This article should only be read by those who have a computer….
I believe there are only two types of computer users in the world - 1) One whose computer has crashed and 2) One whose computer will crash.
In November 2008 I joined the first group when upon my return from a nice Sunday car ride I found my computer smoking. I lost everything. Thankfully, just one month earlier I had signed up for an online backup service from which I recovered all of my data.
For the past nineteen months, at 10:00pm, my backup software has identified any new or modified files on my computer (my Legacy file, pictures, financial data, videos, etc.) and automatically backed them up to an off-site storage device. I get to choose the time of day, and can choose specifically which files and folders I want to include in my backup. My biggest benefit from the service is the peace of mind I have knowing that everything is protected.
A common concern with using an online/offsite backup service is what happens to your data if/when that company goes out of business? Is your data still safe? You would think that every company has measures built in to protect your data. Nonetheless, I recommend using both an online/offsite backup service AND keep a good backup of all of your files yourself.
Up to now, I have used my online/offsite backup service AND I have used additional software to backup those same files to an external hard drive. With the just-released Mozy 2.0, it will do both – automatically. In other words, it will backup my files both to 1) their storage media and to 2) my storage media (my external hard drive) at the same time.
This new feature, the ability to backup to both places at the same time, comes at no additional cost. In fact, if you have less than 2GB of data, their service is entirely free. This 2GB is certainly more than enough space to backup your Legacy family file (and more) if that's the only important thing you have on your computer. Any more than that costs less than five dollars a month. I'm now up to over 176GB of data being backed up, and I still pay the same amount. In fact, I signed up for a two-year plan and got three months free.
Because our company relies on Mozy's services, we've recently partnered with them, allowing us to give our Legacy customers a 10% discount. If you haven't already, I would at least sign up for the free account to get started. If you want unlimited backup space, then click here to sign up. Use the coupon code of MAY at checkout. I'm guessing this expires at the end of … May. (If you're reading this after May, try JUNE – who knows, it might work.)
If you are an existing Mozy 1.0 user, you can upgrade to 2.0 at no charge here. Their new features include:
New, easy-to-use interface. A sound backup strategy involves both a local and an offsite copy of your data. The latest in Mozy innovation delivers both with Mozy 2xProtect™, included in Mozy 2.0 for Windows.
Mozy 2xProtect. Mozy 2xProtect™ automatically backs up files locally to an external drive in addition to a Mozy data center for double protection of your personal and business information.
Faster than ever. Mozy 2.0 prepares files up to 75 percent faster than previous versions and transfers up to 25 percent faster. You can pause a backup and see the backup status of your files to ensure they're protected in the new status window.
Here are some other articles we've previously written about backups:
How I survived my first computer crash
Having a good backup strategy is something that you have all heard about. But still, every week, we have a handful of customers telling us about their recent computer crash and that they've lost everything. So unless you are in the middle of filling out the registration form to attend our 2010 Legacy Genealogy Cruise, drop what you are doing and get started with some kind of backup plan.
I appreciated your good comments about Mozy, and would like to add that I highly recommend Mozy too. There are a few other programs that are on a par with Mozy, though. Backblaze and iDrive also offer versioning, which is vitally necessary if you need to “go back in time” and recover earlier version(s) of a file or files.