![]() ![]() ![]() It is also probably the most trustworthy when it says you can store unlimited data. Just right-click on the top-level folder you want to backup and select the mirror to Bitcasa option.īitcasa is one of the most secure service available, offering AES-256 bit encryption. The reason is because although it primarily presents itself as a cloud storage service, it offers a mirroring option that makes it ideal for backup, hence including it here instead. Some readers wondered why I didn’t include Bitcasa in my cloud storage roundup. Update (24th Oct 2014): Bitcasa has now ended its unlimited backup service. If the worst does happen, and you need to restore a trashed, lost or stolen Mac, there is the (paid) option of having your backup sent to you on an external drive rather than having to wait for everything to download. It backups your entire Mac, the software is easy to use and upload speed is decent. It focuses purely on backing-up a single machine: there are no file-sync features, and no public sharing of files. I’m thus again focusing on the best-known companies: Backblaze, Bitcasa, Carbonite, CrashPlan and Mozy.īackblaze is one of the best-known services out there. Small startups come and go all the time not such a problem if you bought a $10 accessory from them a year ago, rather a bigger problem if your backup disappears along with the company. You can see below the exceptions.Īs with cloud storage, there are a huge number of competing services, and my view is that you are safest with the major players. Note too that many services don’t support multiple drives: if you have more than one drive in your Mac, only the main one gets backed-up. There are a few services that give you the option to backup everything, and I’ll mention those as we get to them. So you’ll get back your photos, music and documents, but usually not your apps, preferences, settings and so on. I mentioned a caveat: most services do not backup your entire drive, only the data files. Since it’s online, it does this anytime you have an Internet connection, which means it works as well when you’re in a hotel on the far side of the world as it does when you’re at home. Upload speeds are typically 10-20 times slower.īut once the backup finally completes, the backup app sits quietly in the background keeping it updated. Every time you create, change or delete a file, the change is mirrored on the backup server. The reason is that while you may have a lightning-fast broadband connection, the speed quoted is for downloads. That initial backup will take quite some time: days or weeks. So, how do online backup services work? You download an app to your Mac that creates a backup of your machine (caveat in a moment) on a remote server. The services covered here are ones that backup either your entire Mac, or a large proportion of it … ICloud, covered in my cloud storage roundup last week, already backs up quite a lot of your data – but nothing like all of it. Think of them as your backup of last resort. Which is where online backup services come into play. That way, if the house burns down, or a burglar takes both my Macs and my backup drives, I still have access to my data. I like multiple backups, and I like one of those backups to be off-site. Unplug it to take your MacBook out & about, and it will catch up as soon as you return and plug it back in. Even easier, get a Time Capsule, and those backups take place over wifi, so you don’t even have to connect a drive.īut I’m a belt-and-braces chap. Say yes, and you’ll then get fully-automatic, hourly, versioned backups without doing anything further. Macs make automated backup childishly easy: simply plug in an external hard drive and OS X will ask whether you want to use it as a Time Machine disk. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |