Apr
2
5 Best Online Backups For Mac
If this happens to your Mac, make sure you have your data saved!
Here’s a scary statistic: Google ran a test on over 100,000 hard disks. 6% of them experience data loss in 1 year. Even if you’ve got a flash drive, the statistics are similar. My Mac contains photos, work, game saves, in other words everything that’s important to me. Same with you? So why do we leave backups until it’s too late?
Online backups have become the best way to keep your files safe, having your data on the “cloud” is a perfect way to keep remote copies of your files, and never lose them. What’s more, it’s automatic, you don’t even have to think about it.
You’ll be glad to know I’ve reviewed over 50 online backup services on this site, and now I’ve created a list of the top 5 cloud backup services for Mac. Take a look at the table below for a quick summary, after that there’s short introduction to each service. Enjoy!
Summary
| Rank | Provider | Starting Price | Review | Link |
1 |  Special Offer: Anytime moneyback | $4.95/mo | Read Review | Visit Site |
2 |  | $6/mo | Read Review | Visit Site |
3 |  | $4.58/mo | Read Review | Visit Site |
4 |  | $5/mo | Read Review | Visit Site |
5 |  | free for 5GB | Read Review | Visit Site |
Take a look below to see a more detailed views about each provider.
Winner – ZipCloud – From $4.95/mo
Positives: Simple, Great price, Reliable, Instant backups
Negatives: No power user features, Only email support
Zipcloud was built for Mac users. And I don’t just mean that it works on a Mac. It means that ZipCloud is the way Steve Jobs would build proper online backups. It’s simple, looks good, and works. Just take a look at their website.
ZipCloud offers 3 packages:
- Basic, with only 75GB of space, from just $4.95 per month
- Medium size, with 125GB of space
- Unlimited space for unlimited machines, starting at only $6.95 per month.
ZipCloud uses Amazon servers, the most secure place for your files on the planet
ZipCloud does not have every feature possible, but most are there. By this I mean that you can schedule your backups. But only daily, weekly and monthly, you can’t set your own exact times.
And just so you know, they actually back up your data to Amazon data centers. To put this in terms of quality, let’s just say your files are backed up to the Mercedes of data centers. Outsourcing their storage space means that they don’t have their own data center which might fail for some reason. Reddit, Netflix, and other big brands host with Amazon, if they trust their data with them, do you think can too?
What’s more, they will stand 100% behind they product, and offer an anytime moneyback guarantee. Whether its 2 weeks from now, or 2 years from now, you can claim a refund if you are unhappy.
Click below to sign up now!
2. LiveDrive – From $6 / month
Positives: Simple, Great price, Reliable, Instant backups
Negatives: Cheapest package limited to 1 machine
LiveDrive has come a long way as a company. Initially I wouldn’t have recommended them, but they’ve rebuilt their software, then their website, and finally they dropped their prices! Their software is easy to use, the service is great, and the basic package is just $6 per month, and that’s with unlimited storage.
Their larger packages cost $12 and $19 per month, and these include synced folders, and NAS backups. For NAS backups the price is very good.
Their software does not have every feature you could possible imagine, but most are there. For ultimate power users they might not be that good, but for 99% of users it definitely is.
3. Carbonite
Positives: Big brand, Cheap
Negatives: Mac software worse than windows, No DVD restores
To be perfectly honest, Carbonite’s offerings aren’t as good to Mac users as to Windows folks. Pricing is about $4.58 per month per computer, and if you commit for three years in advance, you can get as low as $3.61. The software will backup the usual suspects like photos, emails, documents, music and personal settings, by default. However, you can also add videos, executable files and files larger than 4GB.
However, the catch is in the difference between Mac users and Windows users. Somehow, Windows users get superb features like 90 days worth of file versioning, advanced throttling functions and such. But Carbonite still doesn’t offer same features in the Mac version of its software.
Carbonite also stays on your Mac as a preference pane. However, what you can do with it is really limited. There is a low priority mode to conserve bandwidth, but the software won’t have any advanced backup scheduling options or more detailed bandwidth controls. Carbonite will tweak your files’ icons though, so that you will know their status if they are backed up, will be backed up, or excluded from the backup. However, Mac users don’t get file versioning so it is quite disappointing for Mac users.
