Information Week backs Mozy in their online backup software review. Cnet's Michael Horowitz begs to differ.
In their recent online backup software review, business technology website Information Week picked Mozy as their choice for online backup. However, Cnet’s Defensive Computing analyst, Michael Horowitz, has spotted some serious flaws in Mozy’s offering.
Gone forever…
For a start, if you delete a file from your computer then Mozy will also delete the backup copy after 30 days. Yes, really! Even if you deleted it by accident and didn’t realise at the time.
Mozy’s own website confirms it in black and white:
“If you delete the working copy on your machine and then run a backup, Mozy will assume that you no longer need a backup copy, since you got rid of the working copy, and will mark the file to be removed from our system in 30 days…After 30 days, you cannot get these files back.”
David Pogue made a serious flaw sound like a good thing in his backup software review for the New York Times, writing:
“You can view 30 days’ worth of backups, too—a feature that prevents you from deleting a file from your PC accidentally and then finding its deletion mirrored in your latest backup.”
Mr Pogue is clearly assuming that you know that you’ve accidentally deleted a file, but what if you don’t? After 31 days the file is gone forever. The online backup service that I use keeps the backup copies of files indefinitely, which means that I could accidentally delete a file and not notice for years, but I would still be able to get it back from the backup copy.
More than one PC?
Mozy also charges extra for each PC that you backup. Now personally, I have 3 PCs with important data, so that’s a whole heap of extra cash to shell out if I back up with Mozy. There are many online backup services out there that allow you to backup multiple PCs without any extra charge.
File Versioning…
Have you ever clicked ‘Save’ when you meant to click ‘Save As’? I know I have - on many occasions. Then comes that sinking feeling as you realise that you’ve overwritten the original photo with a low-res version you were only creating to email to a friend! Well, to be fair, Mozy does retain previous versions of your file for 30 days (unlike certain providers, eg X-drive). However, I’d prefer to know that old versions of my files are retained indefinitely.
Conclusion
So, despite the conclusions of Information Week’s online backup software review, I would be very cautious about choosing Mozy as my online backup service provider. The flaws in the system are potentially catastrophic when you are dealing with something as critical as file backups.
I’m hesitant to mention the online backup service that I trust with my data, as it isn’t perfect itself, and there are many alternatives out there. But if you want an online backup service that provides support for multiple PCs, won’t delete your backup copies just because the originals have been deleted, and keeps old file versions indefinitely, then you could do worse than to give Angel Backup a try.
Sources:
Michael Horowitz’s article on Cnet: Everybody likes Mozy—Except Me
Information Weeks online backup software review: Five Online Backup Services keep your data safe
David Pogue’s online backup software review in the New York Times: Fewer Excuses for not doing a PC backup