Blog Master G

Data are (and is, now that data as singular has become acceptable in American English) important to me, especially things like photos, financial documents, and the like. I try to be pretty obsessive about backing things up. I don’t lose sleep over our digital photos since they’re all archived on Ofoto/Kodak Gallery — all 10,736 of ’em as of today (4,249 more than November 2004, partly because I recently migrated all our remaining photos from Photoworks to Ofoto). So what of the other data? I use an external backup drive and an old PC for regular full-drive backups. I also have a number of important files backed up in my Gmail account via Gmail Drive Shell. But of course that’s not enough. I must have off-site (Internet) backup, too, and Gmail is limited to uploading files 10 MB or smaller.

I recently discovered FolderShare (purchased by Microsoft not too long ago), which allows you to keep your data in synch across multiple machines, and to access data from anywhere on any computer that’s currently online. It’s a pretty cool application, runs quietly in the background, and works pretty well. The one big limitation: You can only synchronize up to 10,000 files.

So I got to researching other online backup options and came across this blog entry, which has a number of recommendations.

I haven’t yet tried all the recommendations, but the one to which I was the most drawn based on storage (2 GB), cost (free), and ease of use (runs in the background) is Mozy. So I signed up (agreeing to receive occasional advertising email directly from Mozy in exchange for the service), installed the app, and have selected a number of important files (photos aside) to backup in my 2 GB. (You get 1 GB initially, but can upgrade to 2 GB for free if you fill out a short online survey.) So far, I’m very impressed. You can select from predefined Backup Sets that Mozy compiles (spreadsheets, presentations, Firefox favorites, financial data, etc.), or you can browse your Filesystem to pick and choose what folders and files to back up.

Mozy is fast, does not hog system resources, allows you to run automated backups when your computer’s not in use or schedule backups, and just plain works. So far, I’m very impressed. Oh, and your data is super safe because Mozy uses high-end data encryption:

• 128-bit SSL Support (to secure your data during transport)
• 448-bit Blowfish Encryption (to secure your data on our server)

Good stuff. If you’re looking for a safe and easy-to-use online backup solution, check out Mozy.