July 22, 2011

Backing up data is a hassle. Rather than purchase an external hard drive, you can manage your backups via the Web. These eight services are worth considering if you worry about the security and protection of your data.

Most of these tools offers mobile-device access so your iPhone or Android-powered device can connect and access these documents. Another great feature offered by online backup services is a version service, which shows you iterations of your documents or folders allowing you an easy way to restore a file to a previous version.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a service I have used for years. Mostly for sharing large files when I cannot e-mail them easily, but just as often for storing important files and folders. It works great as a collaborative sharing service, too, which means you can upload photos or videos or documents and share them with employees or fellow business owners. They offer a free plan with up to two gigabytes of storage, then $9.99 for 50 gigabytes of storage.

Box.net

Box.net is another popular backup service that offers a larger five gigabyte free plan. Box.net's first paid tier on the personal plan is $9.99 per month for 25 gigabytes. You can also get a business plan which is $15 per month, with a three-user minimum.

Carbonite

Carbonite is another great backup service that charges by an annual fee versus by the computer or by the gigabyte. Business plans start at $229 per year year.

Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service)

Just about everyone on the planet has heard of Amazon, but many small business owners have not heard of the various Amazon Web services that can help you develop applications, or store data, video, audio or just about any filetype. The service is aimed at developers, but any Amazon customer can take advantage of it. The service takes some technical know-how, but most business owners can easily configure it. Storage starts at 14 cents per gigabyte. That’s $7 a month for 50 gigabytes.

Jungle Disk

Jungle Disk starts at $2 per month for personal use with five gigabytes free. Business plans are just $4 per month.

Elephant Drive

Elephant Drive runs on Amazon and offers a plan that would work well for a home-based business starting at $9.95 a month for up to 100 gigabytes.

Pogoplug

Pogoplug is unique in that there is a Web-based online storage plan, but there is also a terrific physical device that will allow you to place your own external hard drive online for easy and secure access while you’re traveling or working remotely on a daily basis. Rather than have to back everything up to the cloud, you can connect your drive to the Web directly. There's a free app, then a premium app for a one-time fee of $29. If you want the physical device, it starts at $99.

iBackup

IBackup is an interesting and customer-friendly backup service. If you have a large amount of data (100 gigabytes or more), iBackup will send you an external hard drive to back up all your data and then the company uploads it for you. Plans start at $9.95 per month for 50 gigabytes.

With these services, it is possible to create a data recovery plan that doesn’t cost much in terms of time or money. Plus, it allows you to do what most experts recommend: back up your core data in a location other than your primary physical business location. If these don’t work, you could always consider an indestructible external hard drive from ioSafe.

If you want additional reasons why you should consider the cloud, read Jennifer Van Grove’s post on 5 Reasons to Use the Cloud for FileManagement.

Related Topics

• Technology

Related keywords

TJ McCue, Article, data protection, Amazon S3, Dropbox, Pogoplug, Box.net, Carbonite

Join the conversation ( 35 )

• Ben Winegarden 4 months ago

  

  Google has great tools as well. I'm glad not to see iCloud on this list. - Benjamin Winegarden

• Rick Bradley 8 months ago

  

  Check out SOS Online Backup... now you can try it for Free www.sosonlinebackup.com/FREETRIAL

  • Rick Bradley 8 months ago

    

    http://www.sosonlinebackup.com/FREETRIAL

• TJ McCue 8 months ago

  

  Just realized that New York Times columnist Gene Marks mentioned this post in his Aug 1,2011 column. Wow! Honored. Special thanks to Gene on Twitter. http://twitter.com/genemarks and here's the NY Times article: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/01/this-week-in-small-business-lessons-in-negotiating/

• Diego Gutierrez 9 months ago

  

  Im gonna add another one to your list ZenOK, that gives 21GB free backup at http://free.zenok.com/

• Wendy Cockcroft 9 months ago

  

  You forgot to mention ADrive, which gives us a whopping 50GB of storage space for free.

• Wendy Cockcroft 9 months ago

  

  You missed ADrive, which gives a whopping 50GB of storage for FREE.

• TJ Gilsenan 9 months ago

  

  Great stuff - all very solid choices for data back up. In addition I'd suggest, small business consider how they are backing up their websites. Recent data suggests hackers have begun to target small business.If your site was hacked today, how would you respond? Who in your business would take the lead? How would you get your site back up? If you have a wordpress site, I suggest either backup buddy or vault press. Both archive your entire site not just the database.

