Mozy

We all have very different needs for backups, from those of us that want to make sure our family holiday pictures are safe to those of us with important documents and websites to backup. There are so many companies out there offering such a wide range of back solutions from hardware vendors to online storage solutions.

I finally decided to take the plunge and check out a online storage solution, the likes of which I’ve never done before. In the past I’ve heard many different stories about online storage including both good and bad stories, so I thought it was time to check into it myself.

Mozy was my first choice for online backups due to several reasons, they’re site was very informative, the software is high quality and an extremely lost cost at only $4.95 (Around ï¿¡3 for those of us in the UK) a month for unlimited back up plus iJustine is affiliated with them! The monthly or yearly fee is charged per machine but at its low price, backing up multiple machines really isn’t a problem or any weight on your wallet! Now if you don’t want to commit that isn’t an issue, you can try out a free account with 2GB of space without the need to even give them your bank details!

One of my main reasons for checking out Mozy is I usually run Time Machine backups once a week but what about everything that happens between those backups? Due to using a MacBook its rarely convient for me to backup to a Time Machine on every session I have, of course a lot of data gets edited and added throughout the period between the backups (which generally only happen once a week), making a backup solution like Mozy ideal for the ‘In-between’ periods. I will point out that I don’t store every gigabyte of my data on Mozy, I use the service for my most important and valued data such as documents, projects, photos and of course website backups for the likes of rfly.me. I let Time Machine take care of files such as my iTunes library due to the sheer size of the file.

On the bandwidth side of the service, I have to say that I was very impressed with speeds and how Mozy ran in the background. On my 10MB cable line I get around 0.5MB a second upload speeds and Mozy continues to pump data at a decent speeds even when making Skype calls or browsing the web. I have yet download any of my data back off the Mozy servers and fingers crossed thats something I won’t have to do, at least for now!

The simplicity of Mozy’s software makes it perfect for anyone, no matter what there knowledge or experience with computers is. The configuration window displays backup sets for items such as your iTunes library, Address Book, iPhoto and Documents folders, along with another section for you to navigate through your files and folders to find the items you wish to back up. In the Mozy preference panel your able to configure more advanced options for running backups such as allowing backs only to be run when the user is away from the machine for certain period of time or if the CPU is using less the 60% of its power and other options such as being notified if you haven’t made a backup for a certain about of days.

One feature that can never be over looked when choosing a backup solution is the security of your files, Mozy uses 128-bit SSL encryption (the same encryption used by banks) for backing up your files then when the data is on there servers your data is protected by a 448-bit Blowfish encryption, meaning even Mozy’s staff can’t access your data.

Mozy Features

*Open/locked file support: Mozy will back up your documents whether they’re open or closed.
128-bit SSL encryption: The same technology used by banks secures your data during the backup process.

*448-bit Blowfish encryption: Secures your files while in storage, providing peace of mind that your private data is safe from hackers.

*Automatic: Schedule the times to back up and MozyHome does the rest.

*New and changed file detection: MozyHome finds and saves the smallest changes.

*Backs up Outlook files: Disaster-proof email protection.

*Block-level incremental backup: After the initial backup, MozyHome only backs up files that have been added or changed, making subsequent backups lightning fast.

I recommend Mozy anyone who wants a simple and easy backup solution whether you use Mac or Windows. I can certainly say across both Mac and Windows using Mozy has been nothing short of a pleasure! I’ve been so impressed by Mozy that I’ve already started buying one year subscriptions as gifts for friends of mine! Mozy is available in two different packages MozyHome for home users and MozyPro which caters for businesses, currently over 40,000 businesses use Mozy for there backup solution. Mozy is certainly a 5 star service and if your reviewing your backup solutions or even considering backing up your own data after reading this article then head over to Mozy now and give it a shot, you won’t be disappointed.