by comp_lady_comp , May 20, 2009 - Rating:

Can't get any easier than this!

Pros: Install it and forget it. Really, it's that simple.
Cons: For me, this program has zero cons.

Summary: Well worth the $54.95 per year to have the peace of mind your informaton is backed up at all times.

by Andrea Feldman Walen , May 19, 2009 - Rating:

I love Carbonite! It's only $50/yr and constantly backs up your data without thinking about it. It's a must!!

by Jennifer Davidson , May 18, 2009 - Rating:

You ROCK! I started using carbonite a month or two before my hard drive crashed - THANK GOODNESS! My computer holds ALL of my biz files. Everything was restored perfectly, thanks!

by Kathy LaPose , May 12, 2009 - Rating:

I signed up for for a safe and secure back up of my computer files. Now I don't have to worry those important files. Try it...you'll like it

by Brad , May 8, 2009 - Rating:

My wife suggested Carbonite instead of the NAS I was using that we were reaching capacity on. She had heard it on Kim Komando's show. We signed up about 11 months ago and had backed up 99GB. Our computer crashed last week. No stress about files. I knew I was in a good situation. New computer arrived two days ago and I am now almost halfway through restoring my computer. All my music, pictures, databases, everything. I have to say Carbonite made my life much easier. The last time this happened we lost many many GB of music that we were not able to restore. Carbonite Rocks!

by Patty , May 6, 2009 - Rating:

Fortunately, I had listened to Rush Limbaugh who really sold it to me! My computer was acting weird. I have a kazillion pictures from traveling, grandkids, etc. that are probably the most precious things to me. Thank goodness, I had subscribed to Carbonite! When I finally decided to take my computer in to be wiped clean (deep gulp!) I told the I.T. guy I had Carbonite on my computer. Even he had not seen it before, but based on his impression of having it to restore my computer, I am more than ever sold on the product!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I hope your company continues to do VERY well!

by David Friend , May 4, 2009 - Rating:

Here’s how to back up all your video clips with Carbonite.

1) Right click on any video clip.
2) Select Properties
3) On the Carbonite tab, select “Backup files of this type”

Please let me know if you have any problems with this. We’re going to make this feature much more obvious in the next release. Also, please remember that we don’t back up videos with the free trials – you have to be a paying customer to back up your videos.

Dave Friend, CEO
Carbonite, Inc.

by Laurie King , May 3, 2009 - Rating:

Signing up for Carbonite was on my to-do list. Two days ago my hard drive failed and I lost 2 really important files... I'm signed up now!

by B. Lawless - Rating:

I have had nothing but great experiences with Carbonite. I have used their restore process several times and have never had any issues. Their customer support has been helpful to me (I used email) when I once tried to operate it behind a proxy server. I tried Mozy a while back and it was messy for whatever reason. Also Carbonite will give you discounted rates for backing up more than 1 pc. I have had clean installs and uninstalls with me and it is working on 5 of my PCs to this day. The only qualm I have with this product is the fact that it doesn't backup videos by default. However this should only be a problem for novice users who do not understand windows explorer.

by JRSCO, Denver, CO - Rating:

Background: I am a small business owner and back up my files weekly via an external tape drive. The tapes work well but I thought I would try Carbonite since it backs up "continuously" and therefore I would not be susceptible to losing a week's worth of data....cheap insurance for $50 / year. Anyways, downloaded Carbonite and set it working. The initial upload was slow (for a 20 GB backup) but I knew it would be.

Testing: I deleted a file (after having saved it elsewhere) and then went to restore it. It worked perfectly and was very intuitive.

by james - Rating:

I’ve used carbonite for about a year without any trouble. I use it to backup my mce computer which has thousands of gigital pics I’ve taken over the last 6 years. I have used then once to restore about 6Gigs of video…

by Drew Loika - Rating:

I’ve been using Carbonite for about 8 months now. I recommend it to friends and family. My “regular” support questions were all well answered within a day…Personally, I’m a big fan of the unlimited set-it-and-forget-it solution that Carbonite provides, and would recommend you definitely consider a second try.

