MyPCBackup Video Shows How To Restore A File From Backup

mypcbackup online backup how to restore a file with videoMyPCBackup online backup service is very simple, straightforward and easy to use.

Nonetheless, we know some people would appreciate a video showing just how easy it is to restore a file from a backup, since, what’s the use of an online backup service if you cannot get back a file that was lost, damaged or deleted by accident?

The MyPCBackup Restore Wizard makes short work of retrieving the file from the cloud, yet there is one minor tip in the video that might save you just a minute or two of time.

If you are looking for an online backup service for your Windows computers that offers unlimited online storage then maybe you should sign up for a MyPCBackup Free Trial?

Try MyPCBackup and get unlimited online storage

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MyPCBackup Review And Configuration Video

mypcbackup-online-backup-reviewSince we have been working on our new MyPCBackup Review we have been spending some time testing the software.

Naturally, we had some questions and called tech support to get the answers so our review would be as complete as possible.

Since this is one of the few online backup software companies to offer unlimited backup, no file size limit and no bandwidth throttling, needless to say we have been anxious to get hands on.

The MyPCBackup video below shows you around the software itself and also some very important configuration changes you are definitely going to want to make.

Try MyPCBackup Now – 14 day free trial!

Yes, we are going against the company’s own recommendation in a place or two but we fully explain why.

Try MyPCBackup Now – 14 day free trial!

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Backup Software Reviews

Let’s Review Backup Software Options

acronis-true-image-backup-software-reviewTraditionally, backup software reviews would revolve around programs that would copy data from your computer’s hard drive and place it on floppy disk, zip disks, tapes, etc and actually “span” multiple copies of that media when it would not all fit on one disk or tape.

Well, we’ve come a long way since then.

Backup software like PCTools and Colorado backup were popular programs in the day.

But what do you do now that photos, music and video require gigabytes, maybe even terabytes of backup space? It really boils down to just two options – offline backup and online backup, but innovative backup software companies have found ways to incorporate both such that you might consider it three options.

Offline Backup Software Reviews

When it comes to offline backup software there are fewer and fewer options available, I think primarily because so few people want to bothered with or maybe have a safe place to store the backup media.

And what choices do you have for backup media? Well, if you are a business then you can consider some very expensive backup tapes for your very expensive tape backup drive.

Otherwise, you are probably talking about a USB hard drive, and then probably and external USB hard drive. There are a few esoteric options, but those are expensive and always at risk of going away (as is tape, really).

So let’s take a peak at a couple of offline software backup programs that can backup your computer.

Acronis True Image

Acronis True Image is one of the first and still premier backup software solutions to use an “image” of your hard drive instead of a file by file copy. An image has a couple of unique advantages:

  • First, you can clone the image to a new hard drive quickly and easily if your old hard drive dies or you want to upgrade to a larger hard drive.
  • Second, an image is much faster than any file by file copy, even one that incorporates compression.
  • Third, backing up your hard drive in image format takes much less space than most any other kind of backup. Acronis uses compression so the image does not take up as much space as the aggregate size of the files on your computer’s hard drive.

Another really neat thing about Acronis True Image, one that sets it apart from other image backup software programs, free or paid, is that you can easily “mount” that image backup that probably resides on an external USB hard drive and “explore” that backup just like it is another hard drive.

You can use any search software you like to find a specific file in that backup image and restore it with just a mouse click or two.

Acronis True Image is an ideal offline backup software to backup your computer to an external USB hard drive. You can take that hard drive off site to work, a family member or friends house, or a bank safe deposit box.

Symantec Norton Backup (and Backup Exec)

For simplicity I will refer to Symantec Backup, but in reality the official names might be Symantec Norton Backup or Backup Exec depending on whether you are talking about home computer backup or business computer backup.

I have used Backup Exec as a staple for offline backup for my business clients for years, primarily for tape backup solutions. Now that tape is almost defunct will still use it to backup to USB.

On the home front, I don’t think Symantec Backup has garnered near the loyal following, I would guess that is in great part due to the proliferation of online backup services. Recently, though, Symantec Norton began to offer an online solution of their own.

Loyal Symantec customers I think find Symantec Backup to suit their needs and work pretty much as advertised; though to be honest they really do not advertise that product too much.

