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Stop us if you’ve heard this one: You should be backing up your Mac. OK, OK, you’ve heard that one before--we all have. But a huge number of Mac owners use notebooks, and backing up to an external drive isn’t always convenient. Online backup services let you back up to an off-site server (which romantics also call “the cloud”) over any Internet connection, meaning you can keep your files backed up over Wi-Fi, no wires required. Your data is encrypted for safety and stored in a secure location until you need to access it--or you stop paying your bill, whichever comes first.
Besides being incredibly convenient, some of these online data-backup services include other features, such as synchronizing and sharing files between two or more computers, accessing your files through a Web-based interface, displaying a gallery of your photos, backing up external hard drives, and so on. We’ll help you compare five Mac-friendly services, to find the right cloud for you and your precious bits and bytes.
Backblaze
Set-it-and-forget-it
Backblaze really wants to back up your entire hard drive, although you
can exclude anything you want. It automatically excludes applications,
disk images, the operating system, and temporary files, both according
to where they are located (nothing in the Applications or Library
folders, for example) and what their file extension is (no .log, .iso,
.exe, and others). You can’t include anything that Backblaze excludes
by default, but you can expand the list of exclusions. Backblaze will
never back up a file larger than 4000MB, but you can nudge that ceiling
down.
Backblaze lives in your System Preferences, with a
status/shortcut icon in the menubar. Its Settings window has a slider
where you can throttle the backup speed, request a reminder if you
haven’t backed up in a certain number of days, and view a log showing
everything scheduled for backup, plus a list of recent activity. To
restore, you log in online, where you can browse your backed-up files
and request a ZIP file to download (you get an email when it’s ready),
a DVD mailed to you (4.2GB max, and you’ll pay a whopping $99 for it,
including overnight FedEx), or get your files on a USB hard drive
(500GB max, $189, also including overnight FedEx). Four weeks worth of
changes are included, and you just “roll back” the date in a drop-down
menu to find older versions of files. Backblaze even dates the files in
the browser, which is a huge help.
Backblaze defaults to backing up all your files, but you can exclude certain folders or file extensions here.
Files
you delete from your Mac are deleted from Backblaze after 30 days. You
can back up external drives (except for Time Machine drives), but as
with Mozy,
be sure to reattach the drive within 30 days of removal, or Backblaze
will think you deleted the “missing” files and trash them from your
backup. You can’t back up network volumes, although it did offer to
back up our iDisk, since that appears on our Mac as a local volume and
then is synced periodically to MobileMe’s servers. (Which is why we,
naturally, declined to back up iDisk.)
Your data is kept safe on
Backblaze by 128-bit AES encryption throughout its encoding, transfer,
and storage, in a secure storage facility with biometric security, a
raised floor on seismic pedestals, and other cool-sounding stuff. In
the Settings you can opt to add a personal encryption key, but
Backblaze doesn’t have a copy, so you can’t ever lose it, or no one
will be able to recover your data.
After you choose a set of files to restore, Backblaze prepares a ZIP archive and emails you a link when it's ready to download.
We
liked Backblaze’s thoroughness and the ability to restore our backed-up
files to any computer. If you only want to back up a few folders, the
interface is a little trickier than Carbonite’s (see facing page),
since you need to exclude folders from the default set. Carbonite lets
you start with an empty backup set and then add folders. And Backblaze
won’t let you totally exclude your main Macintosh HD volume, so if you
only want to back up your external drive and not your main one, you’re
out of luck.
Web-based restore of backups can be done from any computer. Reasonable cost.
Intel Macs only.
Carbonite
Similar to Backblaze,
Carbonite lives in your System Preferences, with an icon in the menubar
for checking backup status, pausing a backup for 24 hours, or launching
the System Preference. By default, Carbonite backs up your whole hard
drive (excluding applications, operating system files, and temporary
files, just like the other services reviewed here), but the file
browser is clear and easy to understand, making it a snap to assemble a
custom backup set.
Carbonite excludes any file over 4GB, as well
as any video file by default, but you can add them to your backup set
manually. You can’t back up external drives or network volumes. You get
unlimited storage, though, so go ahead and back up the entire 4TB in
your Mac Pro that we’re so jealous of.
If
you click the Automatically Manage Backups button, Carbonite backs up
your whole hard drive. Or you can manually select your backup set, as
we're doing here.
Once the initial backup is done,
Carbonite keeps an eye on things and backs up changes automatically. If
you need to free up system resources, you can pause Carbonite, which
stops the uploads but keeps monitoring your drive for changes, or you
can disable the
app, which stops it completely. But we didn’t
notice any lag or system sluggishness on our 2.4GHz MacBook Pro while
Carbonite was doing its thing.