  • TJ McCue 9 months ago

    

    TJ, thanks for the advice. I think you raise one of the most important questions -- how would you respond to your site getting hacked. Asking the question, hopefully, will lead to a process, some thought around what each of us as business owners would do to protect our companies that would lead to a systematic process. Thanks!

• Neil Shorey 9 months ago

  

  We are a small company and we use a combination of Amazon S3, Google Docs and the SMEStorage Cloud File Server to backup and manage our Files. It gives us the flexibility of mobile working without the complexity of IT

  • TJ McCue 9 months ago

    

    hey Neil, thanks for sharing what you do to backup. I hadn't seen the SMEStorage offering. Will go search for it. Is it a google app or a standalone app that ties into S3?

• GiqueGEAR 9 months ago

  

  I realize this isn't a "backup" utility per se, but our firm (GiqueGEAR) uses Evernote for almost everything. It's AWESOME for asynchronous collaboration. Heck, my dad even suggested it to me!

  • TJ McCue 9 months ago

    

    hey GiqueGear -- yeah, you have to love Evernote. I use it on my 'droid and love it. http://www.evernote.com for those who have not tried it yet.

• Carla Young 9 months ago

  

  Data backup is one of those things you only really think about AFTER it's too late. Do yourself a favor everyone and use one of the above. Thank you, TJ! It's a good reminder to do more than a local backup (ahem...which reminds me I need to get my newer computer in the backup loop).

  • TJ McCue 9 months ago

    

    thanks Carla. If I didn't have stuff stored in the cloud, I'd be in big trouble!

• JEANNETTE PALADINO 9 months ago

  

  Excellent tips. I use Carbonite and I'm very happy with the service. (I had used Mozy and switched). If you have a WordPress blog, I would add their backup service, BackupBuddy to your list. Mine is automated for daily backup to Amazon S3 which is unbelievably cheap and reliable.

  • TJ McCue 9 months ago

    

    this sounds like a good way to do it, Jeannette. I think I looked at BackupBuddy for another post I did at http://www.smallbiztrends.com but i'd have to go find it. I like that you can automate it to put it on Amazon's S3. Very cool. Didn't know you could do that.

• TJ McCue 9 months ago

  

  Awesome conversation. Lots of great additions. Thank you everyone for sharing your solutions and choices. I just read this post at ReadWriteWeb from one of my favorite bloggers: David Strom. This post mentions YouSendIt and ShareFile. Worth a look: You">http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2011/07/yousendit-and-sharefile-add-ne.phpYou can share some of your suggestions at my Facebook wall, too. Maybe there's a round two of online backup, online storage tools to be done! http://www.facebook.com/techbiztalk

  • TJ McCue 9 months ago

    

    the above link I made to ReadWriteWeb appears broken. Apologies. Here it is again: http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2011/07/yousendit-and-sharefile-add-ne.php

• Natasha Rabinov 9 months ago

  

  Great list of resources, but wanted to add another option to the list. Backblaze for Business is $50 per year per computer for unlimited unthrottled automatic data backup https://secure.backblaze.com/business.htm . We're native on Mac and Windows and offer users the option of choosing their own encryption key, for added security. Natasha,Backblaze (www.Backblaze.com )Backup, before you wish you had.

• Girl 9 months ago

  

  There is another option to backup data to cloud storage powered by Amazon S3. You can check out CloudBerry Backup http://backup.cloudberrylab.com/ It is onetime fee and the rest what you pay for Amazon S3. Besides, there is no proprietary data format and you can access your data using other Amazon s3 tools. It supports all AWS regions, Reduced Redundancy Storage and access to cloud storage using the virtual drive. Girlincloud,CloudBerry Lab team

• johnny kaer 10 months ago

  

  Great list. I've had experiences with both dropbox ( http://consumer.encomer.com/review/Dropbox_Company/DC253741530419 ) and Amazon s3 ( http://consumer.encomer.com/review/Amazon_S3/AS232523137392 ) personally and I think S3 is a more premium option for (esp.) small startups that are serious about backing up their data. jn

  • johnny kaer 10 months ago

    

    edit.. *preserving their data, not *backing up*.. Amazon S3 and Dropbox don't really do 'backups',

• TJ McCue 10 months ago

  

  Great comments, all. Thank you for sharing. I appreciate the transparency where most of you have revealed if you work for a company or not. It is totally acceptable, in my opinion, to stand up and speak for your company and to do it with pride and in a way that helps the small business owner. So, thank you for the disclosures/explanations. I have been hiding under a rock in some ways and so I missed the problem that Dropbox (my bad) recently suffered. Thanks for the reminder on Mozy, Travis. Much appreciated. And on LiveDrive, too. Both excellent options. Dan, I hadn't heard of KeepVault and will check it out soon. Sounds like a robust solution. Thursday Bram's comment is important to consider -- what are your needs for security with sensitive data. I didn't focus on sensitive business data when studying the options because each service offered varying levels of security. But again, dig deeper depending on your needs. Thanks again for all the comments and thoughts and tips and recommendations!

