If you have been digi scrapbooking for very long, you have heard about backing up. You know it’s important and you might even have a routine and be backing up your files on a regular basis (or having it automatically done for you). If you have been digi scrapping long enough, you have most likely had a harddrive failure and possibly lost data. But talking about backing up is boring (so I hear, I love it 
) and most of us think that losing data won’t happen to them.
When I talk to new digital scrapbookers and try to explain backing up, it makes them nervous and it makes me nervous too. I can tell a lot of times it’s all overwhelming to them and I fear they won’t do anything and will end up losing years of photos. Backing up is a necessary part of having digital data…as boring as it is!
A good rule of thumb for backing up is that you need to have your saved in three different ways in at least two different locations (one location being on onsite and one location being an offsite). I think most digi scrapbookers that are following this rule have their data on their main harddrive (place one), and external hardrive (place two), and online backup (place three).
I posted a long time ago how happy I was with Mozy as my online backup solution and I was. At the time that I was looking for online back up, Mozy was the only solution that recognized EHD’s (which is where I save all of my data). I had drives fail and I was able to get my data back from Mozy. I had to pay an additional fee to get my data back, which bugged me that I wasn’t aware of that up front, but I was so happy to have my 6+ years of digital photos back, it seemed like a small price to pay.
I recently shared on a couple episodes of The Digi Show and on Twitter that I would be moving from Mozy and have since had lots of questions about it. Mozy increased their rates and I was going to be paying what equaled $1 per gig, per year. That AND the cost of having to pay to have my data sent to me made me decide I needed to look for alternatives. When I tweeted, I got an instant reply from CrashPlan to “Mozy on over” to them (that made me laugh, so I had to check them out, brilliant marketing). I did some research and really liked what I saw. I know lots of digital scrapbookers use Carbonite, but they don’t recognize external hardrives still. Lots of digi scrappers like Backblaze too, but I have almsot 1TB of data to back up and that would take FOREVER (I think it told me 6 months).
With CrashPlan I have a gazillion options that I haven’t seen anywhere else (see the differences between them and Mozy). They recognize EHD’s AND they won’t delete that data if my drive isn’t attached during a backup. I can back up to another drive onsite and their online backup at the same time (using their interface). The biggest thing for me though, was the Seeded Backup. It cost me just over $100 to have them send me a 1TB drive to back everything up to (shipping is included both directions).
I will say that when I first got my Seed Drive, I had a hardtime logging into my account using their interface. I tried to reset my password and got an error. I emailed their support and received a confirmation that they had received it. After 3 business days and no response, I finally found a phone number, got through immediately, and it was instantly fixed. Learn from my lesson, just call if you have a problem.
It only took 24 hours to back up just short of 1TB of data. I backed up two laptops and two external drives. I just shipped the seed drive back to them yesterday (as you are reading this, today as I am writing it). When they get the drive and upload it to their system, I will get an email, then I will change the back up destination and my back up will start where it left off. It will take me a lot less time and I won’t be spending weeks or month panicking that I have a failure before everything is backed up.
Overall, I think I am happy so far. I do intend to order my data once a bit of time has passed so I can see how smoothly that goes and I will keep you posted. My fingers are crossed that things go well!
I have mixed emotions about Mozy. On the one hand, I’m glad they became too expensive for me. I will be paying significantly less with CrashPlan and I don’t have to worry about my data being deleted ever (I always worried with Mozy that a backup would run when my external drive wasn’t attached and everything would be deleted). On the other hand, it was a company that I loved and believed in and I’m sad to see that end.
I’m curious to know what you do for back up and if you would be interested in learning more? I know some people that know a lot about these kinds of things and we have talked about having them on the Digi Show, would you be interested?
I also wanted to mention that NO affiliate links were used in this post 
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Great topic! I too was using Mozy but since they changed their pricing, I will not renew. Just to back up my desktop and EHD would cost me around $300 a year. To add my portable EHD and laptop would be an outrageous amount. I’m so glad you wrote about this because I am now going to look into it. Would love to hear more options and how this service is working for you! Please and thank you!
FYI to Mozy users, you can get a partial credit if you want to cancel early. I did just that when I learned that Crashplan did not forget my EHDs. It works so much better than Mozy ever did.
THANKS for letting me know!! I actually have a few months left on Mozy, so I will see what I can do. I’m glad to hear you are that happy with CrashPlan!
YAY! for this post!
I’m totally disgusted with my Mozy experience. I’ve had one problem after another, it crashes all of the time, and all in all, I consider it a huge waste of my time and money.
