Backups while you sleep

Yesterday I started using a service called Carbonite. The service is used to backup all of your important files on your computer. The difference between this backup service and many others, however, is that you don’t have to lift a finger to do the backup. All that is required is a simple software installation that takes only a few minutes. From that point forward Carbonite does its magic. Any time you are idle on your computer and still connected to the Internet (this probably wouldn’t work well for dialup users) Carbonite encrypts your data and backs it up to a secure server on the Internet. All this for $5.00/month!

Now I know a lot of you out there will be worried about security when you read that last part. I was scared as well at the notion of all of my data sitting out on the Internet somewhere. But here’s a couple things that may help ease your mind. For one, the data is encrypted meaning it is a meaningless bunch of letters and numbers that mean nothing to anyone or any computer except your own. Second, you are in complete control. If you don’t want your Quicken file backed up to the Internet, just right click the file or folder and select “Don’t back this up” from the Carbonite menu. It couldn’t be easier.

So now that I am done singing the praises of Carbonite. Let me add this. I am only on the free trial right now, which lasts for 15 days. But so far so good. Carbonite has already backed up over 1 GB of data on my PC which is still a far cry from the 30 GB of data it has identified that needs backing up. What can I say? I have a lot of digital pictures and would be crushed if I lost even one of them!

When my trial is over I will report back on whether or not I converted to a paid subscription. At $5/month, I’m finding it hard right now to envision me not signing up.