Online Backup Services Reviews

The reviews below are assigned ratings by ConsumerSearch. These ratings are based on credibility in testing, evaluating and identifying the best Online Backup Services. See our ratings criteria

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Online Backup Services Reviews Reviewed
Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Online Backup Services Ratings Comments on Reviews
1. Information Week	Review: Five Online Backup Services Keep Your Data Safe Serdar Yegulalp Apr. 9, 2007		This excellent roundup compares AT&T Online Vault, Carbonite, eSureIT, IBackup and Mozy. Serdar Yegulalp describes and evaluates each service based on actual use, not just features. The approach is balanced and objective. Yegulalp covers considerations for novices as well as IT experts. The conclusion is decisive; Mozy wins. Yegulalp also pegs a market niche for each service.
2. Arstechnica.com	Online backup solutions: a review Joel Hruska July 16, 2007		In this roundup, Joel Hruska tests and compares Carbonite, Mozy, Xdrive and Iron Mountain's Connected Backup/PC service. He also attempted to test Iomega's iStorage service, but couldn’t get it to work, even with tech support help. Each service is realistically tested and objectively evaluated. Each receives a rating. The conclusion identifies Mozy as the best all-around service and Connected Backup/PC as the best for business use. Testers had a lot of trouble with Xdrive.

Online Backup Services Reviews above this line are significantly better than reviews below.

Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Online Backup Services Ratings Comments on Reviews

3. Computer Power User	Way Offsite Backup Warren Ernst Dec. 2006		Warren Ernst reviews and rates six online backup services in this older report. We appreciate that Ernst uploaded the same sample files to each service, measuring speed, CPU and RAM usage. Otherwise, the reviews are fairly short and mostly descriptive. Each service is rated, but all have above-average ratings. IBackup is fastest and the most mature, although it used 11% of CPU resources. The speed, features and software earn it the highest rating. Consumers without a high degree of computer literacy will struggle with the plethora of acronyms in this article.
4. WebUser.co.uk	Online storage round up Andy Shaw As of Nov. 2007		U.K. magazine WebUser regularly reviews online storage services, including five in its November issue, and a dozen this year. The reviews are uneven; some are very short. Testing isn’t mentioned in some reviews, and the process isn’t described. Each service earns an overall rating and ratings in four subcategories. Although performance is one of the subcategories, we’d like to see some metrics or at least explanation. All ratings are fairly high, but very consistent with other reviewers. Mozy and Carbonite receive the best ratings.
5. Tom’s Hardware Guide	Take Your Storage Online Sean Kerner Oct. 17, 2007		Sean Kerner looks at seven online storage services: Xdrive, MediaMax, IDrive-E, Omnidrive, Box.net, Carbonite and Mozy in this roundup. Occasional comparisons are helpful, but ratings or a ranked list would be more helpful. Kerner’s conclusion is wishy-washy, advising readers to try services for themselves. All seven reviewed backup services offer free trials that users can try without having to submit a credit card number. Three of the online backup services are recommended over their most direct competitors, but just barely in a couple of cases. A chart compares prices, plans and features.
6. SanjayParekh.com	Review: Online Backup Services Sanjay Parekh July 13, 2006		Technology executive Sanjay Parekh tests half a dozen storage services for personal use. His evaluations succinctly cover the issues that will matter most to consumers. He rejects most of the online backup services for valid reasons, identifies Mozy as probably the best and mentions a couple of others worth considering. The reviews are very good for an amateur blog, but fall short of being comprehensive. The major flaw is the age of the article.
7. PC Magazine >> Details/Subscribe	Backup Software Neil J. Rubenking, Cade Metz As of Nov. 2007		PC Magazine has not reviewed an online backup service this year, but reviewed five services in 2006. Neil Rubenking, PC Magazine's lead analyst for security, writes most of the reviews. Testing is exceptional. Several reviews note current or forthcoming changes, which confirm that the major weakness of these reviews is their age. Otherwise, reviews are very good. Comparisons are infrequent, but ratings are sufficiently varied, and two services are selected as Editor's Choices: SOS Online Backup and Mozy.

Online Backup Services Reviews above this line are significantly better than reviews below.

Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Online Backup Services Ratings Comments on Reviews

8. PC World >> Details/Subscribe	Store It on the Web Jon L. Jacobi, Erik Larkin, and Steve Bass June 2, 2006		This older article covers 17 online backup, storage and file sharing services, separating them into three sub-categories. IBackup is best for backing up/restoring data, while editors had trouble with the competing Xdrive. GoDaddy Online File Folder is recommended for simple storage. 4shared.com is the editors' pick for file sharing. Mozy (in beta) stands out as a bargain backup service. Three ratings charts help a user decide at a glance what service is best for a particular need. These charts are published online, but a couple of the links were broken at the time of our visit.
9. CNet.com	Everybody likes Mozy--except me Michael Horowitz July 30, 2007		In this two-part article, Michael Horowitz reviews the reviews of Mozy from a technical standpoint. He can’t understand all the rave reviews for a service he thinks is horrible. His criticisms are explained well and specifically documented. Horowitz’s argument is compelling, except for three holes. First, as far as readers can tell, he has never actually tried the service; he is evaluating it "on paper." Second, he cites a debatable flaw with the service and falsely claims that reviewers ignore it. In fact, multiple reviewers, including some he mentions, agree with him. Finally, he refuses to recommend an alternative.
10. PC Advisor	Storage software Tom Spring, Richard Morochove As of Nov. 2007		British magazine PC Advisor only evaluates two services, and each review is written by a different writer. Neither review is satisfactorily concluded. Overall and subcategory ratings help, but they seem unduly high in relation to reviewer comments. The MozyPro review is basically the same article as in the U.S. magazine, PC World. The recent review of Windows Live SkyDrive is of the beta version.
11. Top Ten Reviews.com	Online Storage Services Reviews 2008 Editors of TopTenReviews.com Not Dated		TopTenReviews.com reviews and ranks 15 online services. The sales orientation of the reviews is emphasized by the big red "buy now" buttons on the top and bottom of each review page. The use of a future date in the title also weakens the credibility of the reviews. In spite of those issues, the individual reviews are competent, somewhat balanced and sometimes reference testing that has been performed. A comparison chart of features, prices for various levels of storage and tech support options is excellent and up-to-date. The ratings and objectivity here are questionable, but the comparative information is very useful.
12. Online-Internet-Backup.com	Online Backup Reviews Editors of Online-Internet-Backup.com Dec. 1, 2006		On the surface, this seems like a superior source of online storage service reviews. Reviews seem balanced, and each service is evaluated and rated in five subcategories. Each service receives an overall rating. All are high, but one (Mozy) emerges with the top grade. The owner and operators of the website are not revealed. Only by viewing the source code could we discover that all eight reviews were posted on the same date. The domain is also registered anonymously, further damaging credibility. The reviews here are helpful and consistent with other reviewers, but we see no reason why a legitimate reviewer would go to lengths to hide its identity.

Online Backup Services Reviews above this line are significantly better than reviews below.

Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Online Backup Services Ratings Comments on Reviews