Uranium Backup

Uranium backup software is an interesting relative newcomer to the offline backup lineup. For businesses, Uranium will backup your Windows Server 2008 to tape where Windows Backup (NTBackup) no longer will.

Uranium backup has both free and paid versions, though for servers you will pretty much need to buy it.

The cool thing about this backup software is the support they have for just about any backup media you choose to use including DVD and Blu-Ray. Uranium will even backup your data via FTP or SFTP, which, with a bit of knowledge could become an online backup solution for you too.

Online Backup Software Reviews

Online backup software has really matured over the years into some very fine offerings from known companies who have developed a solid reputation.

When it comes to online backup for home or business, Mozy Home and Mozy Pro are long time leaders. In fact, the primary reason that there is room for new, tough competitors is because Mozy does not synchronize computers via online backup and has been a bit slow to offer mobile device support.

The thing about the Mozy products is that they combine both offline backup software and online backup software into one. With Mozy, attach an external USB hard drive to your computer and you can configure the software to backup your computer to the USD drive AND their online servers.

While we do not want to simply repeat here what we have carefully reviewed on other pages of our site, let’s quickly discuss a couple of key issues with online backup software.

Online Backup versus Online Storage

One crucial term to understand when reviewing online backup software is whether or not the company offers to just backup your computer files to their cloud servers or whether they offer – usually in addition to backup – online storage.

Online backup software will typically delete a file in your account on their servers either immediately after you delete it,  after a period of time – perhaps 30 days, or maybe send it to a recycle bin where you can possibly retrieve it; but that feature is pretty rare.

Online storage, on the other hand, specifically gives you the opportunity to store files on the companies cloud servers that no longer reside on your computer that is “attached” to your online backup software account. The advantage to this service is that you can buy storage that is protected in a high grade server installation and not have to buy local storage or worry about backing up that local storage.

Naturally, there is some risk in trusting your only copy of a data file to someone else.

We complete online backup software reviews for your evaluation. Note that we consider online storage to be a feature of an online backup service that either is or is not offered. If you are specifically looking for business class online backup then perhaps you should start by looking at server online backup.

Computer Backup versus Computer and Device Synchronization

With today’s deluge of mobile devices and mobile computing like iPhone, iPad and Android mobile devices there is really a new category of backup software reviews.

Synchronization is what many computer users are looking for to keep identical copies of certain classes of data files on all of their computers and mobile devices.

Synchronization is useful if:

  • You have multiple computers, particularly if in multiple locations (no internal network connecting them)
  • You have multiple computer platforms that are not as easy to share between: Windows, Mac, Linux
  • You have mobile devices you want files available on, usually multimedia files such as music and often photos

Because of this, a new class of online backup software has arisen that will not only synchronize files between computers easily, keep a copy backed up in the cloud in your account, but also allow you to just access a file with a mobile device, such as to play your music on your phone or tablet.

These services, the premier one being SugarSync, give you the option of playing a multimedia file from most any computer or mobile device without synchronizing or storing that file on the device you are playing it on, and in the case of some file types even editing that file online.

Computer synchronization and mobile device synchronization and access is probably the most exciting area of the online backup industry.

If synchronizing computers or the ability to play/access your online backup data interests you then I would highly recommend you take a look at SugarSync.

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Mozy Online Backup Adds Mobile Apps

Mozy Online Backup, one of the best and most popular cloud computer backup solutions has (finally?) released mobile apps for iPhone and Android. The apps will work for both Mozy Home accounts and Mozy Pro online backup accounts.

mozy-online-backup-adds-mobile-apps

For right now, you can only access your files by downloading them to your phone.

For instance, if you have a music file in your backup account and you tap it, mozy will download that file to your sdcard (/mnt/sdcard/Mozy/Mozy Music – on my Droid X), then either play the file or give you a choice of which app on your phone to use to play it.

Then next time you tap that song, it will tell you if it is already downloaded to your phone but offer to download again if you like.

Mozy Online Mobile App Security

mozy-online-app-security-settingsTwo nice security features of the Mozy Online App are:

  1. In the case of Mozy Pro, the administrator can disable Mobile Apps to restrict access of sensitive data
  2. Mozy offers you the choice to setup a passcode lock to access your data via the mobile app (see screenshot). If not set, anyone with access to your phone could pull up your data with app. Keep in mind, someone with your phone can also access your SD Card data you may have downloaded there.