(I have NO relation to Carbonite, other than being a customer.)

by John Danenbarger - Rating:

I have Carbonite running on three computers. I have asked questions and received good and reasonably responsive answers. I like the company. I find them dependable and will probably continue to use them, but I thank everyone for showing that there are competitors that I was not aware of.

by CLG tech - Rating:

Carbonite works well for us on Windows XP. It is good to know that it does not work for some and what the potential problems are. Still, we recommend giving it a try for small offices or 1 man shops.

by gary - Rating:

I use Carbonite at home and I’ve been very happy with it. However at my work I need some way of managing multiple computers. I’ve been looking at MozyPro as it seems very nice and full featured, but ran into a real snag. It does not support files that are EFS encrypted (the built-in XP encryption). We routinely encrypt our laptop user’s files just in case they’re lost or stolen, so this is a real problem. Does anyone have another OFFSITE backup solution to recommend that’s both centrally managed and handles encrypted files?

gary

by Paul - Rating:

I use both Carbonite and Mozy on my personal computers and like them both. I like Carbonite’s interface and style a bit more, but I don’t think you can go wrong with either. (I avoid Vista though so I can’t speak to that.)

by Andrew - Rating:

I have had Carbonite installed on an XP PC for 18 months or so and had no problem installing or using…

by Marc Goldberg - Rating:

Carbonite saved my butt in October in a major way. My computer crashed after several months of acting generally “funky.” The blips made me nervous because I had no backups of all the data for my dog training business. In June I signed up with Carbonite. My October crash vaporized years worth of client data, photos, and articles. It was all restored within two days once I reformatted the computer.

by matt - Rating:

I’ve used carbonite for a while now – on a pc – and I love it. It makes me want a much faster upload speed so that I can actually upload the data faster than I can create it. Mainly I’m using it as a back up for pictures – which are backed up locally as well.

by chiefie - Rating:

i think i will employ this service when i get my laptop back next time.

by Gary Pace, Houston - Rating:

Carbonite is an extremely well conceived and executed product. You could argue that it should have a few more setup options, but to be honest I don't think it really needs any…

by Sebb, Wellesley - Rating:

I used this for six months or so and it sat there doing it's thing......and then I deleted all of my email files by mistake. I was in a hotel, and I think I was using an aircard, I went to their website found the simple instructions, browsed to a "phantom" directory on my own computer, found the missing files and said “restore these please”. Went to bed. Woke up - all my email was back. Butt saved. And I wasn't home, didn't have my backup HDD, didn't have to run any special software etc etc. Simple, no discipline required (becuase it is always running), and it works. Note - you do need to tell it which files you want backed up when you first run it (it ignores music files by default). But that's the same with any backup. Nice to have software that is simple, powerful, and works.

by Deliot „Dan“, Orange County - Rating:

I'm an IT guy, so I know enough to back up to CDRs and keep copies off site and encrypted. Carbonite, however, is a solution for normal people. The first real solution I've seen directed at casual consumers. It is simple to use. The installation was quick and easy. The support is good, and the website is well designed. I will recommend Carbonite to anybody who asks for a rock solid backup solution. Important point... to get the $30.00 rebate offered on Amazon, make sure you keep the email Carbonite sends you... it is *required* along with the UPC code. Anyway, Carbonite is what I use for family members when they want an online backup solution.

Now, if you are a big time geek, then have a look at Jungle Disk (jungledisk *dot* com) which works with the Amazon's S3 service. This is the ultimate solution for geeks like me who have the will power to set it up right. It takes more effort up front; getting an S3 account, learning how to set up the Jungle Disk software, but is ultimately better for power users. My backup bill for S3 last month was $0.53. That's 53 cents for all of my documents and important files (not including photos and other "media").

by Jan U “Triplemanus”, Denver - Rating:

Setup was simple, initial upload was lengthy but I had 30GBs of data to backup so I wasn't too disappointed. I haven't had to do a restore yet so I don't know if that works as it should so I can only give it 4 stars. If that works as well as the rest of the product it definitely would get the last star. Oh, and the price is right for 1-year of worry free data backup.

by Lurfy’s Ma - Rating:

I have been using this system for about 6-7 months. I subscribed last summer when I was about to go on vacation for 3 weeks and would be doing a lot of important work on my laptop. I have some USB drives at home that I use for backup, but they wouldn't do me any good away from home. My son, software developer, recommended Carbonite. A few days before I left, I signed up. That took about 10 minutes and away it went. My laptop has a 110GB hard disk of which about 30GB is used. Carbonite backed up 12GB of that is about a day and a half. I have a pretty fast cable connection.

