Online
backup technologies
Revised
3/25/10; Corrections to david@strom.com
See
my original story
in the NY Times here.
See
the follow-up story
in PC World here.
My
most recent story in eSecurityPlanet.com here -- an online backup buying guide.
Finally,
here is one of my
video screencast product reviews on Symantec's Online Protection Network and another of the 3X Systems backup appliance
here.
|
Vendor,
URL |
Free
account limitations |
Annual
cost and storage capacity |
Mac and
Windows servers support |
Supports
multiple PCs |
|
3x.com (see my video review here) |
N/A |
Varies, up to 2 TB using hardware appliance |
Windows servers |
Yes |
|
Adrive (1) |
50 GB |
$70 |
No |
Yes (paid only) |
|
|
15 days free |
$2/GB per mo |
Mac and Windows servers |
Yes |
|
|
Out of business |
|
|
|
|
Apple's MobileMe (2) |
30 days free |
$100/20GB |
Windows |
Family pack $150/yr |
|
30 days free |
$8 per month per PC for the first 2 GB + $2/GB |
No |
Yes |
|
|
15 days free |
$5 per month per PC for unlimited storage |
Macs |
Yes |
|
|
30 days free |
$250/10GB |
No |
Yes |
|
|
14 days free |
$110/10GB |
Mac, Vista (separate version for servers) |
No |
|
|
30 days free |
Varies |
Windows servers, Mac, Linux |
Yes |
|
|
30 days free |
$540/20GB |
Mac, Linux |
Yes |
|
|
BeinSync Pro |
14 days free |
$60/5GB |
No |
Yes |
|
N/A |
$20/10GB |
Also Mac |
Yes, WebDAV |
|
|
Box.net Business |
14 days free 1GB |
$200/15GB |
Also Mac |
Yes |
|
15 days free |
$55 for unlimited
space |
XP and Vista aand Mac |
Yes (paid accounts only) |
|
|
N/A |
$29 one-time plus Amazon S3 costs |
No |
Yes |
|
|
Connected Backup Iron Mountain |
30 days free |
$100/2GB per PC (Adobe
plan: $200/10 GB) |
Mac, Vista |
Yes |
|
upto 10 mirrored PsC |
free for unlimited storage, paid Pro version avail. |
Macs, Linux |
Yes |
|
|
one mirrored PC |
$50 per mirrored PC for unlimited storage |
Macs |
Yes |
|
|
30 days free |
$2/GB/month, |
No |
Yes, WebDAV, no
limit on number of computers, users, drives
|
|
|
30 days free |
$200/5GB + $7/mo per each PC |
No |
No |
|
|
DriveHQ Online Backup
Professional |
1GB (4) |
$130/10GB |
No |
Yes |
|
2GB |
$100/50GB |
Mac, Linux |
Yes |
|
|
1GB |
$100/ unlimited
storage |
Also Mac |
S3 |
|
|
15 days free |
$120/ 1.5GB |
Windows Servers |
Yes |
|
|
2GB |
$60/ unlimited
storage |
2000, XP, Vista only |
|
|
|
1GB |
$90/5GB |
Windows Servers |
WebDAV |
|
|
15 days free |
$90/1GB + $25/PC |
Windows servers |
Yes |
|
|
30 days free |
$200/50GB |
Windows Servers, Mac and Linux |
Yes |
|
|
15 days free |
$100/5GB |
Mac and Windows servers |
Yes |
|
|
iDrive.com Pro |
2GB |
$100/50GB |
Windows Home Server |
Yes |
|
30 days free |
$300/5GB |
No |
Yes |
|
|
Iomega iStorage
Professional Edition |
30 days free |
$108/1GB |
No |
Yes, unlimited
users |
|
Storage charges only |
About $5 for 2 GB, unlimited
space |
Mac, Linux, Windows 2000, Windows Home Server |
Yes, uses S3, WebDAV |
|
|
LogMeIn Backup |
30 days free |
$40 for 2 PCs |
No |
PC to PC backups |
|
1 GB per file for free service |
50 GB free, $60/250 GB |
No |
Yes, but paid service only |
|
|
|
Out of business |
|
|
|
|
7 days/1 GB free |
$50/150GB |
Mac, Linux |
Yes |
|
|
Mionet |
30 days free |
$80 |
No |
Yes |
|
Mozy Pro (3) |
N/A |
$9/PC/Month for 10GB |
Mac, Windows Servers |
Yes |
|
Microsoft
Skydrive Live |
25 GB!! |
$50 per PC +$50/10GB |
XP w/ SP2 or Vista only |
No |
|
MyDocsOnline.com
Enterprise |
15 days free |
$168/1GB |
Mac, Linux, Windows Servers |
Yes, WebDAV |
|
5 GB free |
$25/25GB |
Mac, Windows, Linux |
Yes |
|
|
15 days free |
$900 for 5 uers |
Windows Servers |
Yes |
|
|
5GB, 30 days free |
$45/10GB |
Mac, Linux, Windows Servers |
Yes, unlimited
users |
|
|
N/A |
$145/10GB |
Windows Servers, Mac and Linux |
Yes, unlimited
users |
|
|
Yes |
$180/10GB |
Windows Servers |
Yes, unlimited
users |
|
|
2GB free |
$120/100GB |
Mac and Linux |
Yes,
unlimited users |
|
|
30 days free |
$216/10GB |
Windows Servers Mac, Linux |
Yes, unlimited
users |
|
|
30 days free |
$110/10GB |
Windows Servers |
No |
|
|
N/A |
$360/1GB |
No |
Yes |
|
|
2GB |
$100/50GB |
No |
Yes, unlimited users |
|
|
15 days free |
$420/5GB |
No |
Yes |
|
|
Tilana.com Reserve |
2 GB free |
$50 for unlimited
storage |
No |
No |
|
VaultLogix
Data Protection Service |
14 days free |
Starts at $300 |
Windows Servers, Mac, Linux, others |
Yes |
|
Vembu.com StoreGrid |
Free PC-to-PC backups for 3 PCs |
$30/yr per PC, more for servers |
Windows Servers, Mac, Linux |
Yes |
|
|
Closing service 3/09 |
|
|
|
|
N/A |
Approx. $5 for 2 GB, unlimited
space |
Also Mac and Linux |
Yes, S3 |
Notes:
(1)
There is a $25 charge to retrieve older versions of backup files
(2)
Accounts have 200GB monthly transfer limits. Storage is shared between files
and emails. Family Pack includes 4 accounts and up to 5 GB storage each.
(3) MozyHome is for consumers and works on both PC¼s and
Macs and is $4.95 a month for unlimited storage capacity on one computer.
MozyHome is also free up to 2 GB, and the storage quota can be shared across 2
computers. MozyPro provides 24x7 phone support, server OS support, mapped and
network drive support and an administrative Web-based console to manage
employee backups.
(4)
Drive HQ places download limits
and other restrictions of the free accounts. It also offers free file
transfer protocol (FTP) hosting which can be used by non-Windows PCs.