Mozy Home Full Review

Review Summary:Mozy is a simple, smart, and economical way to protect your data. You simply install Mozy client on your computer, set it up, and then never worry about data loss again.

Pros:Security, advanced settings and relaiblity.

Cons:Restore procedure (especially full system resotre) should be much better. In addition usabillity is not simple enough.

Rating: 89 points (out of 100)

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General

Mozy is a simple (although not as simple as Carbonite), smart, and economical way to protect your data. You simply install Mozy client on your computer, set it up, and then never worry about data loss again.

Here are some of the salient aspects of Mozy

• Setup is quite easy.
• Initial backup, especially if you have large amount of data, can take a long time, extending into days or even weeks. Of course, much will depend upon whether you are a home or a business/office user, and consequently the amount of data you would have to backup in terms of volume.
• Incremental backup enables fast daily backups after the initial backup is complete.
• Security is good, all files are being encrypted before transfer, and transfer itself is through SSL 128, which is one of the most secure methods available today
• Backup supports open/locked files, much like the Outlook you are probably familiar with.
• Restore procedure for a new computer is very weak. In fact this is the weakest feature of Mozy service, and more could have been done on this count.
• Overall, Mozy service will give you peace of mind; it gives you excellent return for your money. You can sign up for a Mozy free account to test it for yourself.

Company Web Site

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

Mozy has a good and informative sale section; it has explanations about backup in general and about Mozy products and services.

The help and support section, on the other hand, contains mainly general issues and not real problems that the user might find. The most essential feature that is missing is the video tutorials that explain how to setup, backup, restore and so on.

The site score is 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Signup & Download

Sign up and download is very easy. All you have to do is fill in a couple of simple forms and you are on your way. Pay particular attention to the requirement of confirming your email. in order to download the application to your computer. This is a good feature that prevents fraudulent spammers from doing damage.

Setup

The setup process is pretty simple as well. If you are a complete novice Mozy client will help you decide which files are recommended to backup.  It gives an added option of changing your default any time later. Mozy client gives you quick start backup sets if you are a complete novice. Advanced users have the choice of choosing their own options. The question that faces you now is, how to decide what are the files you must backup? Mozy let you chose from a few predefined SETS, such as:

• Your Emails
• Your IE/Firefox favorites
• Your Photos
• Your Word documents
• Your Excel Spreadsheets and so on.

I think that these sets are good for the initial backup, but I recommend you read the “What you must backup?” guide so you will not miss any important data that you rightfully ought to have backed up. One of the most important data that is missing from the quick start sets are passwords files, especially the famous RoboForm password keeper. Take care to add your own so you don’t miss out on this important aspect of safe backing up.

Backup – How does it work?

Mozy installs a small application (Mozy client) that runs continuously on your computer. You define which file you want it to backup (or allow it to choose automatically). After the first initial backup which can take some time (days or even weeks) to complete – it depends how many files you are going to backup – your computer will be backed up automatically all the time. The average time it will take the client to back up for 2-3GB of storage will be about one day. Once the initial backup is complete, the daily backups are very fast, Mozy examine your updates and your new files and it backups those automatically. You can reboot,  or even disconnect from the internet any time; Mozy will know to stop and proceed again from the same place .

A very nice feature that Mozy doesn’t have, and it reduce half a point of its “peace of mind” score, is the ability to know which files are backed upon the Windows Explorer, Carbonite, Mozy’s biggest competitor shows it very nicely. You can take a look at the Carbonite Complete Review.

Every day when the Mozy client successfully finishes it’s backup, it shows a confirmation message like this one (on the right).

Restore – How does it work?

Mozy restore, in my opinion, is the weakest side of Mozy service. Don’t get me wrong they do give a few good options, and eventually you will have your desired files BUT especially if you need a full system restore you will be tormented until you get all your data.

The need for restore can happen on two occasions. The first is if one file or even a few having gone (corrupted, deleted and so on).This can happen because of a user mistake, a virus or anything else. In this case, the restore is very simple and can be done by the client with just a few clicks. The problem where the restore procedure is not so easy is when you need to restore your files to a new or fully recovered computer. In this case:

1. Restore procedure is not very intuitive.
2. Restore procedure can’t be done by a novice.
3. Restore can only be done through the web interface and can take a lot of time.

Still, in most cases restore will be easy, and it is always reliable. However, once Mozy will upgrade this issue to be more like the Carbonite restore procedure, they will have a true winner on their hands.

Price

Mozy has three different levels of service. This review is about MozyHome which is meant mainly for home users, but there are also MozyPro and MozyEnterprise, which are more suitable for business and office users.

Final Thoughts

As I see it, everyone must backup their computer. Every computer has very important data on its hard drive- pictures, music files, finance documents and more. MozyHome is an excellent service to use. It is simple, flexible and reliable, I highly recommend you signup now for the free 2GB trial or you can also register now for the low price of $4.95/mo unlimited backup.

Sign up now for the free 2GB trial or you can also register for the low price of $4.95/mo unlimited backup now.