Carbonite Review
Carbonite is a data backup system that allows unlimited
cloud storage for the files on your computer. You pay a yearly fee that ensures that all of your important
information is automatically backed up so that you never have to lose
information again. Carbonite uses
cloud storage, which means anything that you choose to back up will be
available from other computers that you have included whenever needed.
Since I am the forgetful type, I never remember to back up
my files. This has led to some
pretty agonizing moments when my computer has crashed and I have lost all of my
important information. I finally
admitted that I needed to do something to avoid this horrible scenario in the
future, and I chose Carbonite since it could back up my information
automatically without me having to remember to do so.
One thing I really liked about Carbonite is that you have a
free trial that does not require a credit card to get started. This allowed me to use the service
beforehand to decide whether I really wanted to pay for it. When you first purchase Carbonite, you
have to click on a link that will download software to your computer that
carries out the Carbonite functions.
I hate using up all of my memory on this kind of thing, so I was happy
to see that it was a very small program.
Another important point when choosing which plan you want to
purchase is that the even though the space is unlimited, the basic plan is only
for one computer (MAC or PC). If
you want to back up the data on more than one computer, you have to choose a
more expensive option, both of which only work on Windows based computers. I was only concerned with the files on
my main computer, so I used the basic plan.
Setting up Carbonite was pretty simple. When you run the software, it defaults
to settings that will save the most common files that most people choose to
back up. You also have the option
of using an advanced setup that allows you to choose other options in addition
to the preset ones to ensure you back up every bit of information that you need
to. You can only do this setup
once, so if you are unsure about whether or not you should add something to the
list of files to back up you should be sure to actually read the dialogue that
pops up to help you make the best choices for your needs. The last part of the setup will
actually tell you what files and information is not set to be backed up, which
I found very helpful in helping me make sure I made the right choices.
Carbonite also allows you to choose how often and when your
files are backed up. There are
actually several different options available, including hourly, at designated
times throughout the day, or whenever you make changes to certain files. Given my propensity to forget, I just
chose the option for it to save at a certain time each day.
I also noticed that Carbonite clearly marked all of my files
on my computer as to whether they were backed up or not, were needing to be
backed up, or whether there were some files that were backed up and some that
were not in each individual folder.
I thought this was a cool feature that defintely helped me take the
guesswork out of backing up my system.
Even though I only purchased the Carbonite home package, it
has worked great for my needs. I
especially love the fact that I can access all of my files on my mobile devices
as well. I have to remember to
sync any changes I make back to my original computer, but luckily I have been
able to do this effectively.
For me, Carbonite has already saved me tons of
headaches. Computers apparently
hate me, and during a three-week period, my hard drive went out twice. I have had this happen before, and lost
absolutely everything. Luckily,
since I had decided to use Carbonite, I did not lose any of my important files
and information this time around.
I was worried that the recovery process would be difficult, but to my
surprise, I had everything back on my new computer with just a few clicks.
One downside I found with Carbonite is that the home edition
does not back up any files that are located on an external hard drive, so I had
to save any of the files located there that I wanted backed up onto the hard
drive in my computer. You should
also be aware that while the back up speed is fairly quick, if you reach
certain thresholds the speed will slow down. Mine was fine until I had backed up 35GB. At this point, the upload speed dropped
down to only 512 Kbps, which meant that my backups took considerably
longer. I did some research on
this, and found out that when I
have backed up 200GB I can expect the speed to get even slower, when the speed
will change to only 100 Kbps (almost down to dial up speed!).
Overall, I am very happy with my decision to use
Carbonite. It has saved me from
losing important information, and it has been very easy to use.
