I’ve tried various backup solutions over the years, and never found anything that quite fits my needs.  Eventually, I resorted to using Foldershare to keep my files in sync between my desktop machine and server, which worked but seemed like a very basic solution (if one disk crashes, the other would have a backup).

Been using a combination of Carbonite and SynbackSE with an external hard disk for a few months, and it’s working out to be a really good cost-effective solution.  This screen makes my heart jump with joy…

At only $50 per year for unlimited storage, Carbonite really is a brilliant and cost-effective way to backup.  I’ve been recommending this solution to everyone I know.  It’s so easy to use that even my Dad could backup, and he’s not at all technically inclined.  It’s a great way to backup those important files and digital photographs.

In addition to this, I use SyncBackSE to backup all my important files to a Freecom Classic SL 320gb External Hard Disk every few days.  In the event of a disk failure, I don’t particularly want to days downloading all my data from Carbonite (especially when time is money). 

One thing SynbackSE and Carbonite both can’t do at present is keep versions of files, though the developers of SyncBackSE are working on it for the next release.  At the moment, my SyncBackSE backup involves keeping a maximum of 14 backups or 14 days (whichever is greater) of my data, in conjunction with a windows script which executes after each backup to ensure that the zip files are named according to their datestamps, and that old files are deleted – ie. those older than 14 days, if there are more than 14 backups.

The disk drive is a 320gb Freecom Classic SL External USB 2.0 model, and was bought in the UK for £110.  It’s been discontinued, but I would guess that you could buy a similar drive here in the US for about $150.  Carbonite costs $50 per year for unlimited storage, and SyncBackSE is $25, totalling $225 – which is a very cheap price for peace of mind knowing your data is safe!

On the subject of backups though, just found out from Techcrunch that Omnidrive have announced their launch, and Omnidrive have said on their blog that they will open the floodgates tomorrow and start accepting registrations.  It’s going to be free for 1gb of space, and $40 per year for 10gb.  Bit disappointing, as I’d like to see more space, not least because my backup size on Carbonite is 25gb!  I’ll probably give it a whirl though as it does seem more feature packed than Carbonite.

Tags: backup, carbonite, syncbackse, omnidrive