This is our guide on how to choose the best online backup company. This essentially shows how we search through all of the companies and come up with the best backup companies.
Selecting the best Online Backup Company can be tricky. It’s new, unfamiliar to most, and yet, very necessary in today’s digital era. This guide is designed to help answer the questions you have before picking an online backup company.
1. Monthly Backup Budget?
For most this going to be the deciding factor, but other features of Online Backup are affected by the price. Such as number of users per account or the number of computers per account. First decide your budget then we can move on from there.
- Up to $10/month: (Home Use Top Picks Page link) This is the most averaged plan. Different companies have varying features that lessen or increase the price. You are not going to find big business support with lots of storage,users or computers per account.
- $10 to $30/month: (Small Business Use Page link) This plan is for those who need a little bit more space to work comfortably. It provides a solid working backup solution with decent storage. Adding new users and computers is invited but not always included.
- $30 to $250/month: (Enterprise Use Page link) You will get the maximum coverage available. Great security, number of computers, number of users, and lots of space. Not cheap.
- $250+/month: (Lots of media files page link) These plans are usually contracted per company. This implies that it will be a lot more expensive. Designed for large file sizes and extra security needs.
2. Online Backup Resources Required?
While some larger companies will offer unlimited storage for a low price, this often comes with other restrictions. When companies have storage restrictions its usually pretty reasonable for most files.
When you’re looking at features pay attention to: Security, Space (Storage), Price, Ease of Use (included software), Help/Support, Remote Access, Time to Restore. If you or someone you know is currently using Online Backup, ask what features they like best.
If your main concern is to get an iPhone App to see your backed up files, you may be limiting yourself. While it’s a great feature, it maybe something you pay too much for.
3. Level of Tech Support Required?
Are you tech savvy? or do you need someone to talk you through the process? Many smaller companies prefer not to use Phone support because of the operation costs. Instead they turn to E-mail, chat, knowledge base, and forums. If your comfortable talking online with people to solve your problem then these options are fine.
If you are someone that needs the phone to talk to tech support, you may find it a little more difficult. Some companies offer phone support or a support payment plan.
4. Online Backup Company Size?
This is more of a personal choice. Are you looking for the stability of a gigantic company like Carbonite or Mozy? Or, are you looking for the personable?
There are also groups that get stuck in the middle. Dropbox is extremely popular with the iPhone app crowd. There is also Jungle Disk which is owned by a public hosting company called Rackspace.
Think back to question 3. Are you going to need help? Are little kinks going to slow you down? then stick with the medium to large companies.
6. Backup Physical Server Location?
Most companies are going to have secure servers with top notch server locations. If you are concerned about how a company stores their servers the most important factors will be:
- The type of equipment they use
- The staff that takes care of the servers
- The location and storage temperatures
7. Additional Tips
Use common sense:
There are plenty of things to consider while shopping for the best online backup. It’s good to have a well thought-out plan. Move on to our other guides for more advice and practical uses of Online Backup Companies.
Read more of our helpful articles:
- Family Online Backup Strategy
- Business Online Backup Strategy
- Enterprise Online Backup Strategy