Carbonite

[kurt]

In a general sort of PSA, I've been tracking Carbonite. Results so far:

Brand new files, pictures, whatever, are backed up immediately, as in NOW.

Files that I use on a regular basis back up every day or two.

My primary files that I am constantly opening and closing, are backed up infrequently. In some cases, 3 or 4 days.

I have to tell Carbonite to back up those files every day; there's a command sequence, but you have to select the files and go through a dialog.

Anyone using Carbonite seeing this?

[Robert Jones]

Kurt I have been using Carbonite for the last few years, but haven't noticed what you mentioned. I will have to look.

[kurt]

With this one exception, I've found it to be wonderfully effective and cheap.

I'd like to keep using it, but this is a deal breaker for me. Lemme know, thanx.

[hausdok]

I've got a Western Digital backup drive running that purportedly backs up everything immediately; however, I have no idea if the stuff is actually there. According to the two side-by-side graphs the content there matches my box exactly but I guess I'll never know until the day I need to poke around in there.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[inspector57]

Kurt I have been using Carbonite for the last few years, but haven't noticed what you mentioned. I will have to look.

Can't tell you about Carbonite but I'm happy with MOZY. Although I have not checked the specific backup times, it does give me a daily message as to the success or failure of the procedure. My understanding is that it does the work in the background, only retrieving new or changed files. I have only used it once for retrieving a unchanged copy of my report template that I screwed up but that one file was worth the annual fee and then some.

After seeing two relatives have fires that caused a total loss of all electronics over the past month, I am more sold than ever on having off-site file storage.

[Marc]

I wonder about daily backups. If you catch a virus, the virus gets backed up too, doesn't it? Doesn't that conflict with the very reason for backing up in the first place?

Marc

[mgbinspect]

In case it's helpful, I work from four different PCs (a netbook, a laptop, a desktop and a server). I need the most current version of many files to be available on all of those PCs, at any given time.

SugarSync has met my need perfectly, backing up EVERY file on my list, the very instant it is closed from a modifacation. All of my most important files are kept in what's called the "Magic Briefcase", which not only backs those files to the internet, but instantly syncs them on all four PCs. It's invaluable. Randy Nav uses it also, and seems to be equally happy with it.

[caryseidner]

Dropbox also seems to work well with keeping files in sync over multiple computers.

[kurt]

I searched both of those; they'd seem to do the trick better than Carbonite.

SugarSync I'd be in for the $150 program. If it did all of it perfectly, it'd be worth it.

I never took Dropbox far enough to see how much it'd cost. The website is infantile. What's it cost?

[mgbinspect]

I searched both of those; they'd seem to do the trick better than Carbonite.

SugarSync I'd be in for the $150 program. If it did all of it perfectly, it'd be worth it.

I never took Dropbox far enough to see how much it'd cost. The website is infantile. What's it cost?

My only complaint with SugarSync is that, when I'm not doing things that I need backed up, I need to shut it down, because it's SO on top of keeping files in sync. It will at times during the sync process cause things to slow for a moment.

That's what I've literally gotten in the habit of doing - exiting it in the tray, when I don't need it doing its thing.

[caryseidner]

I searched both of those; they'd seem to do the trick better than Carbonite.

SugarSync I'd be in for the $150 program. If it did all of it perfectly, it'd be worth it.

I never took Dropbox far enough to see how much it'd cost. The website is infantile. What's it cost?

Dropbox is free for 2 gigs of storage. 50 gigs is 9.99/mo or 99.00/yr., 100gigs is 19.99/mo or 199.00/yr.

I only use it as a file swap between my PC and laptop, so 2 gigs is plenty for me. Another benefit I see using at some point, is the ability to upload files to my portion of the dropbox cloud, and share those files with non-dropboxers. It could personal photos or an inspection report that is too big to send to a clients aol address.

[David Meiland]

Kurt, I have been using Carbonite for several years and sometimes I use the "Back Up ASAP" command on the interface screen. I don't have to select any files to do that, just open the interface and click the link.

[randynavarro]

Yea, I can't really find any complaints about SugarSync.

I've also noticed it drags the system when it's backing up, sometimes very noticeably, sometimes not. But I can live with it for the peace of mind of having my files always backed up. I don't even worry about back up anymore. It's so automatic and pretty much seamless.

[kurt]

Kurt, I have been using Carbonite for several years and sometimes I use the "Back Up ASAP" command on the interface screen. I don't have to select any files to do that, just open the interface and click the link.

I've done that and still had it ignore my primary files.

I only recently discovered this aspect of Carbonite; it's the single problem I've found.

[caryseidner]

I've also heard that Carbonite doesn't back-up all file types. I would guess that it does a good job on the most common file types that people tend to want to back-up (photos, movies, music, office docs, etc.) but the propriatary types that would be associated with unique software, like say 3D or Fluke Smartview, could be missing from the back-up.

[David Meiland]

Kurt, I get what you're saying now. If Carbonite backs up a file I worked on this morning, and then I work on it again this evening, it may not back it up again within 24 hours of the first backup, but it will the next day. I have never seen 3-4 day delay on anything.

What Cary is talking about doesn't apply to SmartView files, of which I have many on Carbonite, but it does seem to apply to my QuickBooks Pro company file. That's a file type that is modified without a "save" command in the software, i.e. every time you enter a transaction to QB it changes the file. Carbonite for some reason doesn't handle those well. What I do is backup QuickBooks to a folder on my C drive... not the folder where the "live" QB file is. Carbonite can then handle that one fine.

[kurt]

It won't do Quicktime movies, but it does all my music.

[Scottpat]

It backs of the data but not the program files. So if you have an OOPS you will have to reinstall the programs and then the data will load.

[mthomas1]

Having tried many alternatives, I finally settled on a combination of Syncplicity and Genie Timeline.

[bruce816]

Kurt, I will begin monitoring my Carbonite backup schedule (thanks for the head's up).

What types of files are NOT backing up immediately?

[dcmeagle]

Kurt, I run Carbonite on several machines and haven't noticed this. I have almost 30 gigs backed up right now. I check it pretty often and it'll usually have 5 to 10 files left to backup so it's getting everything pretty often. I do think it shifts files around based on your internet speed though so maybe that's part of the problem.

Carbonite will backup almost everything as long as you tell it to!

I also use Cobian backup to send files to an offsite server and to backup to a hard drive. It's a free program that will do backups as often as you want it to.

Marc, yes Carbonite can backup infected files. But, when you restore files to your computer you just need to scan them before opening them. They can't infect your machine unless you open or run them in some way. Install the virus scan before the restore, scan the files, then you should be good to go. This applies to any backup.