Comcast To Launch Online Backup Service

Overage fees when you exceed your limit--the only difference being, I guess, that you aren't a candidate for having your connection terminated when you do exceed it (although I wouldn't be too sure--"mistakes" happen).

Yes, plain residential service. I bought two years of service at once because they give you a discount equal to 3 months of free service when you do that.

Works out great for me. Been using it since the OS X beta came out and have been very pleased with it. There was a brief period where their OS X client (post-beta mind you) would back-up folders even if they were in my "ignored" list, but that has since been remedied and it is smooth sailing again.

I get upload speeds of up to 1 Mb/s with my Comcast connection.

But a lot of those sites don't let you push the full-quality versions of your photos to them. My Aperture library is something like 60GB... I doubt flicker would let me store all my cool photos from my trips around the country in their full 8-10MP glory (and RAW format) on their site.

Why would you use a computer when you can just use cassette tapes to store and move your data from system to system.

Chances are you would put stuff on a tape for long term storage.

Why would you use the service at all when there are better solutions at cheaper prices.

Why not go back to say the whip and buggy. Those worked just fine.

Are you really listening to yourself when you ask your questions. I can come up with some really dumb ones also. The internet is fueling progress in other countries and their economies will come up on top while ours will continue the downward spiral unless we think outside the box for a moment.

I do utilize on-line photo sharing as well, but I like to keep a backup of the actual files elsewhere also. Can never be too safe.

As for RAW storage, I don't use RAW myself, but SmugMug will allow you to do that (albeit not free, but neither is Google or Flickr if you actually want more than a gig or two of storage and some perks.)

Exactly - so for the price Mozy isn't bad.

Flickr does all that, and for half the price of Mozy. Personally, I don't trust a 3rd party online site to store any of my data. But for photos and videos, there are much better alternatives than using just about any online backup site.

»www.flickr.com/upgrade/

I had a lot of my own backups. They are all gone in fire.
Only online files survived....
Gmail is about 7 gigs for free and you can create as as many accounts as you want. Plus - some third party apps like Gmail drive will really help.

That works for photos, but how about my 50GB of home movies (graduations, Christmases, Thanksgivings, new puppies, etc)? Or my hundreds of stored documents? Or my music collection?

Having a 1TB hard drive sitting around with an up-to-date backup of your data sounds good but remember they can fail at any time. I remember when my 60GB external USB drive died without any warning. I used to do daily backups of my old laptop onto it and one day it just wouldn't mount to any computer I plugged it into. Oops. At least it was just a backup of data and I was able to go buy a new USB drive the next day and not lose anything.

I certainly don't have the time to do daily backups, but I still prefer a local option over an online backup. I would definitely put those home movies on something other than an external hard drive, and I would definitely not expect to keep these things at Mozy, for goodness sakes!

An external hard drive is my first option, since it is simple and effective. The chances of it crashing when you need it for a backup would be relatively rare. Sure they break sometimes, but they are cheap and you can simply backup your data on a new one. However, I would much rather have a physical copy, such as a good quality DVD or CD. And I would make more copies every few years.

Until something more robust comes along, which inevitably always happens, this is the typical consumer's most promising medium to store their important data.

I go with a two-pronged approach. I use Time Machine to keep an hourly backup of everything on my computer on an external 1TB SATA drive and then I have everything backed up on Mozy too. So if my apartment did burn down, or my computer were stolen or something else awful happened and I couldn't use Time Machine to recover my data I'd be able to get my data from Mozy, and if I deleted a file accidently I can just pull it back using Time Machine.

This post isn't even interesting... cassette tapes? backup storage being equated to the progress of other countries?

The internet is nothing for everyone. I mean by that, as the internet is going to be used based on the person who is using it's needs..

Online back up use is not going to make or break the internet or fuel progress.

You can't make broad statements about other countries. Each country in how it used the internet has a different reason. Some countries, had little in the lines of tools so this was like handing them a gift from above, so to speak. The United States wasn't hurting like you make it sound, and in case you were asleep through the 90's and the early 2000's, the internet super charged our nation like never before.. remember the bubble? If you understand economics better, you'd not make that statement at all. Its easy to fuel progress where there once was none or little.

/Utpoia

And these days, more people in this category, like Karl said, will use other hard drives, or hell, even DVD's to back up data.. cassette tape is, like you said, the whip and buggy.

And the downward spiral? What is this "downward spiral" you are speaking of?

Wait.. wait wait wait WAIT a minute..

What is the party line here anyway?

The other day, people were crying that CDV wouldn't be traffic shaped (which I agree with) becuase it's a competing service to other VoIP providers. ugh.