When I got to vacation, it continued backing up whenever I was able to find an internet connection. Most of the time, the document was backed up almost as soon as I created it. If I modified it, Carbonite would wait up to 24 hours before backing it up again unless I specifically asked it to immediately.

The interface is simple. Really nothing to learn. Their motto is: "Backup. Simple." I completely agree.

In January, they announced a new release that includes versioning. If you edit a file and save it, it will back up the new version, but it will keep the old version for up to 90 days. This is critical for me, as I am constantly editing a file and intending to save it under a new name, but typing Ctlr-S (save) instead and overwriting the original. I can now get it back.

It costs $50/year for unlimited backup. For me, that is essentially free. I paid ~$200 for two USB drives plus some software to schedule the backups. I have to swap the drives once a week and worry that they don't fail. And if my house burns down or is burgled, they could be lost as well. Plus, they don't work on the road.

A couple of people complained that not ALL files were backed up. This is true, but not as serious as they make it sound, especially when you consider the price. And most of it is easily corrected. Carbonite puts a little green dot on every file and folder icon that is backed up. It puts a yellow dot on any that are not backed up, but will be. No dot, means they will not be backed up. If you see a file with no dot, just right click on it and select the Carbonite option. One choice is backup this filetype. If John does this for one of his valuable .log files, they will all be backed up from then on. Backup. Simple.

I just ran a little test on video files. We have 2 PCs on a LAN. Most of our photos are on the workstation. It is backed up to and external USB drive. My laptop is also backed up to USB and I have Carbonite. I copied the entire My Pictures folder from the workstation to my laptop. It is about 6.8 GB of data going back 6-7 years. The copy is still in progress. Within seconds of starting the copy, Carbonite "noticed" the new files and started backing them up. Already, 4 of the folders, each containing from 10-30 photos each from 600KB to 1.2MG, are backed up and Carbonite is furiously working away on the rest. Backup. Simple.

Folders that have some files backed up and some not, have a green dot with a hole in it. So, you can start with C:. If it has a green dot, everything is backed up. If not, expand it and look for folders that are not completely backed up. If you find one with a file that is not backed up, right click and get it backed up as described above.

I will admit that they should offer a "report" that shows which files and types are and are not backed up and probably what percentage of the entire disk is backed up. This would be especially useful if they offered a more complete backup (at additional cost).

Carbonite is not perfect, but it is an excellent choice for many users -- especially those who don't want to make backing up into a career. Carbonite is for data files. It will not allow you to restore your entire system including all software and user settings. If you want that, you need some other product like Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image. These are much more difficult to use and there are reports that they can actually damage your system. Carbonite will never do that. If you are only worried about your data and you are willing to reinstall the OS and all software if you have a complete disk failure, Carbonite is a good choice.

Finally, customer support is excellent. I have submitted several questions / suggestions. I usually get more than one reply. I even got an email form the CEO. Try to get that with Microsoft or Intuit.

by P. Barrett - Rating:

Carbonite does everything as promised. Quick and easy to install and use. It even backed up all my email folders, one which was over 1,000,000 kbs. I Haven't had to recover anything yet, but I've reviewed the process and it looks straight forward. I just wish it would work on my computer that's still running on Windows 2000.

by UberZeiger, Seattle - Rating:

This is a great product, all around. It was recommended to me by a friend and I can say it is worth every penny and I will be subscribing for years to come until there is something better out there.

I had previously just made back-ups onto dvds or gmail using the firefox extension to turn your gmail account into a drive in the sky. But this product backs-up everything important, without me having to worry about it think to make another set of back-ups at a point in time. You become a bit of freak once you have it, always checking to see how fast the new file you created will get backed up.

by Martha Bradley “Martha Hummer”, London - Rating:

I have been using Carbonite since June 2006. I like it so much now my husband uses it and all of our five children (at university & boarding school). It installs in a jiffy, it starts easily, it runs quietly in the background 24 hours a day, it backs up all new files and changed files automatically and none of us have to worry about losing data any more. Finally peace of mind! And no more CDs to burn (or forget to burn, or lose after filing them somewhere!). It has saved us already several times: my stepdaughter dropped her laptop at college and the screen cracked and the disk was unusable; my son had a hard disk crash and got all his school work back onto a replacement HDD (in the same folders and subfolders); my stepson left his laptop on the train and never got it back, but used Carbonite to load all his old data (mainly music files) onto his replacement PC with the 'Restore All' function; I accidentally deleted some photos (JPGs) and got them right back with a few clicks. My only complaint is that they don't have any multi-pack pricing for small businesses and families. But at $49.95 per year per user for UNLIMITED storage it is still a great deal!

