Please advise what will be the alternative to Carbonite.

1) I want it to backup everything in a particular folder regardless of the extension. 

2) To updtate the backup automatically when there is a change

3) To be able to access the date online via web browser like  Live Mesh or Carbonite

4) Unlimited date for 50 or under a year

Suggestions?

See the article below by the same name.  I've just taken this a bit further by creating a vbscript that will generate 0 byte files using all possible 1-3 character file extensions (over 100K of them).  Run the script, turn on status dots in Carbonite and tell it to backup the folder where the files were created.  Once it's finished backing up you can easilly see which files were ignored.  Right click them and select to backup this file type.

For those of you that would rather not run the script yourselves I've also included the 167 file types I found that were not backed up (excluding those that end in "_")

You can get the script and files here.

"I would recommend Arkeia to anyone with requirements flights to india for fast backups. It's easy, painless and pretty remarkable." - Nicholas Brenckle, Facilities Manager, DSL.net.

DSL.net, a flights to germany nationwide high-speed Internet access and value-added services provider, uses Arkeia to backup over 50 servers running Windows, Solaris and Linux operating systems. DSL.net flights to boston chose Arkeia Network Backup to double capacity and reduce their backup window by 75%.

This list is missing some file types. Carbonite does not (by default) back up .avi or .asx - and those are just two that I immediately noticed. Who knows what other types they also don't back up without telling you. This is terrible, since .avi and .asx are very common files from cameras that every person would want to back up. Otherwise if I had a HDD crash, then I would never be able to recover the camera videos of my son's 1st birthday if I hadn't noticed right now that they weren't being backed up!

They should at least provide a menu or option in the program that shows the file types exluded, and let you select or deselect them.

I have tested every online beackup solution, and they all have issues and limitations.

If Carbonite added or should I say include what they SHOULD, I believe it would be the best option for most users.  That option being backup EVERYTHING that is in a slected folder!!!

Not rocket sience here Carbonite staff.

Thats it...

 D

I took you list above, created a batch file to create a single file in a directory that ends with EACH of the above excluded extensions.

Run this batch file...now you have one of each excluded type in one directory.

Set this dir for Carbonite backup and click on EACH file and set it's Properties - Carbonite to Backup all files of this type...

Now any dir on you system set to use Carbonite will get all these files as well.

Email me if you want the batch file  mike [at] espositos [dot] net

 

We have been using www.BusinessClassBackup.com for all of our affiliate-reselling Online backup needs.  Fast, Professional and they always answer the phone when I have a question.  You can't find a better partner to team with for your online backup needs.

 

 

There have been a number of bargain basement services entering the market with a barrage of advertising.  We understand that some people simply make business decisions based on price alone, but when it comes to vital needs like secure data, cheaper is NOT better!  It would be like buying the cheapest parachute or life insurance!

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4.            Bandwidth and Performance

Bandwidth is one major commodity backup companies need to account for. When you give unlimited space for a few bucks a month, you are forced to govern bandwidth. We've tested Carbonite ourselves and had users report their results to us as well. The initial upload time was at least 10x slower than WWW.BUSINESSCLASSBACKUP.COM, which on our T1 is about 1 GB an hour. A lot of clients won't ever complete their first backup. This is a bad initial impression on backing up over the internet and can turn clients off completely. It can also cause major technical problems if backups fail to complete as scheduled due to connection issues.

 

www.BusinessClassBackup.com provides redundant bandwidth using multiple telecom providers via world-class connections. That way we can provide nearly limitless up-and-downstream for unparalleled transfer speed and performance.

5.            Successful, Timely Data Restores

When clients need to restore a lost file, they don't have time to wait. When you try to restore files from Carbonite, your files get stuck in a cue, sometimes for days, behind other users who need to retrieve. A backup service is only as valuable as the reliability and timeliness of a restore.

 

While to the novice observer backups may seem like simple, straightforward file transfers, the complexity of restoring incremental file changes can cause problems with less-tested software. We can say definitively we have never lost a client's backup data.

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Another area where low-rate backup services cut corners is the equipment and infrastructure used to store and manage your data. Outdated technologies, overloaded servers, lack of security, monitoring and redundancy can be major signs of concern.

 

www.BusinessClassBackup.com uses the world's most secure data centers, located in ultra-secure private limestone mines located 100-200 feet below ground and separate by 1,100 miles. All data received by either hardened Data Center is immediately replicated to its mirror - connected by point-to-point, high-speed WAN links. Data received by either Data Center is immediately replicated to the other, so an unlikely outage or disaster at one location will not affect your data availability or service performance.

 

Each facility uses high-performance HP Servers with fail over and redundancy, continuous server monitoring and performance tuning, assuring that storage capacity is never exceeded. We maintain best practices networking and best-of-breed routers, switches, firewalls, servers, facilities infrastructure, power grids and telecommunications circuits are all deployed with backup components to maximize fail over and redundancy.

 

Other physical security features include:

o             Redundant power supply using backup generators with full power for up to 7 days

o             Redundant completely independent electrical systems, power train, commercial power feeds, cooling system, UPS systems, dedicated A/C units, generator systems and fuel system

o             Environment and climate controlled facilities, resistant to seismic activity and other natural disasters, with Class A vaults with OSHA certified fire suppression and EPA certified water treatment plants and clean air fire extinguishing systems (CAFES)

 

o             Level 4 (highest) security rating, 24/7 armed security, maintenance & service operation

o             Finger scanners for physical access, motion detectors, CCTV monitoring & camera tracking

o             Failed account access attempts are logged and reviewed to prevent unauthorized access

7.            Privacy and Security of your Data

With such low rates, a lot companies provide cheap data storage for alterior motives - data mining. That's right, it says right in their User Agreement that they are free to use your own "private" data for their own marketing purposes. If that doesn't bother you, be sure to check the regulatory compliance laws that affect your industry. If you use a data backup company that mines your data, you won't pass an audit and can face serious fines and penalties for compromising the privacy and security of your clients' private data.

 

With www.BusinessClassBackup.com, you set your own private encryption key, which we never have access to. Your data is encrypted before leaving your computer, in transit and stored at our data centers, using bank-level 128-bit AES encryption, so without the key it cannot be accessed.

8.            Bottom Line: How valuable is your clients' data, and your reputation?

Can you risk your clients' data, and your reputation, on an unproven, cut-rate backup service just to save a few bucks?

Tom:  Carbonite's CEO here. Your readers should know that you can easily override our default exclusions by just right clicking on any file or folder and selecting "back this up."  The exclusions keep non-technical users from restoring everything to a new computer and messing it up. 

David Friend, CEO

Carbonite.com

Hi Tom,

Thanks for this very helpful information. I have been reading about the online backup industry for a while now. Online backup is maturing and slowly getting the attention of the general consumer. One website worth mentioning is the backup review site:

http://www.BackupReview.info

This very informative site, not only posts up to date news and articles from the industry, but also lists about 400 online backup companies and ranks the top 25 on a monthly basis and features a CEO Spotlight page, where senior management people from the industry are interviewed.