Hello and welcome back to another Cloudwards.net video, my name is Mauricio and today we’re
going to be looking at the best online backup services that offer unlimited storage.
We’re going to be diving into our top three picks for unlimited online backup providers
here, but there are actually a few other noteworthy options that we cover in our more extensive
written article, which I’ll link in the description below for you to check out for
even more information after this video.
Before we get into that though, I just want to quickly remind you to hit the like button
and subscribe to stay up to date on when we upload new roundups and reviews to our channel.
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Our first choice for unlimited online backup is Backblaze.
While it isn’t the most feature rich unlimited backup option, it makes up for it in a number
of ways.
Backblaze offers impressive speeds with support for things like block level file copying and
multithreaded backups making it quick for large initial uploads as well as efficient
if you choose to run continuous or daily backups.
Backblaze also has decent support for file versioning with previous versions of files
being saved for thirty days before being deleted.
Overall, Backblaze is a very affordable option for unlimited storage that is remarkably easy
to use, however, there are some serious shortcomings that are worth pointing out.
Backblaze does not have disc imaging, meaning you’ll have to manually manage which files
are being included or excluded from a backup and you won’t be able to get a direct one
to one copy of your drive on Backblaze.
Additionally, while there are iOS and Android apps available, Backblaze does not support
backups of mobile devices.
The apps are merely used for managing your files.
External hard drives are included in the unlimited plan, so technically you can attach as many
external hard drives as you want to your computer and back them up with a single plan.
However, these hard drives need to be connected at least once every 30 days to remain in your
backup stack.
Backblaze will send you emails to remind you of disconnected hard drives but it’s still
inconvenient.
With the personal edition, you cannot backup NAS drives you would need to go for Backblaze
B2 which is charged by the gigabyte.
Finally, while Backblaze does use a powerful encryption and it does offer private encryption.
However, there might be a caveat to this private encryption as it is not zero-knowledge because
you need to enter your private passphrase which is stored on Backblaze’s servers.
Backblaze assures its users that the passphrase is then deleted from their servers but you
don’t have a 100% zero knowledge architecture as with Sync.com for example.
This means your data can be decrypted by Backblaze and many of the servers are in the U.S., which
has less than ideal data privacy laws.
Our second pick is CrashPlan.
A few years ago CrashPlan got rid of its personal user plans to focus on providing storage to
small businesses, which means it offers some unique features and advantages.
With Crashplan you can backup an unlimited amount of data from an unlimited number of
devices, including external drives.
Unlike Backblaze, Crashplan allows a ton of control over versioning with no limit to the
number of versions and how long they will be saved.
Crashplan also retains deleted files indefinitely, making it a very safe place to make sure files
never go missing.
This indefinite version retention also means Crashplan works as an excellent defense against
ransomware, an issue that plagues businesses that rely on their files and data to do business.
Crashplan gives you strict control over how frequently your data is backed up, including
the option for continuous backup, so you can sleep easily knowing there are always fall
back copies of your files.
If a ransomware attack were to happen and all your files were to be encrypted, you could
simply restore your files to a previous version and would never have to pay the ransom.
That said, the business focused nature of Crashplan does mean it’s missing a few things
that personal users might be after.
It’s a bit on the complicated side to setup compared to the other options we’re looking
at in this video, especially if you’re only interested in using online storage to make
a quick and simple backup of miscellaneous or personal files.
Also, there is no mobile app available and you can’t choose to create a backup by file
type, making it a bit harder to backup things like pictures.
Finally, our last choice for unlimited backup is Carbonite.
Carbonite is another great budget-friendly option that leans more towards the Backblaze
philosophy of offering a bit less in the way of features in favor of creating a more user-friendly
experience.
Carbonite does not support disk imaging or mobile backup, however, it does support private
encryption, which gives it a slight leg up over Backblaze in terms of privacy.
Where Carbonite suffers noticeably compared to the others we looked at is speed, being
easily the slowest of the three we’ve seen in this comparison.
While each one of the backup services we’ve looked at offers some distinct advantages,
one thing they all share in common is a free trial.
Backblaze and Carbonite both have a 15 day free trial period while Crashplan offers potential
customers 30 days to try the service out on a single device.
I highly encourage you to take advantage of these trial offers to test the services out
and see which one might have the best combination of features, interface and pricing to suit
your needs.
I’ll include links in the description below to get you started with these services, as
well as a link to our full article on the best unlimited backups which includes some
additional options and goes into more detail.
Again, if this video helped you out at all it would be hugely appreciated if you would
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Thanks for watching.