Comments on: My Initial Thoughts On Mozy Online Backup

By: Dennis

Dennis — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:57:03 +0000

My vote would go to iDrive. Their support is first class, they always seem to have someone on live support day or night, and once when they had introduced a bug, the support guy confirmed this and it was fixed the next day.

Highly commendable!

By: Jovan

Jovan — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:53:46 +0000

Might I also suggest SpiderOak, which is not only very secure, but also very simple to use. SpiderOak can be used on any platform and can be used with any number of devices for no extra cost. Not to mention (to Mark), files are never deleted when deselected. There is also a free 2GB version to try out.

By: Orin

Orin — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 02:30:24 +0000

Mark, wow. That is a pretty disturbing discovery (the unchecking issue). I switched from Mozy to another service when I found out that it only mirrored my computer and I couldn’t delete things. I didn’t realize the other issues. Try ElephantDrive (uses Amazon S3), it keeps everything.

By: Resa

Resa — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:43:14 +0000

I have used Mozy for a month or so and have to say I like it. Simple. Easy. Works.

By: Jessi

Jessi — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:55:19 +0000

I use Memopal. Really like it and I think it’s even simpler than Mozy.

By: Kris

Kris — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 10:37:00 +0000

I am using the free 2GB version and am also impressed with how lightweight and non-intrusive the program is. I am starting to accumulate a ton of digital photos and AVI videos that my Fuji F30 is able to take, but all this convenience takes up lots of room. It looks like I might opt for the paid version, leave the computer uploading for a week or so, and keep a backup this way. Unless anyone else has a better way of backing this all up without too much effort and expense on tape hardware (DVD will not be big enough)?

The other alternative is for my brother and I to purchase a QNAP TS109 each, which is an excellent NAS device able to do block level replication of it’s stored files to another partnering QNAP over the web. This way I get off-site backups without the subscription to Mozy. Just a thought but I am all up for better ideas!

By: James

James — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 17:26:43 +0000

Good points Mark. I can see how their approach isn’t exactly flexible but have you considered online storage options rather than Mozy style online backup? For me at least, all I want is to have a secure backup of my files, pure and simple, and it currently does the job admirably for me without any interference on my part. If I deselect files it typically means I don’t need to back them up anymore.

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 11:25:53 +0000

Bloody hell! That is worrying.

The thing that bothers me about Mozy (I’m testing the 2GB version) is that it creates a MIRROR of the drives on your computer. Other than the thirty days version capability (not very useful – I don’t want to feel like I’m on a constant countdown to potential data loss) there is no way to store anything on the Mozy servers that is different to what’s on your computer.

Plus, and I think this is more critical, if you deselect files/folders on your computer, it won’t just not back them up next time, it will delete those files/folders from your backup! That doesn’t sound like a good backup strategy to me. I might want to delete a folder simply because I know I have a backup of it! With Mozy’s logic I lose both the folder I deleted and the backup!

I don’t want to always be careful about what I move or delete. I’d rather have a static backup of what files/folders my computer contained at a specific point in time until I decide to add to or take away from the backup manually.

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 21:18:50 +0000

You should definitely try to do a restore. A few of my users were showing huge discrepancies between what their Mozy clients said they were backing up and what my online admin console showed as actually being backed up. Tech support told me their backups were corrupted and I needed to reinstall the latest client and do a full backup. I still like them but that made me pretty nervous, fortunately I caught it before any harm was done.

By: Andrew Mason

Andrew Mason — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 11:08:36 +0000

I have been using Mozy for around a month now on my Mac. I upgraded from the free version to the paid one and the initial upload was a real pain, 30GB! But now I don’t even notice it. I guess I should try the restore just to ensure it is working!