Mozy - Secure online backup dirt cheap, actually, free!
Published by on May 1st, 2007
I currently use .mac as an additional backup for some of my most essential files, such as business and personal accounts, passwords and logins, etc., but I get nowhere near using the broader offering of .mac. I’ve therefore been on the lookout for a viable, more cost effective alternative - yes, that means possibly dropping .mac!
Welcome mozy. Plain and simple, there are two services here (for personal users - there are additional business user services too): get 2Gig of secure backup for FREE, or pay $4.95 per month for unlimited backup space.
Having just released the beta of their OSX backup client, I’m now most interested and am trying out the client while writing this post. Signing up is blindingly easy - as it should be - with the additional incentive that for every person you get to sign up and use the service, free or unlimited, you gain an additional 256Mb of backup storage. So, go on, get over there, sign up, and backup some files to help me get another free Gig! I’d do the same for you, you know I would…
The OSX client is dead simply, just enter your mozy account info and the client presents a bunch of sensible preset backup sets enabling one-click backup of your Keychains, Application Prefs, Address Book, etc. You can create your own backup sets using file search and list, or edit the details of the existing ones. It also then allows you to manually select individual folders to back up, all the while giving you a progress bar on how much of your 2Gig you are going to consume during the actual backup. Oh, and did I mention the 2Gig was completely free..?
I’m totally impressed in the ease of use of this service so far, as I have successfully set up the backup criteria while writing this post and the first backup of a couple of hundred Mb, is all set to run overnight tonight. If I get any problems, I’ll report back. If you hear nothing, then the “I’m totally impressed” status remains.
UPDATE: The backup was only a partial success. All the manually selected folders updated correctly, but the pre-selected Backup Sets were ignored by the Mozy client. It’s still in beta (v 0.4.1.1), so understandable there’s a bug or two right now.
