It’s been almost two weeks now since I started looking at Carbonite and I have to say that overall I am very impressed. In my previous posts (First Look, Initial Backup, Incremental Backups) I looked at installing, setup and the initial days of backup. In this post I will look a little more at how Carbonite handles backup with respect to power saving features and being disconnected from the internet. I will also look at the restore process.
Power saving and disconnected
A week ago, after my last post, I shut down my laptop, unplugged it from our home network and carried it out to my in-laws acreage were we have no internet access. While I spent four hours mowing their “grass” and blowing dirt around, Monika, my wife, transferred pictures off of our digital camera onto the laptop. She also wrote a couple of reports so there was a lot of new stuff to be backed up and a couple of changed documents. Our email files also needed to be backed up as they had not been backed up before we left.
When we got home, and after a shower, I turned the laptop on but left it disconnected from the network. When I went into the “Carbonite Backup Drive” it told me that I was disconnected and that a backup was pending. I plugged it into the network and viola, the backup started. Great!
I should note that I had also re-enabled the power saving features of my laptop so every 20 minutes or so it would go into standby mode even though it was “busy” backing up. Now I don’t know if this is a Microsoft problem or if there is even a solution to this from the developer’s side of things but if you ask me, the fact that my computer is backing up means that it is busy and shouldn’t be going to sleep. Anyway the backup started up again when I roused the PC and in no time the new and changed data was backed up just waiting to be restored.
The restore process
OK, so I have 12 GB of data sitting in an online backup somewhere in cyberspace just waiting for me to suffer from some sort of data loss. The true test is how easy is it going to be to get things back.
There are essentially two ways to restore files using Carbonite. You can restore individual files and folders or you can restore the whole system (by system I mean data only and not the operating system). Given that I don’t have a crashed system I am not really able to test out the system recovery aspect of things however, it does look easy to do. If you lost everything and needed to get things back on a replacement system then the first step is to visit the Carbonite website and login to your account. From there you can re-install or transfer your account to a new computer and restore your data. Carbonite will also allow you to transfer data between user accounts. If you are using the computer as “Dave” now but had been using it as “David” before then you can restore all of “Dave’s” data to the “David” account.
If you only need to restore single files or folders then the easiest way to do this is to browse your Carbonite Backup Drive. You can poke around the files and folders that you have backed up and once you find the file or folder you are looking for it is a simple matter of right clicking and selecting restore. You can choose to restore to the original location or to an alternate location. You can also restore previous versions of a file if need be. It is all very slick with only one negative as far as I am concerned. As with the backup, the restore lacks a progress indicator that shows the transfer rate and estimated time of completion.
Final Comments
Well I have to say that Carbonite works very well on my system and I would not hesitate to recommend it as a backup solution for home or SOHO computer users.
The positives for Carbonite are:
- It installs very easily.
- The setup is painless for simple situations.
- The cost of the service is beyond reasonable at only $4.95/month for unlimited space.
- It works with power saving features turned on. That is it resumes the backup as soon as it comes out of standby mode.
- It provides true file versioning, not just one copy like some of the other services.
- It uses some sort of binary patching. That is you don’t need to upload the whole file every time it changes which speeds up the backup process.
- It doesn’t slow your computer down while you are using it.
The negatives are:
- Missing/hard to read log files.
- The progress indicators (backup and restore) do not provide transfer rates and time estimate information.
- Lack of notification options.
As I have already said, i would recommend Carbonite as a backup service. I will say that there are aspects that I have not looked at and have assumed to be true. For example I am assuming that if a backup is interrupted for some reason that it will resume from where it left off even mid-file. I have not tested it with any SMB applications such as Exchange, SQL server and IIS for example. Again I am assuming that it does NOT support these applications and that it is really just a desktop backup solution.
My final comment has to do with logging and notifications. I know that most people won’t care about this aspect but it is one area that I am not comfortable with. The option to recieve email notifications or some other notification on the status of my backup would be appreciated. As it stands the only notification you get is from the icon in the system tray, which is always green even when a backup is pending or you are offline. The one exception was during the initial backup at which time the icon was yellow with a life ring in the middle of it.
In conclusion… I give Carbonite 4 out of 5 stars. I would also recommend it over Mozy at this time. This is based on previous experience with Mozy but to be fair it has been several months since I looked at Mozy. I will review Mozy in my upcoming posts.
Until next time.
