Online Data Backup Solutions - Which One Suits You Best?

If you don't already know that keeping backups of your important files is a good idea then you got here just in time! When people go out to buy their first home computer they worry about lots of things but data backup (and even worse data recovery) are the last things on their mind. If they're lucky they'll walk away with a decent anti-virus and firewall package but never ever with a backup solution.

For home users usually the best choice of data backup is something you won't have to remember to do. Let's be honest who's going to remember to run a daily backup on their PC? Not me - once every 2 or 3 days if I remember to. That's where online data backup solutions come in so handy. Using an online file backup system means that you backup your data online and it's done automatically and in the background each and every day.

Why not just keep the copies of your files on an external hard drive? Well here's a few good reasons - fire, flood, theft, lightning strike, user error (you delete the files by accident) and good ole hard drive failure. Never, ever keep all the copies of your files/data in your house - one copy should be kept in another secure location.

That's why I love online backup solutions so much - no matter what happens on my local PC there's a copy of all my important files stored on a remote server that I can download again in an hour or two from anywhere in the world. All you need is an Internet connection and your login details and you're good to go.

So what is the best online backup solution out there? Whenever I'm asked for the best solution to a problem it's almost imposssible to answer. What people love about one program or solution I'll hate and vice versa. All I can say that the online file backup solution that I use is Mozy and I'm really happy with the product and the quality of service. I've tried a whole heap of online backup tools over the years and Mozy online backup is the one I've been happiest with full stop.

Is there any reason why you shouldn't think about using an online backup tool? One single reason would be the speed of your Internet connection. If you're still using dial-up (who are you!?), ISDN or some other slow connection then your online backups could take a lot, lot longer to complete.

Stuck for cash and looking for a free online backup system that's still going to do everything you need? Of course there's an option - Mozy even offer 2GB of online storage space for free! Clever marketing yes but downright useful too!