To restore backed-up files, just
click the Restore tab in Carbonite, choose which files to restore and
where you want them saved, to their original locations or anywhere else
you like. Each Carbonite subscription is tied to one computer (you can
purchase subscriptions for additional computers using your same
log-in). You can transfer your subscription to a new Mac by logging in
to Carbonite.com,
and clicking Restore. This walks you through installing Carbonite on
the new machine, and the app starts in Recover Mode, which freezes the
backup part so that Carbonite doesn’t think all your files are missing
because you erased them. You can’t change your backup sets during that
time, but when you’re done restoring, you just change the main
Carbonite status from Recover Mode to Enabled, and your backups resume.
A handy Restore Assistant can even copy all the files from your
Carbonite backup to an existing or new user account on your new Mac.
Click Get Info when browsing your files under the Restore tab to see more about the file.
Carbonite
has Remote Access to let you view and download your files from a
browser, but we had trouble getting it to work. Your files are supposed
to be available soon after they’re backed up, but ours didn’t appear. Carbonite.com said that new users might need to wait 24 hours for Remote Access to kick in, but several days later, we still had nothing.
Backed-up
files you delete from your Mac are removed from your Carbonite backup
after 30 days. And if you tell Carbonite to stop backing up a
particular file, it’ll hold on to it an extra 72 hours, in case you
change your mind. The service doesn’t support versioning, only keeping
the most recent iteration of any file. And you can’t schedule backups,
although the company plans to add that function in the future.
Affordable, unlimited storage. You can pause or disable the app to free
up resources. Restore Assistant transfers your data to a new or
existing user account.
Intel Macs only. No support for versioning or scheduling. Can't back up
external drives. Video files excluded by default, but you can add them
back in. 
Dropbox
is the mayor of Sync Town, working like iDisk but more reliably. And
since anyone can have a 2GB account for free, there’s no reason not to
try it out. Paid accounts are $50 a year for 50GB of storage and $100 a
year for 100GB, so you might decide not to back up your entire hard
drive. But the sync and sharing services are the whole point.
Installing
the Dropbox client puts a new folder called Dropbox into your user
folder, and any files you put in that folder are synced to Dropbox’s
servers. You can access those files through a browser by logging in to
GetDropbox.com. You can also install Dropbox on your other computers
(even Windows and Linux machines), associate them with your existing
Dropbox account, and access your files from there. It’s meant to
replace clunkier methods, such as emailing files to yourself or carting
them around on USB flash drives.
Your
Dropbox lives in your User folder and acts like any other folder in
your Finder. We added ours to our sidebar for extra convenience.
Dropbox
syncs your files instantaneously—we stuck five JPEGs in
~/Dropbox/Photos, and they appeared in our list of synced files on
GetDropbox.com within 10 seconds. Your Dropbox folder contains folders
called Public and Photos by default. You can share files in the Public
folder with friends (even if they don’t use Dropbox) by emailing them a
public URL. To get it, just view your Public folder at GetDropbox.com,
click the file you want to share, and choose Copy Public URL from the
contextual menu. You can email the link or paste it into an IM chat,
and your recipient can view or download the file in their browser.
Drag
some photos into the Photos folder within Dropbox, and Dropbox creates
an online gallery. It’s not as attractive as MobileMe’s online
galleries, but it’s an easy way to share photos online—just email
friends the link to the gallery or right-click any photo and choose
Copy Link Location to get links to specific pictures.
You
can also set up Shared folders from which other Dropbox users can
upload and download files. You invite friends by email address, and
they’re required to sign up for Dropbox accounts. And if they don’t
want to install the Dropbox client on their computers, they can stick
to the Web interface only. Referring friends to Dropbox gets you each
250MB of extra free storage; grab your referral link from GetDropbox.com
> Account > Referral Status. You can earn up to 3GB of free space
from referrals. Joining other people’s Shared folders does affect your
quota, since the files in that folder now show up in your Dropbox as
well.
Any photos you add to Dropbox's Photos folder also appear in an online gallery.
In
our tests, Dropbox was smooth and stable. And it’s convenient: We added
the Dropbox folder to our Finder window’s sidebar, plus put an alias on
our Desktop. Status updates appear as Growl notifications, or you can
see them by clicking the menubar icon.
We
especially liked how Dropbox deals with conflicts. If two users are
working on the same file, whoever uploads it last “wins,” but the
“losing” file is synced to Dropbox and time-stamped with the name of
the computer that did the edit, so you can figure out which version you
want. And we loved browsing our files on our iPhone: Head to
m.getdropbox.com on your device, and log in to view recent Dropbox
activity, browse your files, and view images and documents right in
Mobile Safari.
Super-fast syncing across as many machines as you like. Easily share
photos and files with friends. Great Web interface, plus a client that
integrates seamlessly into Mac OS X. Universal binary. Joining a Shared folder affects your quota.
SpiderOak is flexible enough to back
up anything, to share files easily with your friends, and to sync files
between Mac, Windows, and Linux machines. It installs as an actual
application, but it’s Flash-based, so if you use it on two or more
platforms, the experience will be the same.