Where to get the new Mozy mobile apps

For the new Mozy iPhone app you can get it at the iTunes store.

For the new Mozy Android app you can download from the marketplace.

Both are free.

(Hey, Mozy – Could you add an “Exit” option to the Menu?)

Start a free trial for Mozy online backup!

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Mozy Online Backup Near Continuous Backup

Mozy online backup describes, for Mozy Home anyway, “near continuous” backup of files on your computer to their cloud storage servers. What does “near continuous” really mean, though?

Well, on my laptop with Mozy Home installed, I have tested this several times.

But first, be aware that several settings in the MozyHome settings configuration will affect this:

MozyHome Online Backup Settings

Now, if my laptop is sitting there doing nothing, other than perhaps a default Wind0ws XP screensaver, wouldn’t you think it would be a good time for the backup to kick in?

Well, a simple word file normally is not backed up for between 45 minutes and an hour and a half after copying it onto the desktop. Some programs are much quicker than that.

Not that I am dissing MozyHome, exactly, I love the program and recommend it heartily if its features and price suit your needs; but it does keep its rating on this site down a bit.

mozyhome file backup status iconsAnother item I will mention, here.

I do love the status icons on the files (shown at right). But after a file on the desktop finally is backed up, the red exclamation will remain until I turn the laptop on again the next morning. Possibly if you leave it long enough it will turn green on its own, but certainly not promptly after being backed up to the online servers.

Interesting still, after I did a test restore of a document I had deleted from the desktop, Mozy Home promptly restored it but with a red exclamation icon indicating it was not backed up! Obviously, it was, since I had restored it only seconds earlier.

Mozy, here’s a chance to make a good online backup service even better!

Try MozyHome now, risk free

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ElephantDrive Enterprise Windows Server SBS 2003 Case Study

elephantdrive-online-backup-case-study-windows-serverWe chose ElephantDrive Enterprise for one of our client Windows SBS Server 2003 server online backup solutions.

The reasons we chose ElephantDrive were price, amount of online backup storage, Amazon S3 storage back end, ability to backup mapped drives.

Right off the bat, though, we discovered a couple of things that were not optimal. One that was no big deal was the credit card required for the free trial. While this use to be industry standard, many if not most online backup providers have done away with it.

More importantly, though, were the requirement for Java and Microsoft .NET. In the end, the Java would do us in.

Install ElephantDrive on Auxiliary Server

Whenever possible I like to avoid installing any software on a primary production server, and in the case of Windows SBS Server, you can’t be much more primary than that – at least for your Active Directory functions and MS Exchange.

So we originally installed ElephantDrive on an auxiliary Windows Server 2003 computer and tried to backup the SBS Server via mapped drives. While that worked, we found, and tech support confirmed, that the open file option does NOT work with mapped drives.

The other problem we encountered was that when viewing options and backed up files with the program interface on that server there were little “tricks” we would have to do in order to get the screen to show the information at times. We didn’t figure this out on our own but did notice it when tech support was “taking control” of our screen and navigating around.

Tech support indicated they would fix that and get an updated version out to us, but in several weeks that never happened.

So we ended up uninstalling ElephantDrive from the extra server and installed on our Small Business Server 2003 computer.

Here is where we encountered Java problems.

We tried uninstalling Java and reinstalling the latest version of Java, but instead of backing up there appeared to be no activity. Viewing the logs, however, indicated a never ending stream of Java errors.

ElephantDrive Tech Support – Started Out Great…

Our initial contact with tech support was exceptional. It appeared that either by chance or by design we ended up dealing with the same person via email every time. Once he determined it was over his head, he pulled in a higher level technician, coordinated a “chat”, and ultimately we had several “work arounds” to some issues after about a half hour of the senior tech taking control of our server (yeah, a little scary on an production box).

Several follow up emails went OK. But then…

…Then It Got Kind Of Weird

We had been corresponding with this same individual at ElephantDrive support for a couple of weeks.

Then, we heard nothing back at the point we were trying to get a permanent fix nailed down.

I sent several “reply” emails that went unanswered. Then I created a new email and just said “hey, still haven’t heard back”, and got a reply on that email stating that the other emails with detailed info had not been received.