• Michael Allen 10 months ago

  

  Why not just go with a business app that backs up all your data as well?Usually, this is harder to do because businesses try and manage themselves between 3+ apps across the web, say salesforce for CRM, basecamp for projects, quickbooks for accounting etc. But it's become a lot easier to keep all data safe when using integrated systems. Using these it's possible to manage all business data in one location, while managing all operations in one web based app as well. WORKetc does a fine job of this, putting CRM/project management/billing into one system, while automatically encrypting and backing up all data. So, instead of having your business data spread out through 3+ apps (as well as having to manage yourself between three apps, that's a hassle and a half!), you can use integrated systems to manage your entire business as well as keep all data backed up automatically.

• Thursday Bram 10 months ago

  

  This is a great list of resources. I would say that it's important to look very closely at the technology in each case and what you may be giving up — just based on the recent issues regarding Dropbox's terms of service and control of sensitive business data.

• Travis Campbell 10 months ago

  

  TJ-Well done. One not mentioned is the one I use. :-) I use Mozy. I also use Dropbox, and may give Evernote a shot (ubiquitous data). -Travis

• Michel Fortin 10 months ago

  

  I use Livedrive and love it http://livedrive.com I like the fact that it has three core features: one is a briefcase (like DropBox), the other, backup (like Mozy or Carbonite), and the third is the online media player where, once uploaded, you can play audio and video from any web-connected computer or entertainment system.

  • Travis Campbell 10 months ago

    

    Thanks for sharing that Michel, I'll have to look into livedrive.com too.-Travis

• TJ McCue 10 months ago

  

  Hi Aaron, thanks for the comment and info on CrashPlan. I'll check it out. I would agree with you that you're splitting hairs

• Online Backups 10 months ago

  

  I agree with Aaron - CrashPlan isn't one to be overlooked. With it, you can backup locally, backup to another computer (either on your LAN or over the Internet to a friend's computer) or backup to their cloud. While they don't have a mobile app, it's still the most robust online backup service you'll find today. My full review of Crashplan is at http://www.onlinebackupsreview.com/crashplan.php

• AARON VONGAUSS 10 months ago

  

  Quite a few of the services listed, such as Dropbox, box.net, Amazon S3 and pogoplug are not backup services but rather cloud storage services. That might sound like splitting hairs, but if your income is dependent on that data you really want a solution that specializes in backups and as you mentioned versioning. One interesting omission is CrashPlan by Code 42 Software (http://www.crashplanpro.com) - for backups, probably the best out of all of the services listed.

  • TJ McCue 10 months ago

    

    Hi Aaron, sorry, the system keeps cutting off my full comment/reply. I placed a wink emoticon ;-) in my comments about you splitting hairs. I agree that I could have titled it more precisely, but most people get the idea and use these services for exactly this purpose. But again, I really appreciate you sharing a new service that I haven't seen. I've taken a fast look and I like the parts where you create redundancy (don't know if you work with Crashplan) and methods for preserving the data and that you store it all in the cloud, too. The price plans for personal and business use look very affordable. Again, my thanks.

    • AARON VONGAUSS 10 months ago

      

      Hi TJ, I understand, the wink emoticon was an afterthought. :) I don't work for CrashPlan, just a happy customer. It is the backup solution I picked in 2009 primarily due to the multiple destinations, one local and one off-site which is very important to me.

      • Dan 10 months ago

        

        Let me try that again! Great comments by Aaron. The likes of Crashplan Pro, Mozy Pro, and KeepVault Pro (the company I work for) are all focused on backup. They all provide backup to both local and online locations (a crucial part of a good data recovery plan), support desktops and servers (KeepVault is one of the better solutions for the new Microsoft Small Business Server 2011 for example), and have very fast backup and recovery speeds. The recent security issues with Dropbox mean I now only use that for non-sensitive data, like photos. I'd recommend SugarSync's business plans if you want the sync and sharing features.