On Line Computer Backups?

[slingshot]

Been thinking about subscribing to an online service such as Carbonite.  I have been doing computer backups about every month since I had my main computer die. Fortunately I did recover some of the files, but it cost me.  No guarantee that recovery is possible.  Monthly backups really aren't enough for significant files.

So what online services are out there that folks here have used?  What is the best value?  What is easiest to use?  Your imput would be appreciated?

[RocketMan]

It's always bothered me that someone else could have access to my data with an online backup.  I prefer a local solution, disk image backups to a server.  That also gives me an easy fix in the event that a workstation hard drive takes a dump.  I'm back up in an hour or so, complete with O/S, applications and data.

[Standing Wolf]

It takes about twenty minutes to spin off everything current onto a DVD while I'm eating or taking a shower, about a minute and a half more to stash it in the trunk of my car.

[AZRedhawk44]

Never tried Carbonite, but I did try Mozy.

Mozy claims to encrypt the data as it is uploaded, and it's encrypted as it sits on their servers.  Supposedly this means that even they can't access it, only I can with my password.  I don't know about that since it could be public/private encryption and they could be holding one of the key pairs.  I'm not an encryption guru and frankly try to stay away from the stuff whenever possible, but I figured "what the heck" for this bit of experimentation.

I sent up about 500MB of data, then brought it back down a couple months later.

Most of it came back down, but some of the documents that were restored, ended up corrupted on the restore.  Excel and Word docs.

I did a second restore and the exact same files were corrupted again.

I checked the original data, and it was all fine.  I could open the original files.

Take it for what it's worth as anecdotal tales, but I ended up not opting to trust it as a backup solution.  I instead use an external HDD for routine data, and for "zOMGImgonnadieifIlosethis" files I have a copy on my PC and on a thumbdrive that I typically keep with me.

[41magsnub]

My standard backup scheme for single PCs is two fold...

1.  Acronis True Image Workstation with universal restore pointed to an external USB drive for full system restores.  The acronis product would let you buy a new PC and restore your entire old PC, OS and all with an image.  It even gracefully deals with all the drivers.
2.  IDrive (online backup very similar to Mozy) for critical files

[slingshot]

I have been using an external hard drive.  My brother had a fire about a year ago and his house burnt down.  He lost everything (firearms, computers, pictures, ...you name it.  Everything that was "backed up" on CD/DVD's was burnt up.  Same with an external hard drive.  My business files are the ones that I'm most concerned about.  They may not be much but when you go a few years, they add up and clients expect that you have the data available if needed.  My personal files are not all that volumous, although it would be nice to save family pictures.

My first thought with online services is a concern for security. Next was if they were thorough in retrieving the files from my machine(s).  Third, getting the data back again in the event you need it.  Seems like once you start depending on a service, you don't do any manual backups and you expect the files to be intact if needed.