Right now, the only restoration option in Carbonite is via the Internet. If you have a large backup, good luck with that. You cannot request a DVD or hard drive to be shipped to you. So you are basically stuck with restoring all your data over days via Internet. Click here to visit Carbonite now
4. Backblaze
Positives: Simple software, Unlimited backups, Good price
Negatives: File size limitations
Honestly speaking, I don’t like Backblaze so much compared to ZipCloud. It costs $5 per month or $50 for a year, and let you backup unlimited amount of storage for files on a single PC, and any attached USB and Firewire hard drives.
Backblaze actually imposes limitation on file formats that it will backup. It won’t back up your operation system, installed software, temporary files or any files larger than 9GB. If you are a photographer and have Aperture or Lightroom libraries, then fret not. They are mostly bundles of many files, so they are not essentially one huge gigantic file. Backblaze can still back them up.
One good thing about Backblaze though is that its interface (it runs as a preference pane on your Mac) is pretty good and well-designed. The options are simple and straightforward. You can start a backup, check out restore options, or go into settings. You can throttle your bandwidth, exclude specific file formats, browser reports and logs about what it is doing. The interface is really simple and easy to use. It is aesthetically quite pleasing too.
The backup will run continuously, but you can switch it to backup once a day or initiate a manual backup. It will keep your file revisions up to four weeks. The restoration options are both through the Web, or you can simply order a DVD or a USB drive at an additional cost. DVD will cost you $99 while USB drive will set you back for $189.
5. Dropbox
Positives: Well known, Great interface
Negatives: Expensive, Sharing reduces your space, Folder solution
Dropbox is a well-known syncing service. Granted, it is not a fully-fledged backup software. However, since its focus is on data syncing between multiple devices, it is still a viable backup option. The free version will offer you 2GB of storage, and you can get up to 16GB with referral invites. You can buy 50GB for $9.99 per month, and 100GB for $19.99 per month.
When you install Dropbox on your Mac, it will create a “magic folder”. Drop any files into that folder, and it will upload the file, sync it across any other computers and devices linked to your Dropbox account. Not only that, the files are available via the Dropbox website too. 30 days versioning history is included by default and those revisions don’t count against your storage quota, so that’s definitely a plus point. If you pay for the Pack-Rat option, then you get unlimited version history of all your files. It costs only $3.99 per month too.
Dropbox will show a tiny graphic atop your files’ icons to show if the file has already synced or is currently syncing. There are no restrictions on file formats you can backup to Dropbox, as long as you have free space.
Dropbox isn’t an automated backup solution. However, its backup abilities and core syncing functions are really good and you can do a lot more with Dropbox than you might initially imagine. Click here to visit Dropbox
So what should you choose?
When comparing price, space and features, ZipCloud is one of the best. LiveDrive is great as its features are a leap and bound better than others in the list. However, most of these services have plenty in common. If you want your backup to be timely, consistent, dependable, easy to restore and won’t slow down your PC, then you will seriously need to consider both LiveDrive and ZipCloud. As a writer and photographer, I have tons of documents, research files, and loads of photos as well as many musics that I accumulated over the years. I have actually tried all companies in this list, but LiveDrive works the best for my needs, and Dropbox lets me have access to all my work files whenever and wherever I need them. Your experience maybe different so why don’t you share some in the comments below?
Summary
| Rank | Provider | Starting Price | Review | Link |
1 | | $4.95/mo | Read Review | Visit Site |
2 | | $6/mo | Read Review | Visit Site |
3 | | $4.58/mo | Read Review | Visit Site |
4 | | $5/mo | Read Review | Visit Site |
5 | | free for 5GB | Read Review | Visit Site |
Like the article? Follow us on Twitter:
Follow @BestBackups
Similar Posts
- How to backup your photos
- Recovering data from a huge hack
- The Debate: Automatic Cloud Storage or Online Drives
- Security: Things You Need To Know Before Choosing An Online Backup Provider
- 5 Best Online Backups In USA
reviewed and counting