Review of Carbonite Online Backup Solution

Overview and History
Carbonite have their HQ in Boston, MA and they started their online backup solution in May 2006. At the time of writing they backup and protect in excess of 2 billion files for clients in all 5 continents. The company was founded in 2005 by David Friend and Jeff Flowers.

Carbonite is a easy, well protected online backup program for casual home pc users, students, home office users, industrial travelers, etc. For less than five dollars per month, Carbonite will backup all your precious files on your computer (digital photos, sounds, office documents and other important files) whenever your computer is connected to the Internet.

Carbonite is very painless to initialize and use, needing very little ongoing user participation. The online backup program is setup to constantly backup changed information from your laptop whenever it is linked to the internet.

Security
Carbonite security is impressively strong. Traffic back and forth your MAC and their data centers is encrypted with 3DES – which is very safe – and once on their servers your information is protected by Blowfish 448bit encryption – which is the best protection available.

The Storage for your information is held on dual up-to-date facilities in Massachusetts that provide carefully temperature-controlled rooms, reserve power generators, restricted personnel access, and loads of other functions to protect the security and integrity of your information.

Backup Features
When initially setup Carbonite backs up the 'My Documents and Settings' folders yet this can quickly be changed with the desktop client. There is no top end to the number of files that can be archived, therefore you can manage as many or as few items as you desire.

Backups start when your computer is idle, eliminating drain on resources or bandwidth. Also, you can configure the backup scheduler to archive as frequently as you wish.

Network drives and external drives cannot be backup up using Carbonite.

In our tests it required 37 mins to save 2,000 megabytes of information via a standard 8mbps internet line while accessing other traffic on the internet.

Carbonite uses a continuous backup facility which means that data is archived whenever they are changed. This means you no longer need to depend on scheduling backups and ensuring your desktop is turned on when the scheduled time comes. But, if scheduling is what you wish, the PC client does have that option as well.

The backup progress can be monitored by an including progress bar. You can additionally add files and folders to the backup list by right-clicking.

The Carbonite utility creates a 'virtual drive letter' where you can see which files have been saved and which are currently waiting for backup. The software also adds colored dots on files to show whether they are backed up, waiting archive or not included in the backup set.

The PC client lets unlimited 'file versioning' for three months. There are as well no limits on the size of individual files or the amount of information that you can archive. However, it is important to be aware of the fact that the initial archive time needed is a lot more than that required when you are up and running and your initial archive is finished.

Restore Features
Data recovery can be requested from either the client or the web portal and can be recovered to - by default - their original location or an alternaive location on the PC they came from or to the web portal. On the PC client, file recovery can also be managed by right-clicking a file or folder. In addition there is a search option so you can locate files to restore that match a specific filename or filename pattern.

Control and Analysis
The web portal Allows central control for all clients being backed up. The speed and upload/download usage can be managed between high and low.
Reports can be created to show what is archived.

Interface
To use Carbonite you must setup the Carbonite Client Software on every device that will be backed up. However, once installed, all archiving can be controlled from a central admin portal.

Many PCs can be handled from one account, but, multi-account control is not supported. After the program is setup, it allows access to a virtual drive letter which is designed to view the status of backed up information and to restore folders. The small icon in the bottom-right corner of the PC starts off yellow – this shows that the initial backup is underway. Once the initial backup is done, the tray icon turns green.

The client program is simple and easy to use. The online portal is uncluttered. The utility is intended to be set-and-forget so the options are not cluttered with lots of options but rather are set up to permit you to pick what and when you want to backup and then leave the client to do it.

Device Support
There is support for PC and MAC. There is an iPhone, iTouch, iPad and Blackberry apps yet these only allow you to observe backed up folders, not actually archive the iPhone, etc.. You can attach files from the backup set in emails.
An unlimited amount of devices – MAC or PC – can be backed up.

Limitations
Network drives and pen drives, etc. cannot be archived
There is no block level incremental backup ability
Carbonite is a Pc and MAC archive utility, so it can not archive server databases such as SQL server, Exchange server.
Open or locked files cannot be backed up until they are no longer in use.
Carbonite is not a disaster recovery tool.
Proxy server support is not available.

File Sharing and Collaboration
Files and folders can be shared privately via the web site and unique access permissions can be configured on individual files and folders.
No public file sharing or collaboration features.

Synchronization
Multiple MACs can be synchronized with each other and with the central web portal.

Web 2.0 Integration
Not supported.

Customer Support
Telephone support is available for an additional cost of $19.99 per annum. Support is via:
- Live Chat
- Email Support / Email web form
- Online Documentation, FAQs and knowledge-base
- Blog

There is also a free 15 day trial available.

Ease Of Use
Carbonite is extremely straightforward to setup and run, just download the client software and run it. There is audio tutorials that explains the entire process and you can start backing up your folders in no time at all. The fifteen day - no credit card required - trial means absolutely no risk in trying Carbonite out. Once installed all that is required is right-click on a file or folder to add it to your archive.

Cost
Initial setup Cost - Free 15 day trial
Monthly charge - Not applicable
Yearly Charge - $54.99
Initial allowed storage amount - unlimited
Cost of additional storage - no charge
Cost of additional devices / PCs / users - Unlimited device but one account per user
Referral Program - 3 months free subscription for each referral that signs up after their free trial
E-billing facility - yes

There are no large scale service plans available, yet, there is a professional verion of Carbonite available at http://www.carbonitepro.com which is designed for commercial use.

Hidden cost: Telephone support costs $19.99 per year.

Conclusion
Carbonite offers a straightforward secure way to backup your files from either PCs or MACs. The unlimited storage for a set cost provides for uncomplicated money management and removes the requirement to constantly note how much data you are backing up. The Carbonite Online Backup utility is very well protected and the support is very good. If you want a straightforward backup solution then this is a very good choice. .

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