by David Friend - Rating:

I’m the CEO of Carbonite. Carbonite doesn’t throttle in the same way that Mozy does, but rather has an algorithm that distributes available data center bandwidth equitably across all users who happen to be online at that time. You can’t have a situation where one guy with terabytes of data and really fast Internet connection hogs all your inbound bandwidth and makes it impossible for your other customers to get their backups done. Sometimes it’s faster than other times, but the last test I did, I uploaded 20GB at an average rate of almost 8mbps – far faster than what you experienced with Mozy.

I feel that not having a size limit at all is beneficial to most users. A typical Carbonite customer has 20-30GB backed up initially, and then they add a little bit every day or so. Over the course of a year or two, their backups may double in size. But since they are only adding a little bit at a time, they don’t even notice that the backup is going on. The fact that you NEVER run out of space in this scenario is of great value to customers. So I still think most people would prefer it to a service where at some point your backup will stop working or you get bumped into a much higher price category.

Regards,

Dave Friend, CEO
Carbonite, Inc.

by David P. Faulk, Fallon - Rating:

I first heard about Carbonite on Leo Laporte's "The Tech Guy" show. I took a look at their web site and decided to give it a try. It has been great. The nice thing about it is that it takes care of the backups for you. Just tell it what folders/files to backup and it will keep a copy of them off site for you. In my opinion, it's well worth the yearly membership.

by Dave B - Rating:

Carbonite is the solution that I would recommend for my mother who is not the most comfortable with computers. It's easy to setup, the default configuration is generally adequate and the green icons on each folder and file give you that warm fuzzy feeling that it's working.

I setup Carbonite and backed up “My Documents” and verified that I could restore everything. It worked well.

by Jacob Hantla, Chandler - Rating:

Thank God for Carbonite! I have had Carbonite online backup software installed on my computer for two years now. In that time I have had two catastrophic computer failures (practically all data lost from the hard drive) and yet I have not lost any of that data.

A couple days ago I was working away and poof computer turned off and won't turn back on. I had been working on a Microsoft Word file in minutes before my computer's death, had downloaded an album from iTunes that morning, and had scanned and then shredded some important financial files hours earlier. I just loaded Carbonite onto the laptop that I'm using while I wait for the old one to be repaired. Carbonite had been backing up everything in the background and to my delight all of those files (and everything else from the old computer, all 254 GB of it) was backed up. I just downloaded the Word file I had been working on and am able to continue working right where I left off and am able to restore any or all of the files that I want thanks to Carbonite.

Carbonite is basically a piece of software that works in the background uploading everything (using encryption) that the user specifies to be backed up to Carbonite's servers. So whether my computer crashes or my house burns down, my data is secure. For $50 a year, Carbonite offers unlimited backup of any in-computer hard drives (they won't back up external hard drives). If you look at the reviews on Amazon, there are a large number of people who have complaints about Carbonite. As I view them based on my experience with the software and the company, these are all based on the users misunderstanding of how to use the software. So if you use Carbonite, beware that it will not automatically back up all files or file types. For example, movies and .exe files are not automatically backed up, but will be if you tell the program to (this is because most .exe files with the exception of installers won't function apart from the entire program installation so it is not helpful to back this filetype up). However, if you right click on a movie and tell carbonite to back up this file type from now on, they will be backed up. You can likewise tell Carbonite to back up everything within a directory by right clicking on the directory.

Once Carboniteis installed a colored dot appears on each file telling you whether or not it will be backed up and whether it has been backed up yet or not. After you install, I simply recommend that you check your various document types to make sure that Carbonite knows that you want to back it up (by right-clicking on the file). I understand people's frustration, but this is all pretty clear as you read the documentation.

In summary, I am a very very very very happy user of Carbonite who is currently enjoying the benefits of his $50/year subscription. I have all my files even from minutes prior to the computer crash. That is the test of a good backup utility. Carbonite passes with flying colors. I haven't found a single file that I needed that wasn't backup up.

by Ljk, Boston - Rating:

I can't believe I waited so long to use this method to backup my machine. Carbonite takes care of everything in the background without my having to think about it. And after having a couple of backup drives go south on me, I'm delighted to know my files are backed up in a reliable place. Well worth it!