I then tried to re-send that detailed info via a couple of different email accounts, including a GMail account. Never heard back from any of them.

This sparked a little Deja Vu on my part, remembering a time before working with a company’s tech support where a reply, having the normal “reply” formatting, dashed lines, etc, would get filtered out by the company’s email system. BAD POLICY!

Not sure if that is what’s happening in this instance or not, but we ended up uninstalling ElephantDrive Enterprise altogether and instead choosing Mozy Pro for our server online backup solution.

Took us a while to get all 80GB initially backed up over a somewhat narrow 3meg T-1 connection, but everyone is now happy.

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How To Backup A NAS To Online Backup Service

netgear-readynas-nvx-nas-online-backupI see a lot of forum posts asking how to backup a NAS to an online backup service. (A NAS is a network attached storage device.)

Essentially, there are two ways of doing this.

The first is if the NAS is from a company such as Netgear ReadyNAS and offers their own proprietary, built-in, server online backup pre-programmed into the server.

These services then require you to have an account with their online backup division of the company. I think ReadyNAS actually uses ElephantDrive on the back end.

Netgear ReadyNAS is not the only company offering this, there seem to be more all the time.

Personally, I am not necessarily advocating that approach – it may work OK but from what we have seen in our own testing that may not be optimal in functionality and pricing. Of course, if it does the job for you and you can afford the price then maybe that’s the solution for you.

This Online Backup Method Works for All NAS Servers

If you have an online backup service configured on a workstation or Windows server currently, you can backup your NAS simply by adding a share path backup, such as \\NAS\Backup (assuming your NAS is named “NAS” and your data is under a valid share named “Backup”).

To add a network share to your backup set, though, requires you to be using a program that supports it; typically a business online backup service that supports share access to servers.

One of the categories of comparison in our online backup comparison grid is the ability to backup a network drive.

Several of the companies do offer that, the one I normally suggest to friends and clients is IDrive. You can see our full review of IDrive here.

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SugarSync Automatically Backs Up And Syncs Android Photos

sugarsync-new-android-app-syncs-photos-automaticallyThe new SugarSync Android App takes all the work out of upload photos from your Android smartphone or mobile device to an online backup service or your home computer.

No cables or know-how needed!

This configurable new app will let you restrict the backup and sync process to times when you have WiFi in case your mobile data plan is not unlimited.

How many people struggle with how to get photos off of their smartphone onto their PC? Not anymore, not with SugarSync.

Just snap the photo, SugarSync does the rest. Your photo will be backed up to your online backup storage at SugarSync and sync’d with your home PC.

This is one of those apps that will make your Android phone as easy to use as an iPhone.

Check out SugarSync online backup service

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The Flaw In Dvorak’s Easy Offsite Backup On A Budget

pogoplug-personal-cloudJohn Dvorak’s article How To Get Easy Offsite Backup On A Budget has a lot of merit, and it is truly better than what most people have for computer backup (nothing!) but there is a serious flaw in his plan.

(Personal Note: I have great respect for Mr. Dvorak in general and read his articles regularly; I just don’t quite go for this idea other than to say it IS better than nothing)

In short, Dvorak suggests buying an inexpensive Pogoplug personal cloud device and creating a “personal cloud” backup program with the Pogoplug and the free service the company offers.

John’s idea is to buy a Pogoplug cloud device, a 2TB hard drive and then set it up at a friend’s house for geographic diversification of backup (about $200 cost, one time). Your friend gets to use it (in return for you putting it there and using his/her bandwidth) and you use it.

Presumably neither of you uses more than your 1TB “share”.

Now, your friend has to make sure he leaves this Pogoplug cloud device and his internet on all the time, which may not be a problem.

protect-your-data-against-widespread-floodBut there are a LOT of issues you need to be aware of that are, in my opinion, flaws in the plan. Granted, I say again, this scheme is better than no backup at all.

Considering, though, that you can get unlimited online backup for under $60 per year, that’s over 3 years (more like 5 years if you prepay as you are with the Pogoplug)  worth of service that has the advantages of:

  • Unlimited storage
  • VASTLY improved security
  • VASTLY greater geographical diversification
  • No need to “cut a deal” with someone who is a friend today (who knows about tomorrow) or a relative whose limited bandwidth you will be occupying part of

Is it really worth it to spend the $200 up front and impose/deal with a friend or relative?

