Carbonite Online Backup

“Overall, Carbonite is a solid online backup service.”

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The Carbonite online backup software is easy to use, but like the service as a whole, lacks desirable features. After downloading the software, Carbonite gives the option of personalizing your subscription, giving recommended and advanced, customizable settings options. With the advanced option, you choose which files to back up. After choosing files, Carbonite keeps you posted on how many files are left to be transferred, but doesn’t give any inkling of how long said transfer will take.

It is worth noting that in absence of many awesome features that other companies offer, Carbonite does offer its own unique, albeit smaller, set. Carbonite does not offer public file sharing, which is a feature that even the most basic user could utilize. Carbonite offers no music or video streaming, and there is no document editing abilities or collaboration tools. However, Carbonite offers a “mirror copy” of its users’ entire operating system, including files and programs, to its HomePlus and HomePremier plan subscribers. Carbonite even backs up external hard drives, which is a nice feature. A copy of all data that is synced with Carbonite can be made and shipped to users, for a shipping charge, to ensure complete backup and flexibility of options in case of a malfunction, error, or catastrophe. This is a pretty nice feature, and is faster than trying to download all of your information with throttled bandwidth. Carbonite also archives previous versions of files, which assists when you want to go back to a version of a file before revisions were made.

Users of Carbonite will experience great customer service, awesome security and mobile accessibility. Customers rank Carbonite’s customer service highly, with free telephone, email and live chat support. Also, many FAQs and step by step tutorials are posted on the web. Carbonite’s security is highly touted, with both Blowfish and Triple DES encryption, servers that are protected from every angle, and a feature called “remote wipe”. Remote wipe allows you to delete your backed up files from a missing or stolen computer. Carbonite offers apps for iOS and Android devices, which back up data from your device to your drive. No Windows Phone app is currently available.

Carbonite offers its personal customers unlimited storage, which is great for customers who have a massive amount of files that need to be stored safely. Carbonite offers business users packages with 250 or 500GB of storage as well. However, Carbonite reserves the right to throttle bandwidth after a certain amount of activity has occurred, and can also suspend the accounts of those who are using too much bandwidth. Even at the most basic plan level, Carbonite offers unlimited backup, which is refreshing for all users.

Overall, Carbonite is a solid service. They lack features such as online editing and link sharing that would give business and other serious users more reasons to subscribe. Carbonite’s pricing seems fair, but their plans are for one computer only. If you want to download or access your files from another computer, be prepared to pay to add the device, minus a 5% discount. Also, Carbonite only offers yearly subscriptions, with no option for a month-to-month service. For home users who have a great deal of photos, videos and other files that need to be heavily protected, Carbonite may work for you. If you want more bang for your buck, including features like streaming or collaboration tools, Carbonite is probably safe to overlook. But with the simple yet stable set of features Carbonite has, as a package, we include them in our list of iReviews 2014 best online backup services.

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