Best Online Backup Services | Backblaze, Carbonite Safe, Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office, iDrive, pCloud…Read on to see more details on each of the Online Backup Services.
Best Online Backup Services
Online backup services can assist safeguard you from losing important data in the event of a disaster and offer you workflow features that can be useful to you on a daily basis. Let’s examine the ones that will best meet your demands.
The Qualities of a Good Online Backup Service
Prior to choosing an online backup service, it is crucial to give careful consideration to the platforms you use and the amount of storage you’ll require. For instance, do you back up your Windows or Mac computer? Or, limiting your options, are you wanting to backup a Linux or mobile device? Do you also wish to backup your online accounts like OneDrive and email on your mobile device?
Could you avoid backing up more than one device? That’s fantastic because, regardless of the plan or cost, many services only let subscriptions for one device. There are internet backup services available if you need to backup several devices, but they do restrict your options.
How many devices you need to back up and how many files you typically back up will determine how much storage you require. Because you generally don’t want to backup movies, music, or apps that you might simply obtain back through a simple internet download, you might not require as much storage as you think.
Instead, you should make a backup of vital files and treasured photos.
Think about your actual storage requirements while selecting a backup provider. Do you require more storage than 1TB, or 1000GB? With increasing storage requirements, the cost of online backup services increases dramatically.
You should also think about how, in the worst-case scenario, you would like to restore your files and whether you want a service that will send you a physical drive to perform the restore. Remember that a physical hard drive repair is typically intended for businesses or power users rather than the average customer. As such, having it available is beneficial but shouldn’t be the decisive factor.
The granular control of your backup is the final and most crucial component. Do you prefer to be able to sync and backup particular files, or are you content backing up the entire drive or a particular partition?
Different providers take different approaches to it, with some providing a full mirror of your hard drive while others allow you to use your storage space as a virtual drive, which is great if you want a seamless experience.
Let’s examine the top five online backup services available today to determine which is best for you.
Backblaze
Backblaze has been around for a while and has succeeded in rising to the top of the pack because to its straightforward service and affordable price. Backblaze is what you want if you want something that is a largely hassle-free, simple, and easy experience.
What distinguishes Backblaze from other online backup services is its unlimited storage. While that might not mean much to the average user, you don’t need to be concerned about reaching a storage cap if you frequently backup numerous TBs of data.
The service is surprisingly inexpensive at $70 for a year’s subscription or $130 for two years, considering that it offers limitless backup. There is a catch, of course—the subscription. Thus, you would need to purchase a membership for each machine you needed to back up.
The good news is that you can move licenses between machines and decide whether to keep the older files you’ve backed up. That implies that you can effortlessly backup your old files to your new device and carry on as before.
The desktop program is rather simple, and the backup service itself is fairly simple. Having said that, minimalism does have some drawbacks, since it can be difficult to locate a specific file or folder in your backups due to the absence of a file explorer and search functionality.
There is a Backblaze mobile app for iPhone and Android that you may use to see and share your folder even though there is no backup option for mobile devices. It seems like a little bit of a lost chance!
The fact that Backblaze encrypts all of the data you submit using 256-bit encryption for the actual transfer and 128-bit encryption for the storage itself is what matters most.
Up to 30 days’ worth of file versioning is available for restoring information, and once you’ve located the right files or folders, backing them up is simple. If you have a lot of information, one excellent feature is that you may choose to restore using a physical USB or hard drive, and Backblaze will even refund you if you send it.
Overall, Backblaze is a fantastic service with simple pricing and unlimited backups. Even while the service doesn’t support Linux or mobile devices, and the single-user license may annoy people with multiple computers, it’s ultimately not a deal-breaker considering the price.
Carbonite Safe | Best Online Backup Service with Anti-Virus Software
In many aspects, Carbonite Safe is a basic online backup service that forgoes some capabilities to keep costs down. You can select from three different options, depending on your needs, but the Basic package offers the greatest discounts.
If you choose Basic, you will receive a license to use it on one computer with unlimited storage, but you won’t be able to back it up to an external hard drive. However, Carbonite Safe does save up to 12 copies of your data, allowing you to always go back if the most recent file has a problem. You should have complete peace of mind knowing that your belongings are protected because it also offers an automated backup mechanism for data and images.
Even if you don’t get the Webroot antivirus with the basic subscription, Carbonite Safe’s security is very good. Despite the fact that this is probably one of the factors that helps keep the Basic plan’s cost low, it is disheartening that you cannot purchase a temporary physical drive to perform a restoration on the Basic plan.
After Basic, there is the Plus plan, which is intended for people who want to backup data on an external hard drive. You also receive the Webroot antivirus that we previously discussed, which gives your files additional security protection while they are backed up. If you require automatic video backup, it is included in the Plus package.
With the exception of the courier delivery of a physical drive to restore your data, Carbonite Safe also provides a Prime plan. Again, it’s questionable whether the price is justified given that alternatives like Backblaze or iDrive offer similar services at a lower cost.
Carbonite Safe may not be suitable for everyone because to its limited features, which include its support for only Windows and Mac operating systems, lack of a file-sharing option, and single license choice. The business is aware of this, which is why they provide a 15-day trial so that you may try it out for yourself.
Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office | Best Online Backup Service for Extra Cybersecurity
Acronis is a superb cloud backup choice if you’re particularly concerned about cybersecurity and want additional protection from ransomware and other attacks. Granted, it doesn’t offer the same speeds or file sizes as some of the other cloud backup services, but with a starting price of $90 per year, it’s a terrific deal and does a good job of protecting your information.