You can back up as
many computers, external hard drives, and network volumes and servers
to your SpiderOak account as you want. The other services we tested
don’t allow you to back up network volumes, but since SpiderOak sells
storage in 100GB increments, you’re encouraged to back up as much as
possible. You select the files and folders to back up in the Back Up
tab of the SpiderOak app, or you can just click the checkbox for a
preset category, including Dekstop, Documents, Email, Movies, Music,
and Pictures. The preferences let you exclude files and folders by
wildcard (filenames including *.zip, for example) or exclude files
based on their size or age.
The Backup tab lets you select categories (to the left) or specific folders to back up.
Once
files are backed up to your SpiderOak network, they appear in the View
tab, where you can browse the folder structure for each of your
backed-up devices. Select a folder to highlight the Changelog and Merge
buttons. Merge does a one-time merge of all the files in any two
folders on your SpiderOak network. The Download button restores your
selected files to a location you specify in the preferences.
Your
files are encrypted with a combination of 2,048-byte RSA and 256-bit
AES and compressed, so you’re not paying for more storage space than
you need. When you change a file, SpiderOak only saves the changes, so
the data blocks for the parts of your file that didn’t change aren’t
backed up again. And if you have a file on two machines and back up
both to your SpiderOak network, the file will appear in both machines’
View list, even though it’s only stored on SpiderOak’s server once. You
still see all versions of your files under the View tab, and clicking a
file with more than one version displays the date each was updated, so
you can find the one you need.
SpiderOak keeps all versions of your files, in case you want to restore an older one.
Share
sets, which are set up in the Share tab, make chosen files and folders
in your SpiderOak network available to anyone via their Web browser.
You choose a Share ID and Room Key, which are combined into a URL you
give to friends. And the Sync tab lets you set up Sync sets, choosing
two folders in your SpiderOak network that will always stay in sync on
the local machines. We used one Sync set to keep our
~/Documents/Receipts folder synced between our home iMac and work
laptop, or you could sync a local folder to an external hard drive.SpiderOak
even encrypts your encryption key. The company doesn’t know your
password, although you can set up a hint. SpiderOak employees can never
access your data—and if you forget your password completely, neither
can you.
Back up as many computers, externals, network volumes as you like.
Combine two folders with a one-time merge or a constant sync. Keeps all
versions of your files without duplicating data blocks. Doesn't delete
files from your backup unless you tell it to. Universal binary. SpiderOak app must be open all the time.
Choose premade Backup Sets, roll your own sets, or specify certain files and folders.
It’s a fact of tech life: Every hard drive will someday die. And offsite backups can be safer than backing up to an external hard drive plugged into your Mac—what if your house burns down? MozyHome offers low-cost online backup with unlimited storage, and it’s practically as simple to use as Leopard’s built-in Time Machine.
Getting started is incredibly easy—just sign up at www.mozy.com and download and install the Mac client. The Backup Sets list contains common things you might want to back up (email in Apple Mail, your Address Book, application preferences, your Movies folder, and so on), and you can edit these or add your own backup sets for more precision. Or use the file browser to back up whole folders.
The interface is easy to use, and as you select things to back up, Mozy tallies the total number of files and their cumulative size. The preferences let you choose automatic or scheduled backups and even limit the amount of bandwidth Mozy uses.
Depending on the size of your backup queue, the initial backup will, quite understandably, take forever. Don’t pay too much attention to the “Time to finish” estimate—ours would range from 12 days to 5 days to 2 days, back to 12 days within the span of a few minutes. (Mozy estimates it can upload 2GB to 4GB a day over a regular DSL line, up to 9GB on a very high-bandwidth connection.) If Mozy is interrupted when backing up, it’ll just resume the next time you’re online.
Thankfully, subsequent backups go much quicker. Mozy scans your hard drive for changes and only backs up new or changed files. It works in the background—we didn’t even notice the subsequent backups as they happened. Your files are protected during the transfer by 128-bit secure-sockets layer encryption, and Mozy uses 448-bit Blowfish encryption to keep your data secure when it’s stored on their servers.
Click the menubar icon and select Restore Files to launch the Mozy Restore client, in order to browse your backed-up files and restore them to your local machine, where they’re decrypted and ready to go. You can also restore files through the Web interface at Mozy.com or even order DVDs of your data (for a $29.95 plus 50-cents-per-gigabyte processing fee, and the FedEx Next Day shipping rate).
But this is a backup, not an archive—if you delete a file locally, it’s removed from your backup after 30 days. So it’s not a place to, say, offload files you want to delete from your laptop but still retain a copy of.
Affordable, secure online file backup. Easy to configure and schedule. Lots of support on Mozy’s site. Slow initial backup, but that’s hardly Mozy’s fault—uploading securely takes time.
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