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Wednesday, February 12th
Carbonite Safe has been in the backup business since 2005, and while it previously had won awards for its quality, it seems that their offerings have simply been outpaced by their competitors over time.
3 personal plans to choose from
Carbonite Safe offers three "personal” computer plans:
And 3 business plans to choose from
Carbonite Safe also offers business pricing, ideal for companies with 25+ computers.
One computer per subscription
While we appreciate Carbonite Safe's low price, they have a major technological sticking point. Their personal plans - even the premium ones - only allow you to backup one computer/harddrive per subscription. This means that, if you happen to have an external hard drive, you'll need to purchase two separate subscriptions just to back it up - which makes their "unlimited” storage more limited than it first seems.
Misstating their own plan
It is especially disconcerting as Carbonite Safe does not effectively communicate how many computers you can back up with them: one description of their Basic personal plan states you can back up three computers, while another explicitly states that the Basic plan only allows you to back up one computer per subscription. Third-party reviews from experts confirm that you can only back up one computer per subscription, and as such, we recommend that Carbonite Safe update their advertised services to align with their offerings.
Encryption offered
We appreciate that Carbonite Safe offers file encryption across all of their plans. By default, Carbonite Safe manages your encryption key, but you can opt in to manage your key yourself. If you do so, write it down. If you set your files to be encrypted, take control of the encryption key, and lose or forget it, then no one - not even Carbonite - can get your files back for you.
No advanced backup services
Keep in mind that while Carbonite Safe offers convenient file and cloud backup, they do not offer any comprehensive disk imaging services, which creates an entire compact copy of your PC. While this likely won't affect those just looking to secure some files or photos, it is an important caveat to keep in mind. Comprehensive disk-imaging is offered by more highly rated providers on our list.
Mixed reviews
Customer reviews of Carbonite Safe tend to be mixed. While the company has earned an "A+” from the Better Business Bureau for responsiveness to customer complaints, forums dedicated to sysadmin discussions express dissatisfaction with Carbonite Safe due to slow upload times, and the fact that they will refuse to send your backups in the mail unless you have paid for their premium subscription.
A shady past
In addition, the New York Times found that Carbonite Safe was artificially inflating their own Amazon reviews from 2006 to 2009. They were also fined in the UK in 2012 for artificially throttling their customers' upload speeds to a snail's pace, making it so that their "unlimited” backups were actually quite limited. In short, it seems that Carbonite Safe has earned their mixed reviews.
Low cost, but not recommended
Carbonite Safe offers some low-cost, and convenient online backup services. However - quite frankly - the more highly-rated providers on our list provide more and better services for a lower price. While there is nothing bad about their service itself, there is also little that stands out to distinguish them from their competitors (not to mention their history of misleading and cheating their customers). As such, we recommend that you avoid Carbonite Safe, and check out one of the better rated services we've evaluated.
When it comes to backups and cybersecurity, you can never be too safe, especially when it comes to your files. When we use our computers, everything we save feels permanent, but that permanence is - quite frankly - an illusion. Everything saved is saved somewhere on a physical drive, which means that far from existing in some ethereal cloud, your files can be lost.
Your computer could just break one day from wear, have water spilled on it, be dropped, or even locked-in with a ransomware attack. This isn't even to mention the fact that hard drives decay. In fact, every single hard drive and SSD WILL fail at some point - it's just a matter of when. All of these issues explain why online backup services have exploded in popularity over the last several years.
Online backup services are super convenient. Gone are the days when users had to manually transfer data to external hard drives or rely on physical backups that could be lost or damaged. Online backup services automate the process, running in the background and ensuring that data is continuously backed up. This automation makes it easy on users and eliminates the need for manual backups, saving both time and effort.
Another reason why online backup services are so popular is they are an efficient and cost-effective solution for data management. Traditional backup methods often required substantial investments in physical hardware, such as extra hard drives, discs, and cables. These would have to be upgraded as technology (and storage limits) increased. Then, to prevent against environmental damage (such as fire or rain), the backup data needed to be physically moved and stored at another location. Online backup services, on the other hand, offer scalable, pay-as-you-go pricing models, require no additional equipment, and enjoy built-in offsite storage.
Furthermore, online backup services offer continuing technology improvements at no additional cost. Many providers offer advanced features like versioning, which allows users to retrieve previous versions of files, and continuous backup, which ensures that even the smallest changes are saved throughout the day. This not only enhances data integrity but also offers peace of mind, knowing that the data is always up-to-date and recoverable.
There are a host of services out there to help you save critical data and protect your computer from damage or malicious actors. However it can be a bit confusing when it comes to finding the right online backup service that meets your particular needs.
Here are some features to look for when comparing the various online backup services:
While some things involving computers can feel overwhelming, and saved files are in no way as permanent as they seem, some simple and prudent steps taken today can save you a host of headaches (or the pain of lost photographs, memories, or critical work) down the line. To that end, we've collected the best services we could find and rated them based on their reliability, price, and technical merits. We here at Top Consumer Reviews hope that our curated list can help you make an informed choice as you take steps to secure your critical files.
Select any 2 Online Backup Services to compare them head to head