Pros & Cons
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- 2GB of online backup free; low rates for more.
- Can get additional free space by referring others to the service.
- Tracks changes in background.
- Backs up automatically.
- Retains multiple versions of files up to 30 days.
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- All versions of backed-up files except the latest expire if no backup for 30 days.
- Limited number of restores per month.
- No file-sharing ability.
Mozy Remote Backup 1.6 (beta) Specs
| Type: | Personal |
| Type: | Professional |
Backing up your essential data is important—and can be annoying. For most users, if it's not easy, it won't happen. Automated backup to a remote location is a nice, simple solution, but the monthly storage fee may be another roadblock. Enter Mozy Remote Backup, a free service that will securely store up to two gigabytes of files for Windows XP users and automatically back up changes. If two gigabytes won't suffice, you can pay about a tenth of the going rate for five, ten, or twenty gigabytes. Mozy is still in beta, but it's fully functional and available to the public.
But wait—there's more! You can get more free storage by signing up friends and colleagues. For each referral you get an additional quarter-gigabyte of storage—as does the friend you referred. During an introductory period (the exact length hasn't been decided) you can add as many referrals as you want and keep the additional storage in perpetuity, even if you switch to a paid storage plan. After the introductory period you'll be limited to four referrals—an extra gigabyte of storage.
Of course, if you have a home business or just a lot of data you may need more storage. Mozy offers five, ten, and twenty gigabyte plans for $19.95, $29.95, and $39.95 respectively. At first this sounds similar to other backup services, but these prices are per year—most services charge about that much per month. For example, it would cost you over $450 to store ten gigabytes for a year on Data Deposit Box (see our review, coming soon), and Spare Backup (a review for this is also in the works) would charge about $270.—
How it Works
Mozy transmits and stores your backed-up files in encrypted form using either their own 448-bit key or a private key you supply. They make it very clear that if you lose the private key, nobody can recover your files—not you, not them, not the FBI. Recovery of private-key encrypted files entails recovering the encrypted versions and then running a decryption utility. That means you need enough room for two copies of all recovered files.
By default Mozy starts a backup when your computer has been idle for a half-hour and the CPU is 20% busy or less. You can tweak these settings or back up at a daily scheduled time. Regardless of the busy/idle state, Mozy waits until at least two hours after the last backup. Unlike Data Deposit Box and Spare Backup, Mozy can back up open files, so even the files you're working on are saved. The service doesn't offer continuous protection like Data Deposit Box, but it does track file changes in real time. Thus, where Spare Backup needs a lengthy scan to find changed files, Mozy can start right away. It uploads only the differences in changed files, so backups after the first big effort are typically much faster. All versions of a backed-up file remain in storage for 30 days, and additional versions don't count as part of your storage quota. Do note that if you stop using Mozy all old versions of your files will expire after 30 days (60 days for paid accounts), leaving only the most recent version. That sounds draconian, but without this automatic expiry, Mozy's servers could be glutted with data from looky-loos who try the free product and then quit.
Mozy's configuration predefines a dozen-plus backup sets, though by default you'll see only those that can be found on your system. These include a variety of document and media file types, data for popular e-mail clients, and favorites for several browsers. You can edit the backup set definitions or create your own, and can also select specific files or folders. As you select files the configuration dialog shows the total size of the backup set and its relationship to your quota.—
I Mozy Myself
I installed Mozy on my main computer, choosing the private key option, and selected about a gigabyte of files to back up. I had to tweak the backup sets, as many of my data files aren't in My Documents or on the Desktop. With configuration complete I launched a backup manually. Mozy chugged away in the background, encoding files and transferring them to remote storage. It took longer than it might have because at the slightest blip in the Internet connection it stopped backing up and didn't start again for two hours. Fortunately on restarting it picked up where it left off, even in the middle of a large file. I manually restarted the backup whenever I noticed it had stopped, but it took nearly two days to complete. I ran another backup soon after finishing the first; it was much faster.
Next I tried a full restore on a clean virtual machine, to simulate restoring data files after reformatting. You restore files by logging into your account on the Mozy site. (Clicking the Restore Files button—oddly placed within the local client Configure dialog box—takes you to the Web and logs you in automatically.) Data Deposit Box only recovers one file or folder at a time; Spare Backup makes you either recover all files or choose from an immense flat file list. Refreshingly, Mozy's online restore offers a convenient tree view with the ability to pick any files and folders; I requested the whole shebang. Working on the server, Mozy packaged up my restore as a self-extracting ZIP archive and emailed me when it finished about 40 minutes later. Even compressed it was a massive download —over 600 megabytes. This could be a problem if you have an unreliable connection, but I downloaded it successfully.
At one point during evaluation Mozy failed to recognize new and changed files, but the Mozy team quickly fixed this bug. As with any new backup installation, I recommend that you make a test restore to a temporary folder on the same system after the initial backup and verify that the files come back okay.
I extracted the files to a separate virtual disk, as the main disk didn't have room for both encrypted and unencrypted versions. The separate MozyDecrypt utility successfully placed a decrypted copy of each file in the exact location it came from. My files all appeared to be in fine condition. Note that if a file being recovered already exists and is locked by Windows, neither the self-extracting ZIP archive nor the MozyDecrypt utility will be able to replace it. Also, Mozy assumes the folder structure and user account name on the restored-to system will be the same as on the backed-up system. Thus it's probably best to both recover and decrypt to temporary locations and then move files into place manually after restoring.
Without a backup system in place, you're taking a gamble every day on the survival of your important files. Mozy lets you protect two gigabytes of data for free. It's easy to use and just chugs along in the background protecting you. How can you pass up that deal?
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Final Thoughts
Mozy Remote Backup 1.6 (beta)
If your files aren't backed up, for shame! Put two gigs of them on Mozy right now, for free. Even if you have a backup, consider using Mozy as a second level of protection. For business data, you may want to wait until the product is officially out of beta. In exchange for free storage you receive weekly e-mail advertisements—a small price to pay. Note that some bugs were discovered (and fixed) in testing.