Review of Carbonite Online Backup Solution

company Details
Carbonite are located in in Boston, MA and they setup their online backup utility in May 2006. They backup and protect in excess of 2.5 billion files for users in most modern contries. Carbonite was founded in 2005 by David Friend and Jeff Flowers.

Carbonite is a easy, safe online backup utility for unfussy home computer users, students, home office users, commercial travelers, etc. For under 5 US dollars per month, Carbonite backs up all the vital information on your laptop (digital pics, sounds, documents and other valuable files) whenever your laptop is linked to the Internet.

Carbonite is very painless to set up and use, requiring very little ongoing user configuration. Carbonite's online backup service is arranged to continually archive altered data from your laptop whenever it is linked to the internet.

Security
Carbonite security is extremely high. data back and forth your PC and their storage area is encoded with triple DES – which is highly strong – and when on their servers your data is encrypted by Blowfish 448bit encryption – which is the best protection available.

The Storage for your data is held on 2 latest technology facilities located in Massachusetts that provide carefully temperature-controlled rooms, backup power generators, restricted personnel access, and lots of other functions to protect the security and integrity of your data.

Backup Features
At first Carbonite archives the 'My Documents and Settings' folders but this can quickly be altered via the desktop program. There is no limit to the amount of data that can be backed up, therefore you can pick as many or as few folders as you desire.

Backups start when your laptop is idle, thus preventing drain on resources or bandwidth. However, you can configure the backup scheduler to backup at specific times of your choosing.

Network drives and external drives cannot be backup up using Carbonite.

During our tests it took 37 minutes to archive 2,000 megabytes of data using a standard 8mbps internet line while accessing other traffic on the internet.

Carbonite provides a continuous backup facility which means that information is backed up as soon as they are amended. Thus you do not have to rely on scheduling archiving and verifiying your MAC is switched on when the scheduled time comes. But, if scheduling is what you wish, the PC client does have that option too.

A process indicator and status notifications are available. You can additionally add files and folders to the backup list by right-clicking.

The Carbonite program creates a 'virtual drive letter' where you can see which files have been saved and which are currently waiting for archive. The software also shows colored dots on files to show whether they are archived, pending backup or not included in the schedule list.

The PC version lets unlimited 'file versioning' for three months. There are also no restrictions on the size of individual files or the amount of data that you can archive. But, it is important to take into account that the initial archive time required is more than that required when you are up and running and your initial archive is complete.

Restore Features
Information restores can be setup from either the software or the web portal and can be restored to - by default - their original location or another location on the PC they came from or to the web site. On the PC edition, file recovery can also be initiated by right-clicking a file or folder. In addition there is a search option so you can locate files to restore that match a specific filename or filename pattern.

Control and Analysis
The web portal Allows central administration for all Computers being archived. The resource and bandwidth usage can be managed between high and low.
Reports are produced to show what is archived.

Interface
To use Carbonite you will need to use the Carbonite Client Software on each device that is to be archived. But, once installed, all archiving can be administrated from a central admin portal.

Lots of devices can be controlled from one account, but, multi-account control is not supported. After the program is setup, it permits access to a virtual drive letter which can be designed to monitor the status of backed up information and to restore files. The small icon in the bottom-right corner of the PC is initially yellow – this denoted that the initial backup is running. When the initial backup is completed, the tray icon turns green.

The desktop utility is uncluttered and easy to use. The internet portal is similarly clean. The client is designed to be set-and-forget so the screens are not bogged down with lots of options but rather are designed to permit you to choose what and when you want to archive and then leave the client to get on with it.

Device Support
There is support for PC and MAC. There is an iPhone, iTouch, iPad and Blackberry apps yet these only allow you to monitor archived information, not actually backup the iPhone, etc.. You can attach files from the backup set in emails.
An unlimited amount of devices – MAC or PC – can be backed up.

Limitations
Network drives and external drives cannot be backed up
There is no block level incremental backup ability
Carbonite is a user backup tool, so it does not backup server databases such as SQL server, Exchange server.
Open or in use files cannot be backed up until they are no longer being used.
Carbonite is not a disaster recovery tool.
Proxy server support is not available.

File Sharing and Collaboration
Files and folders can be shared privately via the web site and unique access permissions can be set on individual files and folders.
No public file sharing or collaboration features.

Synchronization
Lots of machines can be synced with each other and with the central web portal.

Web 2.0 Integration
None currently.

Customer Support
Phone support is available for an additional cost of $19.99 per annum. Below is a list of the free support offered:
- Live Chat
- Email Support / Email web form
- Online Documentation, FAQs and knowledge-base
- Blog

There is also a free 15 day trial available.

Ease Of Use
Carbonite is totally straightforward to configure and use, simply download the client package and run it. There is audio tutorials that explains the entire procedure and you will be archiving your files in no time at all. The 15 day - no credit card required - trial means zero risk in trying Carbonite out. When configured all you need to do is right-click on a file or folder to add it to your archive.

Cost
Initial setup Cost - Free 15 day trial
Monthly charge - Not applicable
Annual Charge - $54.99
Initial allowed storage amount - unlimited
Cost of additional storage - no charge
Cost of additional devices / PCs / users - Unlimited device but one account per user
Referral Program - 3 months free subscription for each referral that signs up after their free trial
E-billing facility - yes

There are no large scale service plans available, but, there is a professional edition of Carbonite available at http://www.carbonitepro.com which is designed for corporate use.

Hidden cost: Telephone support costs $19.99 per annum.

Conclusion
Carbonite offers a easy to use secure technique to backup your files from either PCs or MACs. The unlimited storage for a fixed cost allows for easy money management and takes away the requirement to always manage how much information you are archiving. The Carbonite Online Backup utility is very safe and the support is very good. If you are looking for a reliable archive solution then this is a very good choice. The lack of file sharing, synchronization and collaboration is a definite gap in the product but if you do not need these features then this is a really excellent product.

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