Review Of Carbonite Online Backup Solution
Overview and History
Carbonite can be found in Boston, MA and they setup their online backup utility in the first half of 2006. Currently they backup and protect in excess of 2.5bn files for people. Initially founded in 2005 by David Friend and Jeff Flowers.
Carbonite is a simple, safe online backup service for unfussy home pc users, students, home office users, business travelers, etc. For < $5 per month, Carbonite archives all data on your laptop (digital pictures, tunes, presentations and other important files) whenever your laptop is linked to the Internet.
Carbonite is really painless to initialize and use, needing practically no ongoing user fiddling. There online backup utility is setup to continually back up amended data from your MAC whenever it is linked to the internet.
Feature Set
Security
Carbonite security is extremely strong. information between your MAC and their storage area is encrypted with 3DES - which is very secure - and once on their servers your files is protected with Blowfish 448bit - which is the best protection available.
Physically your data is kept on 2 state-of-the-art facilities in Massachusetts that provide carefully temperature- controlled rooms, backup power generators, restricted personnel access, and many other features to protect the security and integrity of your files.
Backup Features
At first Carbonite will backup your 'My Documents and Settings' folders but this can quickly be altered with the desktop client. There is no maximum to the number of files that can be saved, therefore you can manage as many or as few items as you desire.
Backups start when your MAC is not busy, so there is no drain on resources or bandwidth. Also, you can use the backup scheduller to backup at specific times of your choosing.
Network drives and external drives cannot be backup up using Carbonite.
During our tests it took thirty seven mins to backup 2,000 megabytes of data with a standard 8mbps DSL line while sending and recieving other traffic on the internet.
Carbonite provides a continuous backup facility which means that information is archived whenever they are altered. This means you no longer need to rely on scheduling backups and checking your desktop is on when the scheduled time comes. However, if scheduling is what you want, the PC client does have that option as well.
A process indicator and status notifications are available. You can also add files and folders to the archive set by right-clicking.
The Carbonite service gives a 'virtual drive letter' where you can see which files have been archived and which are schedulled archive. The program also shows colored dots on files so you know if they are backed up, awaiting archive or not included in the archive set.
The PC edition permits unlimited 'file versioning' for three months. There are as well no limitations on the size of individual files or the amount of files that you can backup. Yet, it is important to remember that the initial backup time needed is a lot more than that required once you are up and running and your initial backup is complete.
Restore Features
Information restores can be started from either the client or the web portal and can be recovered to either their original location, another location on the client they came from or to the web portal. On the PC client, restores can also be managed by right-clicking a file or folder. In addition there is a search option so you can find files to restore that match a specific filename or filename pattern.
Control and Analysis
The web site provides central administration for all Computers being archived. The CPU and bandwidth usage can be managed between high and low.
Reports can be created to show what is backed up.
Interface
To use Carbonite you are required to install the Carbonite Client Software on every device that is to be archived. Yet, when initialized, all backups can be controlled from a central admin portal.
Loads of PCs can be handled with one account, but, multi-account control isn't supported. When the client software is up and running, it lets access to a virtual drive letter that can be used to view the status of backed up information and to restore information. The small icon in the bottom-right corner of the PC starts off yellow - this indicates that the initial backup is underway. When the initial backup is finished, the tray icon turns green.
The desktop program is simple and easy to use. The web portal is straightforward. The software is designed to be set-and-forget so the options are not bogged down with lots of options but rather are designed to permit you to choose what and when you want to backup and then leave the program to just do it.
Device Support
There is support for PC and MAC. There is an iPhone, iTouch, iPad and Blackberry apps yet these only allow you to monitor backed up files, not actually archive your device. You can attach files from the backup set in emails.
An unlimited amount of devices - MAC or PC - can be backed up.
Limitations
Network letters and pen drives, etc. cannot be backed up
There is no block level incremental backup ability
Carbonite is a user archive program, so it will not archive server databases such as SQL server, Exchange server.
Open or locked files cannot be backed up until they are no longer in use.
Whole machine backup is not supported.
No proxy server support.
File Sharing and Collaboration
Files and folders can be shared privately via the web site and different access permissions can be configured on specific files and folders.
No public file sharing or collaboration features.
Synchronization
Multiple computers can be synchronized with each other and with the central web site.
Web 2.0 Integration
None.
Customer Support
Phone support is available for an additional cost of just under 20 dollars per annum. Below is a list of the free support offered:
Live Chat: https://www.carbonite.com/chat
Email Support: customersupport@carbonite.com
Email web form: http://carbonite.custhelp.com/app/ask
Online Documentation, FAQs and knowledgebase
Blog: http://www.carbonite.com/blog
Free Trial: There is a free 15 day trial available.
Ease Of Use
Carbonite is extremely straightforward to configure and use, just download the client software and run it. There is audio tutorials that talks you through the whole process and you can be backing up your information in no time at all. The half month - no credit card required - free trial zero risk in trying Carbonite out. When installed all that is required is right-click on a file or folder to add it to your archive.
Cost
Initial setup Cost - Free 15 day trial
Monthly charge - Not applicable
Yearly Charge - $54.99
Initial allowed storage amount - unlimited
Cost of additional storage - no charge
Cost of additional devices / PCs / users - Unlimited device but one account per user
Referral Program - 3 months free subscription for each referral that signs up after their free trial
E-billing facility - yes
There are no corporate service plans available, yet, there is a professional edition of Carbonite available at http://www.carbonitepro.com which is designed for Business use.
Hidden cost: Telephone support costs $19.99 per year.
Conclusion
Carbonite offers a simple secure ability to archive your files from either PCs or MACs. The unlimited storage for a single price allows for easy budgeting and prevents the requirement to continually manage how much data you are backing up. The Carbonite Online Backup utility is very secure and the support is strong. If you need a reliable archive solution then this is a very good choice. .
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