I use getdropbox.com – not so much for backups but for automatic transport of files from home machine to work machine to any mahine. Have used it for cooperative projects where multiple people share multiple files. It works well. It’s free. Probalby not free to get enough space to backup data.

+1 on carbonite

But for me it depends on what data.

For pictures-> picasa
For docs ->google docs
For music -> google music
For video (short) -> youtube

I got into a habit of always uploading my pics to picasa and my random docs to google docs from my phones/tablets because I routinely reflash my phone and tablets, and some of these devices don’t have a separate sd card, but rather use part of internal storage as a “sdcard-like” partition, which can get accidentally wiped if you make a mistake.

The pictures I take with my DSLR I’ve also uploaded to picasa if they are jpeg. It’s slightly more difficult though if you shoot RAW (that’s where carbonite etc comes in). Also, my picture sizes have eaten more space up recently since I switched cameras to a canon 7D.

For video, I don’t have a really good solution if they are totally long. I like youtube, but it takes too long and there are size constraints…. I use to use picasa also for short videos, but you can’t re-download videos you upload to picasa.

For all the phones/tablets, I run clockworksmod recovery image to grap a backup of the device, and then upload the backed up images to the cloud. I’ve written some scripts and tools to do this to copy this onto my local computer, and then use carbonite to backup them up like everything else.

My next step is to be able to do incremental backups. That way if I do lose my phone/tablet, I can do a remote wipe and do a restore onto another phone/tablet. There is usually no data that is stored in my sdcard partition, because all that data is stored in the cloud (pictures,video,documents,etc).

(Note Android cloud service for backup doesn’t really work..It only backs up application data, and even then, it doesn’t always work).

In addition, I’ve stopped keeping paper files around. I use an app “CamScanner” to take pictures of my documents (bills, doctor’s notes, receipts,etc)… This app converts a picture to a PDF, which I then store in google docs.

For music, I use google music. Amazon has a competing service. But I don’t mind storing music in compressed format since I’m not an audiophile.

For the extremely paranoid, in using picasa/youtube/googledocs/googlemusic, I create a separate account for each purpose, and create a backup account for each account….
So for example,
*pictures/videos/documents concerning my kid is in her own account (say “kid1”), and there is a corresponding kid1backup account containing exactly the same data.
*pictures/videos/documents concerning me is an a different account, and there is a backup of that account too.

I upload each picture or document twice, to the account and account backup (ok, I have a script that does this)…

Also, I never keep the account and accountbackup on the same smartphone or tablet.

For example, tablet might contain myaccount and kid1, while phone contains myaccountbackup and kid1backup.

I do this in case one of my accounts gets hacked… I have a backup account containing the same data…

And losing any one single device (tablet/phone) doesn’t compromise accountX and accountXbackup at the same time.

BTW: data backup/restore/remote wipe will be a big business for smartphones and tablets….Think about it….It’s worse than losing your wallet.

Here is my perspective as a mixed Mac/PC user, if this helps anyone.

I’m not that nuts about Carbonite. I used it for a couple of years. It seems clunkier than the other solutions, and it doesn’t back up sparse bundles on the Mac (so if you are encrypting data with something like Espionage you are screwed).

After doing a lot of digging on this question, for Macs I think that Arq looks like the best solution. However, I was looking for my business (mixed Mac and PC environment), and wanted to keep everyone on the same platform, so Arq wouldn’t do. From online reviews, in terms of usability, speed, etc, the two winners seemed to be Backblaze and Crashplan. They were pretty similar, but Backblaze was cheaper for their business plan, so that’s who I went with. No issues so far, and I’ve tested out the restore capabilities (for encrypted backups as well) and it seems to work like a charm.

I’ve used idrive.com (or ibackup.com for database backups) for a while and it is more robust than Mozy, Carbonite or Dropbox because it is more aimed at business market. Upload speed at are over 90% max of your ISP rate and idrive is only one that performs incremental backup of locked files such as Outlook even when it is open.

[quote=svelte]i just use external usb drives. i have four for a total of 4 TB hooked up to my computer. i have another 4 TB for backups that i do monthly before i disconnect and move offsite. the beauty of this is that i simply move the usb to another computer (my laptop, wife’s computer, etc) when i need to, or when a computer goes belly up. i don’t store any files on the computers themselves…[/quote]

I feel the same way, svelte. I’ve had computer crashes before where I had saved what I was working on (for convenience until I finished it) in the HD and lost it (even if the rest of the case was in a separate HD).

In the past few years, NOTHING has been saved to my HD, EVER …

Even the cache and cookies, etc, are constantly cleared out.

Windows OS’s are so fickle. My experience has been that they could crash unexpectedly at any time (not so with MAC OS). Therefore, my personal (and professional) files will NEVER be mixed in with Windows OS and its programs … ever.

[quote=flu][quote=bearishgurl][quote=svelte]i just use external usb drives. i have four for a total of 4 TB hooked up to my computer. i have another 4 TB for backups that i do monthly before i disconnect and move offsite. the beauty of this is that i simply move the usb to another computer (my laptop, wife’s computer, etc) when i need to, or when a computer goes belly up. i don’t store any files on the computers themselves…[/quote]

I feel the same way, svelte. I’ve had computer crashes before where I had saved what I was working on (for convenience until I finished it) in the HD and lost it (even if the rest of the case was in a separate HD).

In the past few years, NOTHING has been saved to my HD, EVER …

Even the cache and cookies, etc, are constantly cleared out.

Windows OS’s are so fickle. My experience has been that they could crash unexpectedly at any time (not so with MAC OS). Therefore, my personal (and professional) files will NEVER be mixed in with Windows OS and its programs … ever.[/quote]

Well, your first problem is that you use Windows….

I never use windows for anything important[/quote]
Funny, I have the total opposite experience. My Windows 7 computers have been rock solid. My Macbook Pro on the other hand have plenty of spinning beach ball of death as well as Mac’s version of BSoD with the 5 languages.

[quote]
Funny, I have the total opposite experience. My Windows 7 computers have been rock solid. My Macbook Pro on the other hand have plenty of spinning beach ball of death as well as Mac’s version of BSoD with the 5 languages.[/quote]

Neither. But I have two cartoons for you. 🙂