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Introduction Carbonite are located in in Boston, MA and they initially offered their online backup service in the first half of 2006. At the time of writing they backup and protect more than 2 billion files for clients in all 5 continents. They were founded in 2005 by David Friend and Jeff Flowers. Carbonite is a no nonsense, risk-free online backup service for unfussy home pc users, students, home office users, commercial travelers, etc. For less than five dollars per month, Carbonite backs up all the irreplaceable data on your PC (digital pictures, music, presentations and other important files) when your MAC is attached to the Internet. Carbonite is really straightforward to initialize and use, needing practically no ongoing user involvement. Carbonite's online backup program is configured to continually store amended data from your computer whenever it is attached to the internet. Security Carbonite security is impressively strong. Traffic to and from your desktop and their secure storage is encrypted with triple DES – which is highly strong – and once on their servers your files is protected using Blowfish 448bit encoding – it gets no better than that. The Storage for your data is held on two up-to-date facilities in Massachusetts that provide carefully temperature-controlled rooms, reserve power generators, restricted personnel access, and loads of other functions to protect the security and integrity of your information. Backup Features At first Carbonite archives the 'My Documents and Settings' folders but this can quickly be amended with the desktop program. There is no maximum to the number of files that can be stored, therefore you can pick as many or as few folders as you wish. Backups start when your desktop is not being used, eliminating drain on resources or bandwidth. Alternatively, you can set the backup scheduler to backup as frequently as you wish. Network drives and external drives cannot be backup up using Carbonite. In our tests it required thirty seven mins to upload 2,000 megabytes of data using a normal 8mbps ADSL line whilst sending and recieving other data on the internet. Carbonite offers a continuous backup facility which means that information is backed up whenever they are amended. Therefore you don't need to depend on scheduling backups and verifiying your MAC is powered on when the scheduled time arrives. However, if scheduling is what you would prefer, the PC client does have that option also. The backup progress can be monitored by an including progress bar. You can additionally add files and folders to the archive schedule by right-clicking. The Carbonite utility creates a 'virtual drive letter' where you can see which files have been backed up and which are currently pending backup. The manager also adds colored dots on files to show whether they are backed up, pending archive or not included in the archive set. The PC edition permits unlimited 'file versioning' for three months. There are also no restrictions on the size of individual files or the amount of information that you can backup. Yet, it is important to be aware of the fact that the initial backup time needed is more than that required when you are up and running and your first backup is complete. Restore Features Information recovery can be initiated from either the client or the web portal and can be restored to either their original location or another location on the PC they were originally backup up on or to the web portal. On the PC edition, restores 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 site Gives central administration for all clients being archived. The speed and upload/download usage can be throttled between high and low. Reports are generated to show what is backed up. Interface To use Carbonite you have to use the Carbonite Client Software on each device that is to be backed up. However, once setup, all backups can be administered from a central admin portal. Many computers can be administered under a single account, however, multi-account management is not supported. Once the software is up and running, it lets access to a logical drive letter that can be designed to monitor the progress of archived folders and to restore them. The small icon in the bottom-right corner of the PC is initially yellow – this shows that the initial backup is being performed. When the initial backup is completed, the tray icon turns green. The desktop utility is simple and simple to use. The internet portal is similarly clean. The program is setup to be set-and-forget so the screens are not bogged down with lots of options but instead are set up to permit you to select what and when you want to backup and then allow the program to do it. Device Support There is support for PC and MAC. There is an iPhone, iTouch, iPad and Blackberry apps however these only allow you to monitor backed up folders, not actually archive your device. 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 archived There is no block level incremental backup ability Carbonite is a user archive tool, so it can not backup server databases such as SQL server, Exchange server. Open or in use files cannot be backed up until they are no longer in use. 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 portal and unique access rights can be configured on specific files and folders. Carbonite does not support public file sharing or file collaboration. Synchronization Lots of machines can be synchronized with each other and with the central web site. Web 2.0 Integration None currently. Customer Support Telephone support is available as an optional extra at a cost of just under 20 dollars 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 In addition there is a free 15 day trial available. Ease Of Use Carbonite is totally simple to install and use, simply download the client installer and run it. There is audio commentary that explains the whole process and you can start archiving your folders in no time at all. The 15 day - no credit card required - free trial means there is no risk in trying Carbonite out. When setup all you need to do is right-click on a file or folder to add it to your backup. 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 corporate service plans available, yet, there is a professional edition of Carbonite available at http://www.carbonitepro.com which is designed for Business use. Hidden cost: Telephone support costs $19.99 per annum. Conclusion Carbonite offers a uncomplicated secure method to backup your information from either PCs or MACs. The unlimited storage for a single fee provides for easy money management and takes away the requirement to always note how much data you are backing up. The Carbonite Online Backup service is very secure and the support is very good. If you are looking for a simple archive solution then this is a very good choice. .
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