SOS Online Backup Review

SOS Online Backup is no stranger to the online backup industry. Established in 2001 and have operations in North America, Asia and Europe. They protect millions of computers around the globe from data loss and have 11 data centers across multiple continents with military-grade security. SOS Online Backup is serious business and not just a fly by the night business. This can be seen be the fact that they have been choosen PC Magazine’s Editor’s Choice Award since 2006.

It is important to note that I test the SOS for Home software and not the SOS for Business backup software. There are some significant differences between the home version and the business version. Some of the features that the business version offers that differs from the home version includes the ability to backup an unlimited number of computers, seeding a backup by shipping a physical drive to them and unlimited version history of all your files. While there are differences between the business and home versions the home version does offer a good feature set.

Installation
Installation was simple after downloading the software. Simply double click the icon and follow the installation wizard. You get the standard installation options and if you have installed other software on your Windows computer you will have no problem install SOS Online Backup.

Backing Up
After installation you need to login to your account that you created when you signed up for the service. After entering your login and password you are presented with the SOS Online Backup main screen. You can choose to Backup Online, Restore Online, Backup Locally and Restore Locally. To start an online backup simply select the Backup Online option. You will be able to choose the files and folders that you want to backup. They do offer backup sets called So Simple file select. You can use the So Simple file select or browse for the files and folders you want to add to your backup. After selecting your files you can choose when to run the backups. After selecting a backup schedule you can choose whether you would like email reports sent to you. This is a nice feature that is missing in some online backup services. It is nice to get a reminder that your backup has complete and whether it was successful of not.

Running your backup after you have selected the files and schedule is easy as telling the software to run the backup on the setup complete screen. The backup status screen gives you the ability to pause the backup and other information about the current backup.

Overall backing up is easy to setup and run. It runs fairly quickly and does not use to many resources while it is running, though it might be best to run the backup when you do not need to use your computer.

Restoring
Running restore is a simple process as well. From the main screen you can choose Restore Online. You will be presented with a calendar to select a date to restore files from. After chooing your date you can simply select the folders and files you wish to restore. You can choose where to restore your files. Some people choose to restore files to their previous file locations, personally I like to restore to new location and then move files to where I want them. Running a local restore is not as simple

You can also restore files through the web interface. Here you can select the files and folders your would like in the restore and you can then download them as a ZIP file archive. This is similar to how many other online backup services web restores work.

Other Features
SOS Online Backup also allows users to easily share files with others. All you need is the email address of the person you want to share the file with. This makes it easy to share photos and other files with family and friends. Nothing like sharing the latest photos of the kids with Grandma and Grandpa.

SOS Online Backup currently has two mobile apps available. One for the iPhone and the other for the Blackberry smartphones. With the mobile apps you can access your files one your smartphone.

Overall
SOS Online Backup is a solid online backup service. The local backup option is a great feature that we should see in all online backup services. Sharing is a nice feature and mobile access is becoming more and more important for people on the go. The application is not as simple as some online backup services like Backblaze or Carbonite, but it is not difficult to find your way around and make sure your backup is done. It would be nice if the home storage plans were slightly larger but the package size of 100GB are large enough for most people.

Saving Tip
While the savings for a longer subscription are good, you can easily save an extra 20% on your yearly or longer subscription by waiting on the order page for roughly a minute. At that point a chat box will pop up asking you if you have any questions and offering you 20% off of the package prices!