Mozy

Cloud storage: The consumer's best friend?

Storing files on your hard drive alone is risky since hardware failures can result in losing of all your data. The best way to back up your information is to store it in the cloud--or at least somewhere other than your local system. And there are plenty of options to choose from if you go the cloud route--online storage is hardly an underserved area.

I was recently briefed by U.K.-based start-up Livedrive, which is targeting consumers and small businesses and boasts more than half a million customers.

Even though it's not marketed as a replacement for the vast and sundry applications we rely on daily, Livedrive is effectively turning the browser into an operating system. Customers can share their files between all of their computers and securely access them online from anywhere, including mobile devices like the iPhone.

This is a fairly crowded market with companies like Mozy and Box.net offering various services, but Livedrive's offering looks a lot more what we expect to see from the mythical GDrive--Google's supposed online storage system … Read more

Webware 100 winner: Mozy

Site: Mozy.com Category: Infrastructure & Storage

Mozy is an online storage provider that specializes in backup. Users install a small piece of software on their machine, and it automatically syncs any new or changed files over a secured connection. In case of an emergency, you can simply use the software to get everything back, and because it's not localized to where your machine is, you can get that backup from wherever you have a connection.

Along with its home service, Mozy operates a more advanced version for business users that adds things like storage pooling, administrative controls, extra … Read more

Different approaches to off-site computer backups

The New York Times published an article today about making off-site (a.k.a online) backups that contained some debatable advice.

The point I most disagree with is this: "As long as your credit card keeps working, there's no need to think about the backups unless disaster strikes." The problem with this advice is that if something is automated too much, it can break without your knowing it.

The classic example of this was the magazine Business 2.0 (which has since ceased publication). After they deployed an automated backup system, they ignored it. At some point … Read more

A few points to consider about off-site backups

A few days ago, David Strom wrote an article in The New York Times about making off-site file backups over the Internet. There is no one right answer when it comes to making backups, but I'd like to expand on a few points he raised.

At the beginning of the article, Strom says that "for a few hundred dollars a year you can buy inexpensive protection." Hopefully, readers weren't scared off by the price. Many off-site storage companies will hold backup copies of your files for much less money. Personally, I started out paying $10 a … Read more

Wall Street Journal Readers - check this out

On Thursday August 30th Walter Mossberg repeated his prior recommendation of the Mozy online backup service. While Mozy can fit the needs of some people, there are two sides to every coin and there is a downside to Mozy too. For the rest of the story, see my recent postings:

Everybody likes Mozy--except me, Part 1 Everybody likes Mozy--except me. Part 2

Everybody likes Mozy--except me. Part 2

This is a continuation of Tuesday's posting (Everybody likes Mozy--except me. Part 1), which introduced the Mozy online backup service and software and where I started offering my opinions. Since Tuesday, I came across two more positive Mozy reviews.

In April, Serdar Yegulalp, writing for InformationWeek, reviewed Online Vault, Carbonite, eSureIT, iBackup and Mozy (Five Online Backup Services Keep Your Data Safe, April 9, 2007). He concluded that "The all-around winner for regular users and small business from this bunch was definitely Mozy, both for its plan structure and its unobtrusive client."

Also in April, BusinessWeek had … Read more

Everybody likes Mozy--except me, Part 1

For a company in the boring business of online file storage, Mozy gets more than its share of press coverage, and from what I've seen, it's all been positive. Mozy attracted attention back in December 2006 when they started offering unlimited file storage for $5 per month or $55 per year (rounded off).

The first Mozy review I ran across was by Walter Mossberg in The Wall Street Journal ("These Services Make Backing Up Your Files Safe and Inexpensive", December 14, 2006). He liked Mozy, so I spent some time reviewing them for a class I … Read more

Six places to store your files online

Since we saw the beta release of Windows Live Folders a couple of days ago, I thought that now would be a good time to take a look at the different online storage solutions that are out there now. So, without further ado here are six places to store your files online.

Box.net Box.net is one of the most talked about online storage solutions. It offers some really solid features, which make up for the storage being on the smaller end of the offerings. Of course, it offers the standard sharing between users that other services have, but … Read more

The forgotten online backup utility: Titanize

I wanted to revisit some of the products that didn't work for me yesterday, since my personal demo demon seems to have moved on.

I'll start with Titanize, the unknown online backup product. Titanize competes with services like Mozy and Carbonite. But it offers features that the others don't, and it is worth serious consideration if you're looking for an over-the-Net backup service.

For basic backups, it's much like Mozy and Carbonite. It's easy to set up, and it runs in the background, sending your new and changed files to its secure servers. But … Read more