Now, they offer an online back up service and it WILL be part of the traffic shape and people are wondering why?

Perfect time to answer the question.. what do you want comcast to do? This is getting absurd..

Comcast is a provider of services. They offer TELEVISION, first, then Internet and now phone. They are primarily hard line services. If people here had their choice, comcast would only be an internet provider, nothing more. (And I know this is a little off your particular post, but I think it's appropriate here at this point)

I've heard arguments about people saying that their Internet caps are in place to protect their televisions service.. um.. duh? When did their TV service take a back seat to everything else? Comcast was in the phone business BEFORE they were in the internet business, and again, the internet should take front row seat over the other lines. (Yes, CDV is new and they have ramped up their phone service as of late, but it doesn't matter)

What it sounds like here, to me, on BBR, is that Internet is a drug and they are addicted.. touch their drug and they freak out.

It just doesn't seem that ANY provider out there is going to be able to win even if they try to lose. Maybe it's time for people to just take a bit of a chill pill for a bit and realize that they can't have it all ways.

Yes, people MAY go over their caps on this service, if they use it stupid. This service is also not likely for everyone out there, and it certainly doesn't have to bee for everyone.

Not everyone wants to use a hard drive as back up, not everyone wants to use online back ups, not everyone wants to use a CD/DVD, or as one said "Cassette tapes".. what's even worse is when people come here crying for options and choice and then on the other cheek cry foul and call some of these choices that people may want, "stupid" or "outdated" or "ineffective".. becuase it's not the way THEY'D do or want to do it.

I don't get it. Resources are allocated to operate and maintain a service that perhaps 10-20% of the customer base will use, when basic customer service and network management still need attention: »A Kinder, Gentler Comcast .

I figure this offering will last less than a year, then be dropped like the newsgroup service, for the same reasons.

Beautiful!

I have a 160 WD passport...

But am considering a new 500 gig esata... will see...

Almost filled the 160... but i agree and its a one time deal no monthly fee...

What I really want comcast is my bandwidth meter...

Doesnt matter have my own anyway but just saying...

My daughter just bought a one terabyte external hard drive for around $116.00. they are coming down in price.

Hear that noise? It was the clue train passing you by.

Tiger Direct 1TB internal drive $100.
On Black Friday I bought an external Maxtor 1TB for $140. The hosting service I use gives me 120GB for $5/mo. This makes no sense at all from where I sit.

I'm sure that's the quality of what Comcast will offer.

In the current economic climate, I don't.

You're missing the most powerful feature of on-line backup: automation.

I have automated incremental backups that run every night while I sleep -- I don't even have to think about it.

...but if you encrypt your mp3's or zip them with pswd protection, how will they know they are copy protected music files??? Just curious...

..OK, here's a bone.
Just develop an backup drive that's built into your car with wireless access. It's part of your network when you are at home, then when you are away you can either connect to it wired with your laptop or connect ad hoc wireless. When you leave your house in your car, the backup goes with you. Not a solution for everyone, but it would work for many. Now all of you engineers out there get to work on it and make your millions.

They way. All you'll have to do is zip/rar them.

Carbonite is $50 year for unlimited backup.

In addition to 3 months free, you can get promotional codes to save another 15% off. Look around - they're out there.

...The time this is launched is about the same time they give us access to the bandwidth monitor!

For Windows Home Server you need to use Mozy Pro (»mozy.com/pro).

To expensive to justify the cost.
Right now I'll stick with USB drive backups.

It's just not for me.

Just about every local backup option can be automated as well, so that's not really a feature that separates it from other options. Online backup benefits from the remote location, inexpensive storage space due to their bulk purchases, and the ability to access this data from just about anywhere. I don't need that. I would think that relatively few people really do, they just think they do. Whatever helps them sleep better at night.

I throw my photos on CD's, and keep my music and video on a thumb drive. I've got like maybe 4 gigs at best to deal with. Less than 5 minutes to drag and drop it all. I have a few emails with activation keys for various software that I have purchased, and my bookmarks. That's about it.

About every 3 years or so I upgrade my computer. At that time I do make a bit more of an exhaustive backup to make the transition smoother. But were talking about stuff like making a list of the utilities that I frequently use. I'll grab the latest versions from the web and save these to an external USB hard drive prior to the new computer build. I'll also make a preemptive strike and find the most recent drivers for all of the hardware before the installation. Not critical, but it saves some time.

Now, if I had tons of data that was dear to me, or highly important for some other reason, and I lived in an area susceptible to hurricanes or summer brush fires; I would certainly look into a more robust backup option.