Carbonite Complete Review - Editor’s Choice

By Daniel Shalgi-Shira

General

Carbonite is definitely the best backup service for home and small business on the internet today. It is a simple and very friendly way to protect your data. It is also reliable, secure, and has the best restore (recovery process) procedures as compared to all its competitors. Once you install Carbonite client on your computer and set it up, you can really be confident that your backup is:

• Updated
• Complete
• Automatic and
• Secure

You will never have to worry about data loss again!

• Some more features of Carbonite you should know about
• Extremely easy Setup. Just a few clicks and you’re done.
• Security is great. All files are being encrypted before transfer, and transfer itself is through SSL 128. This lethal combination makes the high level Carbonite security comparable to what you would get with online banking or online bill-paying services.
• Initial backup, especially if you have large amount of data, can take a long time. This is true for all the online services. It also depends on your computer and the speed of your internet connection.
• Incremental backup enables a fast daily backup after the initial backup is complete.
• The restore procedure is really wonderful. Carbonite succeeds in thinking about practically everything, and makes all type of restores very simple and easy.
• Overall, Carbonite service will give you complete peace of mind; it gives you excellent return for your money.
• To top it all, you can sign up for a Carbonite free account to test it for yourself.

Company Web Site

Backup services websites are usually composed of two important parts. The first is the sale section and the other is the back office containing help and support sections.

Carbonite has an excellent and informative sale web site. It has explanations about online backups in general as well as about the threats and statistics. It also has detailed and simple explanations about the Carbonite service.

The help and support part of the site is also very good. Most frequently encountered questions are well answered and there is a good search feature for find out the answer to your particular question ab-initio, and you need not go beyond this section at all for most ordinary queries.

I think that their site is lacking in one important feature, which is some video tutorials that will explain how to setup, backup, restore and so on. This is one area that could prove to be a great add-on for this otherwise wonderful site.

The site score is 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Sign up & Download

Sign up and download doesn’t come any easier than this. All you have to do is fill a simple form and you are on your way. You can start a free 15 days trial anytime.

The site score is 5 out of 5 stars.

Setup

The setup process is simple and easy. Carbonite client will explain everything to you. Why, for those of you who couldn’t care less about reading the necessary instructions, it even talks! And if you are a novice, it will back up the most important files by default, and later it will let you decide each additional file or folder you want to backup. The setup process will ask you a few questions and if you are not sure, just keep the default answers to move along.

I recommend you read the “What you must backup?” guide so you will not miss any important data. One of the most important data that you must not forget is the passwords folder which many people use to keep their passwords. If you are amongst those who do not use such an application, maybe it is time for you to start now. The famous RoboForm password keeper is really a great tool.

The site score is 5 out of 5 stars.

Backup – How does it work?

Carbonite installs a small application (Carbonite client) that runs all the time on your computer. Carbonite client will completely backup your files automatically; you will know what files are backed up by a little colored dot on the file icon in Windows Explorer. Dots on files and folders show you the status of your backup at a glance. Now what could be easier than this?

This is a really nice feature that distinguishes Carbonite from many other backup services. This is its ability to know which files are backed up, and which are not on the Windows Explorer.

The site score is 5 out of 5 stars.

Restore – How does it work?

Restore procedures in Carbonite are so easy and intuitive in every aspect , they really put Carbonite above all other backup systems. .

If it is only a single file or a few files that you need to restore, doing so from the Windows Explorer or from the Carbonite client is pretty easy.

If it is a complete disaster that you had and you need to restore your whole system, then with Carbonite it is amazingly easy and simple. Coming soon - the complete restore guide.

Restore is very intuitive.

Restore can be done with the client.

Carbonite restore procedure is well thought of, and I give them a full score on this feature.

The site score is 5 out of 5 stars.

Price

Carbonite currently has one only level of service. In the future they will provide additional products. For the features and reliability it provides, the price is very low and it will give you the best value for your money.

Final Thoughts

As I see it, everyone must backup their computer. Before I learn about Carbonite I thought Mozy is number one, but having done detailed study, I’d place Mozy a distinct second. Any computer these days has very important data on its hard drive - pictures, music files, finance documents and more. Carbonite service will backup your data, and you will have complete peace of mind after you signup and install it. You can sign up now and get 14 days free trial.

My recommendation to you is sign up now to Carbonite backup service and get 14 days free trial.