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Web designers of all kinds keep tons of content on their hard drives and only realize the error of their ways after it is too late and a serious hardware failure wipes everything out. Unfortunately, this would be the worst possible moment to mention that 99.9% uptime guarantees by hosts still leave room for roughly 45 minutes of downtime each and every month. This is why backups are so very vital, but they are just pesky. At least, that is the contention offered up by online backup service Mozy, but it does seem rather logical.
The Proposition
Mozy is a slightly silly name for a very serious backup service, and virtually all backups should be taken very seriously. After all, how well could one handle their website(s) without all of their software and files? How much time would they waste trying to catch up to where they were before some mechanical failure knocked them off course.
What Is Mozy?
Select which files to backup
Mozy is a set it and forget it online backup solution. Files can be selectively backed up by drive, folder, or individually, and backups can be scheduled to happen whenever it is convenient. This means that as long as a computer is online, it can be backed up. This does require leaving computers on for the purposes of backing up, which may or may not be green, but it is also possible to backup while using the computer as Mozy can backup open files.
In fact, Mozy can back up any kind of file, and it does so intelligently. This means both incremental backups and intelligent bandwidth throttling. Incremental backups simply means that Mozy does not always backup the entirety of a file, but usually just looks for whatever has changed on the file recently. This delta- or incremental style of backup not only makes backing files up easier and quicker, it allows users to restore files to a specified version based on the date. This eliminates the risk of file corruption and/or gross malfeasance, but such protection only lasts for 30 days.
Intelligent bandwidth throttling lets users control just how much of the upstream performance the backup process is using. Remember that using upstream speeds dramatically impacts downstream performance on most forms of backups, so it might be best to set Mozy to only use a small portion of a connection’s total upstream performance when the connection is use. A throttle scheduler makes intelligent use of bandwidth possible, but our tests seem to indicate that the online backup system does a fairly good job of not hogging bandwidth.
Where Are the Files Stored?
Mozy stores user files in a hardened facility that is supposedly hack-proof. All documents are encrypted and stored behind a military-grade firewall and industrial-class network. This means that basically only a small handful of hackers on the planet even have the slightest chance of hacking into the highly secured sever farm, and it would take an act of god and/or an act of war to destroy Mozy’s server farm. In fact, even that might not be enough. The bottom line is that data that Mozy stores is very secure.
How Much is This Going to Cost?
Mozy comes in four flavors, but in only two names: MozyHome and MozyPro. That is a little confusing on the surface, but here is how it breaks down: MozyHome has a free plan and a monthly plan and MozyPro has both a desktop and a server licensing scheme. MozyHome’s free plan only offers up to 2 GB of storage, while the $4.95 per month plan offers unlimited storage. All of Mozy’s plans offer toll-free chat-based support, but MozyPro plans offer 24/7 telephone support as well as support for Mac OS clients. This extra support does come at a cost as storage for MozyPro accounts costs fifty cents per gigabit each month, and then there are the license fees. Desktop licenses cost $3.95 per month and server licenses cost $6.95 per month.
The big question is whether or not Mozy is worth it. For $4.95 per month the ability to backup endless quantities of data is a no-brainer. The professional plans may not seem like that are such a great deal, but the support option is nice to have. Ultimately, the question is what are the costs and risks associated with not using a service such as Mozy. Each situation is going to be different but we would be hard pressed to come up with a long list of businesses that could just shrug off a serious data loss. For that reason alone it is highly recommended that everyone use Mozy’s free service to backup their most critical files. If they find their needs to grow, then they can’t go wrong by looking into what Mozy has to offer.
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Nick Reese is the author of Traffic and Trust, and all round happy dude. When Nick isn't managing web properties he enjoys biking, shooting video, and drinking tea. You should follow Nick on twitter here.
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Thanks for a great review on the often-overlooked topic of backing up.
I do suggest that people take a look at http://www.dropbox.com – they offer 2 gigs free and $9.95 for 50 GB of storage.
I am not affiliated with them in any way… they software JUST WORKS! flawlessly.
Thanks for the above review.Well about online backup systems,i prefer SafeCopy online backup.Because they offer efficient services and they are cost effective than any other online backup system i have ever seen.They offer 3GB free and for 150GB of storage one only pays 50bucks annually.This is so great.
I like Mozy over a lot of other backup solutions for many of the obvious reasons most customers like it. The reason why I like it the most backs up quick and doesn’t slow down my computer or network which I believe is important to all of us. Computer speed is essential. I back up a little over 5 TB of data and found a coupon online for a two year membership for 80 dollars couldn’t beat that.
Mozy looks just right solution to backing up files. Thanks for seamless review.
Mozy is a good backup system but the only problem is that it is kind of costly.I thought i would bare but after the unlimited plan was removed i had to switch to another backup service.I also use Safecopy and i like the fact that i can backup multiple computers on a single account.Thanks for the post it was so helpful
I like safecopy backup mainly that i can backup multiple computers on a single account and now they upgraded the backup plan that is from 150 to 200gigs for 50 bucks and 300gig for 70 bucks a year respectively i was forced to switch from Mozy to this after the unlimited backup plan was burnished.
Have no beef with other online backups, the fact being that I am comfortable with Dropbox and Safecopy. These two have flawlessly worked for me. I would wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone procrastinating for online backup.
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