Mozy, the online backup solution I use and have mentioned a couple times, is responding to HP’s Upline debacle in an interesting way. First, some background information:

Two weeks ago, HP released HP Upline, a service similar to Mozy that provides unlimited storage for $59/year. HP also released free accounts of the service, limited to 1GB and one year (Mozy does free too, but their version is 2GBs and has no expiration date). About a week and a half later, the Upline service went down for several days.

more…

Backing up your computer is something you don’t want to think about; you wish it would just happen. With that perspective, I thought I’d bring up the online backup service offered by Mozy. I use it for both my laptop and desktop and now think of backups only when I desperately need to restore something (which can happen more often than you think).

Mozy has a free version, which allows you to backup two gigabytes of data. It requires no credit card and is quick and easy to install. And it’s no different than the version you pay for in terms of features and options. The only difference is that if you do pay $5 per month, your backup has no size limit (if you are interested in the Mozy Unlimited version, when signing up, use promo code TECHCONSUMER to get 10% off an annual subscription or TECHCONSUMER2 to get 10% off a biannual subscription).

more…

The Wall Street Journal has the scoop on the latest Google news. Google is hoping to offer consumers a new way to store and access files online. The search giant is working on a service that would let you store essentially all of your files online (documents, music, photos, videos, etc.).

I already do this with Mozy for free. But Mozy works more as a backup that I generally access only when I need to restore files. Google wants to simplify the process of transferring and opening files such that you would actually be using your online files actively.

more…

A friend of mine asked me how to transfer his data from his old laptop to his new laptop. In particular, he was interested in the big three types of files on most personal computers these days: documents, music, and photos. “I know where I keep all my files, so I just copy them over to where I want them on the new computer, right?”

Well, he’s right for one of three categories of files: documents. But when I asked him if he was interested in preserving his iTunes playlists, song ratings, and album art or his Picasa photo albums (basically, any of his “metadata”), he gave me the “of course” look. Little did he know the headache that awaited him, none of that information moves when you simply copy or backup files.

more…

Backing up your computer is never something you want to worry about it; you wish it would just happen. With that perspective, I previously reviewed two online backup services: Mozy and Carbonite. Mozy had more customization options while Carbonite had a slicker interface and offered unlimited backups.

But Mozy’s back with the release of Mozy Unlimited, and the company today has impressed even Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal. It’s the little things that seem to make the difference, such as the option to have all your files sent to you on DVD or Mozy keeping multiple versions of your files for 30 days (Carbonite doesn’t have the DVD option and only keeps the latest version of any file).

more…

So I recently reviewed Carbonite, a $5 per month online backup service for unlimited data backups from one computer. But the last few days I’ve been playing with Mozy, another online backup service with a different offering. In a nutshell, Mozy offers more control, more features, and is completely free for two gigabytes of online storage. The down side is that for $5 per month, you only get a maximum of 30 gigs (see update at end of article). And though the interface gives power users more control, it may be less inviting to the average user. But free is free. There is no reason why any of us shouldn’t take advantage of backing up our most important two gigabytes of data.

more…

Carbonite is an automated online backup service that is in the business of pleasing anyone who needs a computer backed up but who hates remembering to do it (that would be most of us). I’ve been giving the service a trial run for the last few days via the company’s two week free trial. Though there may be a couple of features I’d like to see implemented, the company’s mantra of “Backup. Simple.” definitely holds true.

more…