The things I like about CrashPlan:
– unlimited data, no bandwidth throttling
– very reasonably priced plan for up to 10 computers
– excellent data retention policy (they keep old versions and deleted files forever) and fully configurable
– backs up external USB drives, and keeps the data even if the drive is unplugged
– the program will also save the backup to an external USB drive, another computer, or friend’s computer
– higher security, with the option to create my own public/private encryption key
– user interface is nice, and works the same on our Mac and PCs
– restore feature is accessible both in the program and on the website
– network and CPU throttling is configurable based on whether I’m using the computer
– filename exclusion using regular expressions

The data retention policy is a biggie. Most of the other companies seem anxious to delete your files. BackBlaze, for example, will backup an external USB drive; but if for some reason you go 30 days without plugging it in, they’ll delete the files. They describe a workaround in their help section that doesn’t make me confident. In contrast, CrashPlan will keep those files indefinitely. This really is what sealed it for me.

My love affair ended abruptly, however, when I had to restore my files after a catastrophic hard disk failure. Although carbonite had consistently informed me that my backup was up to date, a large portion of my music library was missing from my restore. The links were in my itunes library but the files were gone.

Customer service was tragically unhelpful. I contacted repeatedly, but nobody seemed to understand my problem and only made vague suggestions like reinstalling carbonite or restarting my restore. Tech support even took remote control of my computer to try to find the files in the restore file and could not. The problem was forwarded to engineering but nobody ever followed up. I was honestly surprised they did not want to get to the bottom of the issue to prevent future information loss.

I’ve begun using time machine to back up my system, but since I still have an active subscription to carbonite I figured I’d keep using it until it expired at least for the cloud feature and mobile app (despite its unreliability). Now my backup has stalled for over a month, with over 100 GB of files awaiting information. I am told that this is because I am over the 200 GB limit. But I only have 150 GB of information on my mac, so how is this possible?

All in all I’ve found my experience horribly frustrating. Please, if you have files that need to be kept safe, do NOT count on carbonite as your primary form of backup. You might be devastated later on.

Carbonite:
- Consistantly (more often than not) high CPU utilization causing my Mac to run hot – even when there is nothing to backup. I worked with support and they played dumb – I’ve heard of many people with this issue, and I firmly believe it’s just the way the product works.
- Does not backup video files by default, you must choose them manually. It is also not clear in the management interface that video is not being backed up – you must dig deep on their site to find this info. Misleading and unacceptable.
- Very slow (apparently throttled) upload speeds for backup….especially noticeable on initial backup
- Allows you to backup files larger than 9GB
- Is a PITA to uninstall

Backblaze:
- This product is VERY EFFICIENT CPU-wise. I rarely see more that a few % of CPU even during the initial backup
- Backs up all user data files (excludes system files), including video, automatically. The file types that are excluded by default are clearly illustrated in the Backblaze prefs, and can easily be changed.
- Does not allow backup of files larger than 9GB, which for me is not currently an issue

I asked for, and received, a refund for my Carbonite subscription which I had renewed last month (Oct. 2010). I am now using Backblaze, it’s lean and efficient, and I’m not looking back.

David K.

Dropbox is wonderful… to a point. That point is it doesn’t seem to retain any resource fork information. I have some different filetypes that lose info and will no longer open with the software program they were created in. It is just crazy. So I use a sparsedisk image, which is having weird syncing issues that I cannot get anyone to address on their forum.

I need an offsite backup, In case of natural disaster, plus the ability for several computers to share and collaborate on files that are kept constantly updated.

So now I am throwing up my hands after spending about $200 for these 2 not so great products, I am trying out CrashPlan. It actually seems to be a cross between Dropbox and Carbonite. I disabled carbonite and have Crashplan backing up. My computer is now humming along like a top. I was able to completely control the way it backs up and the resources it uses in the process. When my computer is not in use it kicks up the usage, then drops back to very low usage when I am using it. As I type, I am only using 21% of my system resources!

Help, please?

Thanks,
Claire Pang

CrashPlan seems like a good option if you have someone to backup to. The only other computers I could maybe backup to are my mom’s, dad’s or brother’s. None is really a good solution for a number of reasons, not the least of which is I’m now creating a drain on THEIR storage and assuming they’ll (a) keep their machines on and (b) maintain, care for and upgrade THEIR hardware and software as MY needs evolve.

Anyway, the bottom line for me is that I need a solid 3rd party/offsite backup supplier. Assuming this, how do should I compare CrashPlan (central) and BackBlaze?