13. Wonko.com	Blog entries about Mozy and Carbonite Ryan Grove Jan. - May, 2007		Ryan Grove’s series of blog entries amount to a lengthy and revealing user review. He switches from Carbonite to Mozy and raves about how much better it is, and describes his experiences and issues. Then, his hard drive died, and he was dependent on Mozy for file restoration. The service failed to work and tech support couldn’t solve the problem. A Mozy executive read the blog and sent a DVD containing Grove’s data through overnight delivery. This is a great testimonial to customer service – at least for customers with squeaky-wheel blogs.
14. Consumer Reports >> Details/Subscribe	Online backup services Editors of Consumer Reports Oct. 2007		Editors at Consumer Reports devote only four paragraphs to online backup services, mentioning them as a good secondary backup option. Editors say that because of long upload and download times, these make sense mainly for small amounts of data. Editors say they liked one service best, but it's not disclosed how many other services were considered, or the extent to which they were tested.
15. The Wall Street Journal	These Services Make Backing Up Your Files Safe and Inexpensive Walter S. Mossberg Dec. 14, 2006		The Journal’s personal technology columnist tests Mozy and Carbonite. Testing is not comprehensive, but Mossberg reveals many disadvantages of using on an online backup service. Yet he still advocates either tested service, while expressing a preference for Mozy. Comparisons between the services are very good, but Mossberg doesn’t even mention that these are just two of many similar services.
16. PC World >> Details/Subscribe	GeekTech: Super-Easy Online Backups Tom Mainelli Oct. 13, 2006		Carbonite is the only service discussed in this review, but Tom Mainelli tests it for several weeks by backing up his own data. Mainelli likes the easy setup and non-invasive operation, along with the fact that Carbonite itself has off-site storage. An extensive discussion of other Carbonite features follows; Mainelli's only criticism is that the upload time can be a bit slower than other online services. The service's ease of use makes up for this.
17. TechCrunch.com	The Online Storage Gang Michael Armington & Adam Bouskila Jan. 31, 2006		Michael Armington reviews 13 storage companies according to various functional parameters and publishes all of his findings in a comprehensive table. While the features chart is helpful, no testing was performed, so recommendations are made based solely on features and pricing. That’s especially problematic because the evaluation is nearly two years old. Both features and pricing are likely to have changed since then. Armington qualifies his recommendations by emphasizing that users' needs should be the determining factor for making the right online service selection (as opposed to speed or ease of use).
18. Atomic.com	SOS Online Backup Stephen Withers Jan. 30, 2006		Stephen Withers likes the SOS software that allows the user to manually select files, schedule a backup or do an immediate volume backup. Several user interface choices allow customization and make the whole experience less intimidating. SOS offers daily, weekly or monthly backups. User comments follow Withers’ review; the consensus generally supports his positive assessment of this service. No other services are rated, however, and the review is almost two years old.
19. The New York Times >> Details/Subscribe	State Of The Art; Fewer Excuses For Not Doing A PC Backup David Pogue Jan. 4, 2007		New York Times technology columnist David Pogue conducts a cursory look at MediaMax, Mozy, Carbonite and Xdrive in this column. He describes the prices and features of the services, but does not refer to testing or even having personally used any of them. He covers pros and cons of each service, but in the same way any consumer could by checking the services’ websites. No service is rated as better than the others. Finally, Pogue’s recommendation to use an on-site backup as a supplement to an online service backup is the opposite of what experts recommend. (Note that ConsumerSearch is affiliated with The New York Times.)
20. PC World >> Details/Subscribe	Backups for Business: Online Backup Services Richard Morochove July 30, 2007		This article considers backup services for personal and business use, but only discusses MozyHome and MozyPro. Richard Morochove explains both services, but doesn’t make it clear that he’s recommending them. He seems to advocate online backup as a secondary backup. The article’s value is primarily informational.
21. Craig's Review, LLC	Craig's Online Backup Service Review Craig Not Dated		The information and brief reviews on this website seem decent, as well as sincere, but we’re troubled that the proprietor of the site is mostly anonymous and the articles are undated. Craig claims to have a solid, appropriate professional background. The reviews are balanced, but very shallow. A paragraph is devoted to each of five online backup services. The website lacks a home page, and the pages "Backup Software Review" and "Backup Service Review" list the same five services. This does not give readers any confidence that Craig’s motives are forthright. His selection of a highly recommended service carries little weight.
22. CNet.com	Free backup. What's the catch? Rafe Needleman July 6, 2006		In this brief, older blog entry, Rafe Needleman says that he's been using Connected DataProtector for online backups, but is now considering a switch to Mozy. Mozy is far less expensive and has an easy-to-use interface. It also has some advanced features, like control of how much bandwidth Mozy uses. Needleman concludes it's excellent for cheap backup, though some people won't care for the restore function. A user responding to Needleman's blog entry says Carbonite has a better restore function.

Online Backup Services Reviews above this line are significantly better than reviews below.

Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Online Backup Services Ratings Comments on Reviews

23. David Strom's Web Informant	Online Storage Solutions David Strom Aug. 18, 2006		In this casual discussion of online storage and backup, David Strom calls two Amazon.com services, ElephantDrive and JungleDisk, "dirt cheap" and reliable. Both encrypt data and use small clients to organize data. In the mid-price range, Strom personally uses MyDocsOnline. Other services mentioned are Xdrive (owned by AOL), DataDepositBox, Carbonite and LogMeIn. None of these services are tested.
24. BackupReview.info	The Top 25 Online Backup Companies; for November 2007 Anonymous As of Nov. 2007		BackupReview.info claims to be "the leading source of information for online backup and data-storage services" since 2004. This site has a lot of good information, but most of it is stolen from other websites. That practice, combined with a lack of information about the site’s operator and no up-to-date evaluative information about individual service providers, gives BackupReview.info’s rankings no credibility. Each month, the site posts a list of the top 25 online backup services. The list links to the individual providers, rather than actual reviews.