


"We see more and more user interest in adopting the cloud," said Pushan Rinnen, research director for storage and backup at Gartner, a tech consulting firm. "When you put content into the cloud, even if your house burned down ... you have a copy somewhere else."

Illustration by Chuck Todd
Illustration by Chuck Todd (CHUCK TODD / BAY AREA NEWS GROUP)





"Most of these are set and forget," said Dave Simpson, a senior storage analyst at The 451 Group, a technology research firm.


Many services now offer mobile applications that allow users to view backed up files on their smartphones or tablets. And some, including Carbonite and Mozy, now offer a file-syncing feature that acts much like Dropbox or Google (GOOG) Docs. Users can access files stored in a synced folder on multiple computers. Any changes they make to particular files are reflected in the versions stored in all linked computers.



"It's excruciatingly slow, he said.


Bitcasa, a startup in Mountain View, has developed technology that hastens backups by looking for duplicate data already stored by other users; the service only uploads data that's not already there. Company CEO Tony Gauda likens the service to a dictionary compiled of words from numerous books; a word in the dictionary only needs to be recorded once, no matter how many sentences or books it's used in.

"We don't save the books, we save the words," Gauda said, adding that initial uploads get "faster as we add more users." On average, he said, the company's users are already able to backup their data in a week or less.

Consumers face a bewildering array of options, with dozens of different providers. And there's a wide range of prices. Consumers can find plans that offer unlimited storage for less than $4 a month or plans that charge twice that for only 125 gigabytes of space.




"I would try it out," she said. "You want something that's easy to get your stuff up and get your stuff back."


"Once you experience loss of data, you don't want to go there again," Edwards said.


online backup tips

If you're shopping for an online backup service, you'll find numerous options. Here are some ways to compare them.

Storage capacity: You'll find plans that offer as little at 2 gigabytes of space to ones from providers such as Backblaze that offer an unlimited amount of storage. In general, the more storage you need, the more you'll pay.
Number of computers: Many services require users to have a separate plan for each computer they want to back up. But some providers, including Mozy, offer plans that allow users to back up two or more computers.
Hard-drive seeding: The initial transfer of data to a backup provider can take weeks or even months. Some providers, including CrashPlan, allow users to speed this process by "seeding" their archives. For an extra fee, the providers send out a blank hard drive to users to save their backup. Users then send the hard drive back to the provider, who uploads it to their account.
File syncing: Some online backup services, such as Carbonite, have taken a page from storage services such as Dropbox. Instead of just allowing users to store their data in the cloud, those services will also allow them to sync particular files and folders with multiple computers and devices.
File sizes: In some cases, providers limit the size of files they will sync or force users to sync such files manually. Other providers will automatically back up all files, no matter how large.
Price: Some providers, including IDrive, offer plans with a small amount of storage -- usually less than 10 gigabytes, for free. But you can also pay $20 a month or more for plans that have a limited amount of storage. Unlimited plans from providers, including Carbonite and CrashPlan, tend to cost about $4 to $6 a month.

Source: Mercury News research