Mozy Online Backup

Last month I wrote about the increasingly popular online backup business [1] and reviewed AOL's X Drive. Since then, I have been testing Mozy Online Backup [2]. Mozy offers home users 2 GB of free backup space and unlimited space for $4.95 per month. The setup and configuration is extremely quick and easy and shouldn't take even the greenest computer user long to setup. Once installed and configured, the backup system worked flawlessly and silently. I chose to have Mozy alert me when a backup was finished so that I knew when a backup had occurred.

Unlike the Xdrive system, I have never had to restart or troubleshoot Mozy. It truly turned out to be "set it and forget it" as advertised. Like all online backup systems, a high speed connection is required...no exceptions. Too much data gets transferred to make using anything less than a high speed connection. Mozy gives you good control of how often backups happen and what gets backed up. The customization tools for backup creation and scheduling include all the essential options you will need and nothing extra. Just the way I like my software to function...clean, simple and to the point.

All online backup systems guarantee the security and privacy of your backups with state-of-the-art encryption protocols. However, security starts with you creating a good password [3] and remembering it!

I tested the online access and restoration capabilities of Mozy, and like the backup system, they both worked well.

Overall, I give Mozy online backup a solid A. If you haven't started your own backup regime yet, Mozy would make a good place to start. Backup is like insurance, you hope never to use it, but are awfully glad when you do need it!