Mike Lavender
Owner/CEO of Simply Offsite
Simply Offsite
Simplifying backup since 1998
http://www.simplyoffsite.com
Filed under: Online backup services, Reviews, Windows, computer backup | Tagged: backup service reviews, Online backup services, Reviews
Mike: I’m Carbonite’s CEO. Thanks for the nice write-up. I have a couple of minor comments: On the “time to completion” comment, this only works if you have a steady data transfer rate, of course. Carbonite’s data transfer rate is dynamic and adjusts itself so that you don’t notice that it’s working. All the other backup services that I know of basically run batch jobs and do not allocate bandwidth dynamically. Mozy, for example, has a manual slider control that gives you more or less resources. This is just an unnecessary complication for the user. Anyway, it’s hard to predict how long a Carbonite backup will take because if you’re using your computer while it’s backing up, Carbonite could go faster or slower based on what other things you’re doing on your computer. So the estimate would be very inaccurate.
As for notifications, most people want less, but I know that you and others want more. So we’re going to allow for email notifications and more pop-up notifications if you want them — in a subsequent release this year.
Thanks again, and kind regards.
Dave
Mike;
I received a free year of Carbonite service when I purchased a Network Magic product. My experience with Carbonite has been far from stellar.
Recently I tried to reinstall Carbonite on my home PC, only to discover that my account had been disabled. After contacting suport a second time (my first email went unanswered) Ruth told me my account was inactive because “your Network Magic subscription started on 12/19/2007 and expired on 12/19/2008.”
I had to look at my calendar a few times to make sure I hadn’t lost my mind (it *is* still 2008, right??) When I contacted support asking for clarification, they told me I had to reinstall Carbonite using a new activation code. I’m assuming that this means my backups are completely gone.
When a service is charged with securing important personal files, and then they delete your account because they think they’re in 2009 already, I become concerned. When they are unable to restore files you’ve given them, I have reason to be upset.
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!
CARBONITE RIP OFF.
My computer crashed & the tech couldn’t save anything (faulty memory).
Not to worry I had paid CARBONITE for the first year and then was automatically billed for the 2nd year so for a $100 bucks I knew I was safe.
What a shocker when NOTHING WORKED, nada, zip, big O.
Then the Carbonite nightmare began.
Carbonite not only is terrible but they are RUDE – NO CUSTOMER SERVICE unless you want to pay $20.00, – Keep you on hold for hours and hours.
DAY 1
Was on hold 1 hour and 40 minutes (thankfully I have a speaker phone so my ear didn’t swell). I was #4 in line that time. Another hour and 20 minutes but I made it to #2 before I was disconnected.
Day #2
At least 7 more calls plus the online help which is a bigger joke than their phones.
I got a live person. Asks for my email addy and then says I do not have a contract, would I like to make the purchase now? NO WAY!
Explained quickly in a PLEASE help a little ol’ lady (I AM) voice.
My password didn’t work at all so this guy sent me numerous password all about 12# long………………..NOTHING, nada, zip, big O. Exhausted I quit.
DAY #3
Call in morning 70 minute wait on phone, live guy… Passwords again nada, zip, big O.
DAY #3 afternoon
After 3 calls each waiting a minimum of an hour plus I couldn’t take it any longer.
DAY #4
RESOLVE and determination I started in the morning and by 4pm I got another guy.
Went through the password game again but this time he said “let me check it out”
Shock someone that knew something. Answer ” I don’t know exactly happened but all your files are corrupt and you won’t get anything.
4 DAYS to get “you’re wasting your time lady you are out of LUCK”!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Want my $$ back….answer you’ll have to call billing.
WHAT the billing dept. Is on another planet and you can’t connect me?
Carbonite has a HUNDRED BUCKS for nada, zip, big O and I have to chase it down????
TOOOOOO angry to start trying the billing dept. On Uranus, I was sure.
DAY 5.
Waited so long (they must have 1 ONE phone in the joint) I got to 1st in line after 15 minutes more…… A recording giving me the hours they are open which was not now!!!!!
Finally went to CONTACT US on Carbonite web site.
Wrote a summery email asking how do I get my wasted money BACK!!!!
Received an email with an apology for the inconveniences and she would help now. FINALLY something more positive.
She wrote next day showing they refunded my credit card for $49.95.
WAIT what about the other $49.95 from August.
“I’ll check on that”
THIS WAS A MONTH AGO and I still waiting for $49.95.
Now I write and get NOTHING nada, zip, big O.
They treat customers like crap, lie, cheat and then steal your money and you get
NOTHING,nada, zip, big O.
I have (had) a Carbonite subscription since March 2009. In August I was “offline” for over a month whilst travelling – although I had my laptop with me & collected emails via GPRS. When I returned, Carbonite had terminated my account, because it’s servers had not heard from my PC in over 30 days. I can’t see this 30 day inactivity policy in their T&C, maybe it is in very very very fine print, but I think users should be aware of it – they have deleted my entire back up, without as much as an email to warn me. What a bunch of thieves.