Online Backup Tools

Mozy (mozy.com), a subsidiary of EMC Corporation, is one of the major players and best-known names among online backup services.  Based in Seattle, Mozy boasts a global clientele including more than one million individual users, 50,000 business customers, and total data holdings of over 25 petabytes.

The Basics

Mozy is available for Windows or Mac platforms.  With Mozy, you have the option of choosing between two services: MozyHome and MozyPro.  MozyHome is the individual service, priced at $4.95 per computer per month, while MozyPro is geared towards businesses.

In addition to the standard online file restoration service, Mozy offers a unique physical media restore service.  If you need to restore your data, you can download it via the web or the Mozy client, or you can have your data mailed to you on DVD, although this service does require an additional fee.  Some users actually report receiving their data on external hard drives rather than DVDs, although Mozy doesn’t advertise this perk.

The Pros

For starters, Mozy in addition to unlimited backup space, Mozy offers a standard 30-day file restore feature, so that files that have been backed up can be restored to previous versions in case of accidental or unwanted alterations for up to 30 days.  You have the choice of backing up your files on an automated and/or scheduled basis.  With Mozy’s automated backup feature, your files will be updated when your computer isn’t in use, and you have the further option of using bandwidth throttling to control how much bandwidth Mozy is allowed to use at any given time.

Another unique thing about Mozy in relation to other online backup services is the strong financial backing it claims.  Mozy is owned by the information management heavyweight EMC, and it uses this as proof that, unlike some online backup providers that have gone belly-up in the past, taking their clients’ data with them, Mozy should be around for the long haul.  Of course, whether this claim holds up or not remains to be seen, but it is worth taking into consideration.

The Cons

There are some common complaints about Mozy.  In terms of encryption, Mozy uses more-than-adequate 448-bit Blowfish encryption.  However, Mozy’s encryption process is frequently criticized because, in order to use it, you’re essentially required to put your encryption entirely in Mozy’s hands.  In a manner of speaking, you’re not the one encrypting your data – Mozy is.  For some users, this simply isn’t secure enough, and the company has been slow to adequately address this problem.

Even if you’re restoring files via the web or the Mozy client, you have to request ahead of time to retrieve your files, and there can be upwards of 15 minutes of waiting involved, which is much longer than it takes to access your files with other online backup services.  This limits Mozy’s usefulness in terms of sharing, as well.

The Mozy client’s interface is also somewhat clunky and unintuitive, particularly the Mac version.  This is unfortunate because such an important process as backing up your data ought to be made as easy and user-friendly as possible.  It can be a bit of a chore to manage your files effectively.

The Verdict

Although Mozy offers some very useful and unique features, particularly the physical restore feature, its all-too-evident problems hold it back from being a great online backup service.  For casual users who aren’t all that concerned about the aforementioned privacy issues, Mozy can certainly get the job done.  Also, Mozy does offer 2 GB of free backup space, which you can use as a trial to get a feel for the service.