Which Is the Best Windows Backup Tool? (Poll Closed)

http://www.backblaze.com awesome solution

Hi, I use Allway Sync (http://allwaysync.com/). Three years, three PCs and a removable hd and 0 errors with backups and syncings!!!
Unfortunatly works only on Windows :(((((

Have a nice day, Andrea

www.jungledisk.com is the best I've seen

Several of these aren't "backup" tools; they're sync to another computer, which is fine if you drop your laptop or your hard disk crashes but not if your house has a fire or someone steals your computers. I back up on line AND keep sync'd copies locally. Carbonite and Jungle Disk both offer remote storage. Jungle Disk is pretty cool, if you're particularly techie and don't mind using the Amazon infrastructure and regularly figuring the cost with all its variables.

Check out Cucku Backup at www.cucku.com for a Free Local backup and Remote backup solution. Remote backup is to a friend's PC or a second PC of your own so no limits and no anoying advertising or popups. Cucku offers comprehensive backup including: backing up of locked files, timed backups and multiple file version backup and restore. Cucku is simple to use as it was originally designed to help the less technically savvy user back up their data to friend.

Mozy- Needs considerable work to bring customer service/support up to acceptable standards. They advertise your backups can be burned to DVD and Fedexed to you in 2-3 days. My recent experience was: customer service/support bordered on dishonesty and misleading. My DVD backup was ordered on 22 June 2008. Seven days later no DVD. Customer service they are coming. Repeated calls and emails returned us to the same customer service person who said, you'll get them when they are burned. Finally 3 weeks (three weeks) later the two (2) DVD's were delivered.
I have all the emails and chat logs to support this.
Plus, about every 6 weeks Mozy will stop automatically backing up. You then need to do it manually.
There are better choices for backup services.

Until someone finds a better online backup system that:
- backs up locked files e.g. Outlook .pst's without having to shut-down Outlook
- backs up external drives (sorry Mozy)
- maintains multiple versions of files backed up
- does both scheduled and continuous backups
- attenuates bandwidth based on PC usage
- provides web and desktop file manager access to files
- and costs < $5/mo for 150GB

...then I'm sticking with iDrive which does all of the above.

That's right, you're Cucku if you backup your PC to a friends PC. And they're Cucku if they let you do it.

I switched from Carbonite to Mozy a year ago and for the most part I'm happy. I only switched so 1) I could access my backed up files remotely (from work) occasionally, which works well, and 2) the promise of ordering DVDs if my system totally tanked. Carbonite worked just fine, I just wanted a little more functionality.

Carbonite-Two crashes and two successful restores. I am pleased with the results. Can't imagine why everyone doesn't have it.

I have two Mozy accounts: MozyHome for my desktop at home, and MozyPro account for a business I support technically. In both cases I'm well pleased. At home my ISP requires me to throttle my uploads to 128MB, but that has not been a problem. Since I have a nice Intel quad processor, I usually don't even realize that Mozy is operating in the background. And recovering files is as easy as using Windows Explorer. Outstanding service, and MozyHome just cost $4.95/month. Recommended.

Mozy all the way. Unlimited storage for $5 a month, can't beat that! plus no contract.

I voted Mozy but, to be fair, I also use Acronis True Image and Syncback (free) on a regular basis, as well. I have also restored/replaced data using all 3 systems and all of them performed perfectly well.

- Syncback to dup all data to removable drives
- Mozy for a reduced set of irreplaceable data
- True Image to backup my system partition only

Mozy got the vote because it's cooler and uses the innernut!

@Ted Wilson: That's strange that you say your Mozy stopped automatically backing up. my mozy kept bugging me everyday by backing up months after i started using it.

I have a number of neighbors that I help with their IT needs, and backup is always on my list for them to discuss (and face!) I start with recommending burning a DVD of their data monthly and mailing to a relative not here in Earthquake Country. When the balk at that, I offer them Mozy. Everyone is happy with it, and I know they have made a better decision.

@sewell
When auto backup stops I am notified. I am using Mozy Pro. Support have given me the following instructions to get running again:
Start,run, type-services.msc, double click on mozy backup service then click stop, then click start. Close services window. Start the backup again.
I only waited 3 days for them to answer my request for support. And to think I paid a year in advance for this aggravation.

Mozy rocks. Up to 170 Gig and still going.......... Soild Installed on my parents business computer. The best thing I ever did!

I've been using Mozy for about three months and find it to be an affordable, capable solution. I am a remote worker who's company is in the dark ages when it comes to back-up. But for $50 a year I can unlimited have set-and-forget back-up. Righteous.

It is not a resource hog, and waits until your system is idle to start its incremental back-ups. You can have it notify you when each back-up has occurred, or just let it whir away in the background.

For remote-workers I think it's an ideal solution.

No surprise Mozy is winning as their customer newsletter has a link... cheating makes these polls useless. As a European my vote goes for "other".

After suffering through XDrive and a couple of other services, Mozy was the first tool I found to do the job well and do it unobtrusively. Yes, it cost money to store non-trivial amounts of data. No, it isn't some kind of media sharing site. As an off-site backup tool, however, it's a gem. The cost is pretty reasonable for both Carbonite and Mozy (can't fault them for actually trying to have a good business model). Frankly, given that both Mozy and Carbonite are neck and neck in the vote, it's good to know that there are at least two good competitors in this space.

No longer a fan of Mozy - dinging you for $$ for each PC / laptop I added to the account.

Went with DataDepositBox - unlimited # of PCs/laptops, no auto deletion of files (this was a major problem with Mozy), continuous data backup - love it when I hit a hot spot -immediate start of backup

Best part - no longer carry a PC to sales calls - just download the files needed from the DDB website.

What about Magic Backup? It's way more reliable than Mozy (which seems to have a lot of trouble connecting at 1am, maybe it's tired?) and has a much nicer user interface.

Good poll idea. It would help if the "other" option enabled stating which other solution the veter used.

John

http://www.backupanytime.com/blog

Considering Mozy has already saved me twice, I think it can't be beat. I am also sure that if they spent the kind of money on advertising as Carbonite they would lead the list by far.

Acronis has to be the answer. It is the only solution which will allow a bare metal restore on a different specification system. This is a common requirement in a disaster recovery requirement scenario. Every other solution suffers blue screens unless windows is loaded from scratch.
You can see more on this on our blog.
http://www.backupanytime.com/blog/2008/09/30/my-favourite-software-product-ever/
John