Everyone has different needs for their online backup service. If you are having trouble deciding what online backup service to use here are the best online backup services in different categories.
Overall Top 10 Online Backup Services
These ten services are the top choices when it comes to online backup.
- Backblaze – Read our review
- CrashPlan – Read our review
- Carbonite – Read our review
- SpiderOak – Read our review
- IDrive – Read our review
- SugarSync – Read our review
- SOS Online Backup – Read our review
- Mozy – Read our review
- Keepit – Read our review
- Memopal – Read our review
Unlimited Online Backup
If you are looking for an online backup service that offers unlimited space to backup your entire photo, music, movie and files then these services are your best options.
Cross Platform Windows/Mac/Linux
If you have several computers running different operating systems and want to backup all of them with the same account take a look at these services. All offer clients that run on multiple computers and operating systems.
Easiest to Use
Online backup needs to be easy to use and some services stand out with how easy they are to use and simply just work making sure your backup gets done. These are the services that are the easiest to use and setup to just get your backup done.
Power Users
Power users want to control more about their online backup. They want to select specific folders and files to make sure they are backed up, backup to local drives, to network drives. Some of the services overlap with being easiest to use, simply because they offer both an easy to use settings and power settings. These are the services that users more control over their backup.
File Syncing and/or File Sharing
Several online backup services also offer file synchronization and file sharing options. If you need these features here are my top choices.
- Dropbox – Please note: Dropbox is not speciffically designed as a backup solution but it is a great online storage/syncing/file sharing solution.
- SugarSync
- SpiderOak
- OpenDrive
Encryption
It makes sense for online backup services to encrypt your data before transmitting it over the Internet. Some online backup services allow you to create your own encryption key making it impossible for them to view any of your data. If you want more control over your files encryption then these services are your top choices.
Backup to Amazon S3
There are several good backup systems that use Amazon S3 to store your data. If you already have an Amazon S3 account, or you simply prefer to use it here are the top picks for backing up to Amazon S3.
- Jungle Disk
- CloudBerry
- CloudBackup
- NetCDP – I have not had a chance to try them yet, just know of them.
Mac Online Backup
While I do not have a Mac computer at the moment, many of my clients do run Macs and these are the services that they seem to prefer over others.
Linux Online Backup
There are some excellent online backup options available for Linux. Many of these services are also cross platform. Dropbox is included on this list as a backup option for Linux because it is so easy to add files from anywhere on a Linux system to the Dropbox folder using symbolic links.
I will add more categories in the future, but this will give you a good start to help you select the online backup service that will fit your needs. If you are not sure what online backup service would best fit your needs feel free to drop me a note on Twitter @JohnWTucker with what you are looking for or use the contact form below. Make sure to include what operating system you are using, how many computers you want to backup and any other features you are looking for.
