer 256-bit AES, neither level of encryption is believed to be crackable. Backblaze also has an option for, which you can set to trigger every time you sign in or only when you sign in from an unfamiliar device. Backblaze also has an option for, which you can set to trigger every time you sign in or only when you sign in from an unfamiliar device. Backblaze also has a location feature for finding lost or stolen computers. While somewhat unusual for a backup service, it’s still a nice security addition. Final Thoughts There’s no easy answer as to what the best online backup service is today, and that’s not a bad thing.
Several prominent players have carved out niches in the space that should appeal to people with different needs. We hope that this overview helped you get your bearings. For the average shopper, it should be enough to pick the a solution that meets their needs. However, we also know that some of our readers have more specific needs when it comes to online backup. If that includes you, rejoice: We have a large selection of articles on finding backup solutions to meet a variety of needs. We hope you enjoyed our online backup overview.
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