Acronis is able to maintain this degree of security because to the extensive collection of security tools that are bundled with the subscription. For instance, Cyber Protect offers you anti-ransomware security in addition to real-time anti-virus and anti-malware scanning, which is something you don’t typically see in online backup services.
Even though not everyone will use videoconferencing, you still get protections for Zoom, Webz, and Microsoft Teams. This is a good extra for security-conscious users. An easily readable cybersecurity dashboard that delivers measurements and statistics on your overall stored data ties everything together. In fact, if you believe a file or folder might be malicious, you can even quarantine possible dangers.
In addition, you receive the complete range of premium online backup services, including backup scheduling, differential backup, which backs up only modified files, system data recovery in the event that the OS becomes corrupt, and granular backup management down to the file level.
Additionally, you may backup your Outlook e-mail and OneDrive. The best part is that Acronis includes apps for Android, iPhone, Windows, and Mac.
All things considered, their cheapest online storage plan only includes 500GB of storage with no way to upgrade, which is a very significant issue that might be a dealbreaker. The Premium plan, which costs $125 annually per computer and offers only 1TB of space, is an option if you need more. However, it may be upgraded for an additional fee.
In the end, Acronis is a terrific choice if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t have a lot of things to store and needs the finest online backup security.
iDrive | Best Online Backup Service for Combined Desktop and Mobile Use
iDrive is the best option you’ll find if you’re looking for an online backup service that offers comprehensive platform support. It not only works with Windows and Mac, but it can also back up data from both Android and iOS mobile devices thanks to the user-friendly iDrive apps.
The mobile apps also make it pretty simple to browse through all of your backed-up files, which is a terrific way to take all of your data with you wherever you go.
There is, regrettably, a little bit of a catch since there are just two storage size possibilities. The least expensive is 5TB at $60/year, while the most expensive is 10TB at $119/year.
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While it is commendable that iDrive offers a variety of options to customize in accordance with requirements, the inability to add more storage is disappointing.
This isn’t a deal-breaker, though, if your usage doesn’t exceed either choice. However, the fact that there is no monthly subscription option and you must pay $60 for a complete year of iDrive may be a deal-breaker. To test the service before you buy, you may join up for the free Basic plan, which backs up 10GB of data.
Even yet, there are some fantastic benefits, such as unlimited device usage with the subscription as opposed to Backblaze, which only grants you a license for one device.
That makes it a much better value proposition if you need to back up data from several devices. In addition, iDrive contains the typical features you’d expect from a premium backup software, such the ability to store up to 30 versions of a file, email sharing, and 256-bit AES encryption.
Additionally, you can request free physical transportation of stored data from them once a year; however, you must return their disk to them.
In conclusion, iDrive is excellent if you need to backup several devices but won’t need more than 10TB of storage, which is primarily consumed by versioning. IDrive is in second place thanks to its excellent mobile apps and user-friendly web interface.
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pCloud | Best Online Backup Service with Lifetime Subscription
The fact that pCloud is designed to be as hassle-free and integrate seamlessly into the daily routine of the average user sets it apart from other online backup services. In contrast to many other services, it accomplishes this by enabling you to use the service as a virtual disk on your computer.
pCloud is a fantastic choice for folks who don’t necessarily want to use a second backup program or are familiar with Google Drive and other cloud backup services.
One of the only online backup providers that offers a lifetime subscription, pCloud has another hassle-free feature. If you long for the day when purchases were made in one single sum rather than through a recurring subscription, then pCloud will suit you perfectly, even though the upfront cost is a bit high.
We like pCloud’s free account option with 10GB of storage in addition to its paid subscription options. This allows you to test it out for as long as you need to without being constrained by the 15–30 day trial periods most other services offer.
When it comes to internet backups, the main method is their syncing tool, which you may customize for particular files or folders rather than mirroring an entire hard drive. Alternately, you can utilize pCloud as a hard drive extension, making it appear in your file explorer like any other hard drive.
pCloud has mobile apps for Android and iPhone in addition to desktop synchronization for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and unlike some other services, you may backup files and folders from these apps as well. Additionally, you can backup other services like Dropbox, One Drive, Google Drive and Photos, and even Facebook while you’re at it. In a way, pCloud is trying to be a complete backup solution, and it succeeds to a certain extent.
However, the fact that the greatest storage you can obtain is 2 TB and it’s only on their most costly plan, which costs $100 annually, works against it. It’s even less than half at 500 GB if you choose their less expensive, $50 per year subscription. Given how comprehensive their service is, it begs the question of why they don’t provide more top-ups or bigger storage capacities.
So choosing one of their lifetime subscriptions makes a lot of sense. The 2TB lifetime plan only costs $350, which is not a bad deal given that it is equivalent to the price of three years of a membership. The 500GB version costs $175, but given that it offers only a fourth as much capacity for the same price, it hardly seems to be a good deal.
In either case, pCloud provides some excellent extra features, whether you choose the yearly or lifetime option. As an illustration, it includes built-in video and audio players, the latter of which even supports playlists, allowing you to stream anything directly from the cloud. A separate service called pCloud Crypto is also available; it costs $50 per year or $125 for a lifetime subscription, and it adds client-side encryption to your files before they are even uploaded.
Overall, pCloud is designed to be a one-stop shop for backup and encryption, and it does a respectable job of it. For people who don’t want too much fuss, the simple operation and minimal interface are perfect.
The limitation of storage space is really the only drawback, but if you don’t use more than 2TB or don’t anticipate doing so, the lifetime subscription is well worth the initial cost, even though rival services provide greater or unlimited caps.
