Online Storage or Online Backup
What is the difference between online storage and online backup?
There is a key difference between online storage and online backup. The first offers you the ability to store an amount of data on some one’s server and then access it via the internet as and when you need it. This data doesn’t necessarily need to reside on your PC i.e. you could have a hard drive of information that you wish to share or store online so that you can re-use the hard drive space. An online storage facility will enable you to transfer this information to the online server and have it stored and shared if you wish. Once you have done this, you can then remove it from the hard drive and begin filling the hard drive with new information, e.g. music, pictures, data, video. There is no syncing going on between the hard drive and the online storage facility. The online storage facility is simply another drive, but it’s online.
I received a phone call recently from a client asking me if Carbonite did online storage and I explained that yes we did. However, the Carbonite online storage solution was a backup of the data on your PC. That is what Carbonite and most online backup solutions do. He then explained how his business accumulating a lot of data on external hard drives which was costing him plenty and he wanted to find an online solution that would enable data sharing and save him money.
Unfortunately in this case Carbonite wasn’t going to be able to help him. Carbonite provides an online storage facility, but as a backup of the information on your PC. So once you have transferred a copy of the data to the Carbonite servers, should your PC die you can retrieve them. However, should you decide to delete the information from your PC to make space for newer information, then Carbonite will also assume that you don’t need it and will also delete it after 30 days.
The customer had already spent a few days searching for different solutions and after speaking with us, didn’t know where to start looking for online storage as opposed to online backup. I decided that I would assist him by doing some the research for him. I must say I found it very hard myself. I only spent an hour or so but reading through the many “so called” online storage solution websites, I quickly discovered that most essentially only offer a version of online backup. They all promise that you can access your data any which way you want, but at the end of the day, should you delete the data from your PC, the online storage facility will also delete it.
The trickiest part was Google AdWords. Look up Online Storage and you get 10 variations of online backup providers.
I did find a few however that catered for small volumes e.g. several hundred Gigs. The only provider that I could find that didn’t have restrictions, was affordable and allowed for sharing and communities was Amazon.
All in all it was an interesting exercise. What I also discovered is that there are so many online backup providers out there and the difference between is not very much at all when it comes to features (at least when you compare what they say via their website). The big ticket however aside from formally testing each one, is how financially stable the company behind the backup is and would you trust your data with them. Carbonite with over 600,000 customers is a very successful company that is here to stay. If you are looking for online backup, then your first choice is Carbonite.