Keeping in mind that to have any sort of security on your data you need to learn and use what Dvorak recommends “Using any number of encryption systems will keep the data secure.” He is right, there are free programs available for encryption.

But unless you encrypt each file individually (PAIN!) there are two problems with that:

  • You can no longer backup just “changed” files using a minimum of bandwidth and time; you may have one or more multi-gigabyte encrypted containers to upload
  • You will spend lots of time encrypting and decrypting either individual files or huge slow to encrypt containers

So to really put this in perspective and give you ALL the information you need, let me list the flaws with the Dvorak Pogoplug plan.

Flaws related to weather, nature:

  • Hurricane (Katrina)
  • Earthquake or Tsunami (Japan)
  • Flood (Take your pick)
  • Tornado (Take your pick)

If your friend or relative lives close to you at all, then consider the above threats that might take out both of your homes and computer equipment installations.

Flaws related to security:

  • Dvorak recommends using encryption as protection. Encryption is like backup, it only happens if it is AUTOMATIC
  • Encryption requires either LOTS of small files or few HUGE files (see above regarding ills of this)
  • If it is not encrypted, then you risk eavesdropping by your friend and additional THEFT threat (now you have to worry about 2 homes being burglarized

Flaws related to performance

  • You will be sucking up your friends bandwidth (or vice versa) whenever you save or retrieve files. Unless it’s all timed to occur at night (which it won’t be), he or she WILL notice it
  • Manually encrypting your files will take YOUR time and PC power

A real online backup service will cost you less in the long run (my opinion) and:

  • has a better “warranty” than the cheap 2TB hard drive you bought or the Pogoplug
  • backs up automatically
  • encrypts/decrypts your data automatically
  • can have true geographic diversification
  • backs up your backups
  • gives you previous “versions” of your data
  • provides and pays for their own bandwidth which is likely MUCH better than your friends (he/she may have huge download speeds but how about upload when you want to retrieve something?)
  • offer customer service and support

So, what’s it gonna be? Pogoplug or a REAL online backup service (reviews here)?

Or just backup 1 PC now, with unlimited encrypted storage, for under $60 per year.

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Amazon Cloud Player With 5GB Free Storage

amazon-cloud-service-screenshot-on-androidI have been playing around a little bit with Amazon Cloud Player and the 5GB of free storage they offer for music, media or other files you want to upload. Playing music from the cloud on my Droid X is of interest to me since I’m not big on creating and syncing playlists to my Android smartphone.

To use this new service, first, of course, you need a free Amazon account and for your mobile device, the free Amazon MP3 App.

The current Android app does NOT allow uploading or syncing from your mobile to the cloud. You can, however, download a song in from your Amazon Cloud to your mobile device.

Songs can be added to your cloud storage either by purchasing them through Amazon or by uploading with their software installed on your PC.

My only MP3 purchases from Amazon have been a while ago, and there does not seem to be a way to place them in my cloud storage through Amazon’s website.

After you download the Amazon software to your PC and install it, the only way to “run” it is by logging into your Amazon Cloud Player account on their website and clicking the “upload to your cloud drive” button.amazon-cloud-service-file-options

The software searches your PC first for music it can find, then offers you an opportunity to browse folders and select music folders manually. Only MP3 and AAC (.m4a) file formats are currently supported. Other files can be uploaded, though, for storage purposes it seems.

Unfortunately, when you browse manually for folders the display is not a tree view like you might expect (and I hoped for). It’s listed by album instead. So if your music is hierarchically stored, as mine is, by artist, album, song, you will NOT be able to navigate to a particular artist and upload all of their albums.

And when you have lots of music, the amount of scrolling needed to traverse the music library can be grueling. After you have selected the files you do want to upload, it goes pretty smoothly from there with a status bar showing the progress of each song’s upload and and estimated completion of the entire upload queue.

Naturally, whether navigating the app on your smartphone or mobile device or on the web, there are ample links to shop Amazon’s music store for more songs from the same artist or similar music.

amazon-cloud-song-playingTake a look at the Amazon Cloud Player and Cloud Storage (5GB Free)

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