CrashPlan Offers Off-site Backup with No Monthly Fees

[Chris Gohlke]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.crashplan.com/home.vtl' target='_blank'>http://www.crashplan.com/home.vtl</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Easy and Automatic - No buttons to push or CDs to burn. Simply install CrashPlan and it quietly runs in the background protecting your files without slowing you down. No Monthly Fees - With CrashPlan and your own destination, there are no fees or extra charges like other off-site backup products and no limits on how much you can back up. Off-site Security - Your files are encrypted, off-site and at multiple destinations of your choosing. Only off-site backup protects your files from theft, fire, and other local disasters. CrashPlan insures your privacy by encrypting your files before they are sent, keeping personal files personal. Cross Platform (Mac, PC, Linux) - CrashPlan gives you freedom in choosing your backup destinations. Back up your new Mac to your old PC, your laptop to a friend's desktop, whichever you want. Worried about using too much space on a friend's computer? No problem! CrashPlan will use an attached USB drive to hold your files."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1221664414.usr10.jpg" /></p><p>Even the best laid backup plans often leave out the off-site backup component.&nbsp; This is especially true for home users.&nbsp; The off-site options out there have often had certain limitations.&nbsp; Most involve a monthly fee and require you to actually trust the company you are backing up to.&nbsp; My off-site plan has been to rotate USB drives to an off-site location once every few weeks along with daily at home backups within my network.&nbsp; For the importance I place on my data, I think this is adequate, but if your needs require something a little more robust and you have a friend you can backup to, a $24.99 one-time fee is all it takes.</p>

[michael]

I wonder if I have a Windows Home Server and a friend has a WHS we can each buy this and install it on the WHS boxes to do mutual off-site backups of data stored in a Drive Extender folder.

[Chris Gohlke]

You could probably grab the trial version and give it a shot. If you do, let us know.

[mikehilton]

How is this much different from Foldershare which is free?

[michael]

I haven't used FolderShare, but I thought it just copied the files as is and they would be viewable at the backup destination. Whereas this sends your data off-site to a buddy's computer, but it is encrypted and not accessible by your buddy.

[Chris Gohlke]

Exactly, I might trust a buddy enough to store an encrypted backup at his house, but I sure would not want to give them read access, much the less update access to my personal files.

[Jason Dunn]

Seems like a pretty neat solution, especially when you factor in how big hard drives are. Although with the off site backup, whether it's to a server or to a friend's computer, you're still limited by the upstream speed of your backup. Overall, this solution seems really flexible though...if I hadn't paid for a two year contract with Mozy, I might give this a try.

[Jason Dunn]

I wonder if I have a Windows Home Server and a friend has a WHS we can each buy this and install it on the WHS boxes to do mutual off-site backups of data stored in a Drive Extender folder.

The problem with that may be that the software probably wouldn't be aware of the shared folders...you could really only point it at one of the hard drives. That's the problem I've had with FolderShare at any rate...but let me know if it works. :)