I’m off to check out this new option! THANKS!
What a wealth of information. I’ve been using SugarSync for years, but they don’t backup to EHDs, which is why I recently added on Backblaze. Now I’ll need to do more learning about CrashPlan. Thanks so much for a wonderful post! I love this site!!!
I too was a Mozy user. I loved it, and when one of my hard drives died, I was easily able to recover everything from Mozy. With the increase in rates, I of course needed to switch. I had seen your tweets and tried out Crash Plan on the trial, but unfortunately I just could not establish a good connection with their server. It took 12 hours for my computer to even connect, and then it said it would take over 8 months to back up my 670 gb! So then I tried out Backblaze, and the connection was so much faster, and I have officially switched to them. The backup is supposed to take 42 days (4 days to go). Disappointed that Crash Plan didn’t work out for me, but glad that my files are now backed up again somewhere!
Thanks for sharing all the info Steph. Since I am new to digital scrapbooking, I had signed up for Carbonite early on. It was really the only online backup site I knew about that didn’t cost too much money. I do not yet need a EHD. Since my conversion (and new-found addiction) to digi scrapping, I’m sure that will be changing soon.
I was completely unaware that having an EHD would be a problem for Carbonite. Thanks for the ‘heads-up.’ I’m pretty sure that I will go with CrashPlan.
For all of the folks who do not back up online, I implore you to consider doing so right away. I have had both family members and friend loose everything in house fires. Nothing is more devastating than loosing your photos and memories. If your like me, you’ve also spent quite a bit of money on digi supplies, music and more.
Couches, appliances and clothes can all be replaced, but not those memories. Storing an EHD offsite isn’t a bad idea, but it’s also problematic if it gets stolen, etc…
There is never a perfect solution, but I’m thankful that everyone has shared their solutions with this newbie.
Crashplan seems to be a favorite since Mozy raised their rates. Every time I have tested Crashplan I keep running in to memory issues on the computer. Mainly it uses up all of the ram and makes the computer unresponsive. I was wondering if you have had any problem with that?
I’d be interested in hearing more. Like, do any people have seeded drives for overseas (non-us) sites?
I’m in Australia
I’m so glad you posted about this. I’ve been struggling with choosing an online backup. I’d love to hear more about backing up and your experience w/ CrashPlan!!
I use SmugMug for my photos (and my flattened scrapbook pages) and was using Mozy for everything else. I had two HDD crashes in less than three weeks time (original HDD crashed, and the replacement HDD was bad). I was highly dissatisfied with my Mozy backup. I lost quite a bit of data they said was backed up. When my laptop’s motherboard died, I deleted my Mozy subscription. Glad to know about CrashPlan! Now that I have a new laptop, I need a new option since I wasn’t about to go back to Mozy, especially after the rate hike!
I used to use iDrive, but switched to Crashplan a few months ago, very impressed. Service it and forget it.
That’s exactly what I have been hoping!!! I don’t want to worry about it!
It IS overwhelming!
I used to have an EHD that ran some sort of auto backup program, but it always had error messages, so I never knew if it was really working correctly. Then, my UPS battery died, so I didn’t have enough plugs (I can only use the non-battery backup ones now), so I had to unplug my EHD. I’ve been trying to back up photos on Flickr, but it’s slow going. ANYWAY…
Was the seed drive price included in the plan you purchased, or was that in addition to your yearly subscription? Also, are you using it to backup literally EVERYTHING, or just photos? Thanks, Steph!
The seed drive was in addition to my annual subscription but even with the additional cost, I paid less than I would to renew with Mozy (by a lot).
Thanks, Steph! I see that they offer a month by month subscription to their unlimited plan for only $5.00, so I’m giving it a try! I’m going to start with the photos that I haven’t had time to upload to Flickr yet, and go from there. I’m so glad you posted about this!
I was so glad to hear on the Digi Show that you found another backup solution. I started using Mozy almost 3 years ago when my first EHD crashed (luckily I had most – but not all – of my stuff burned on DVDs, but it took FOREVER to unzip and reorganize everything). I’ve been happy with them so my heart sank when I saw their prices were increasing. That’s way too much for my budget! I wondered what I would do? I did, however, feel consolation in thinking that someone would probably mention an alternative method on the Digi Show. Ahh, the relief when you brought up CrashPlan on the Show a few weeks back. I’m interested to hear your opinion of them because I am probably going to switch to CrashPlan when my prepaid subscription to Mozy expires. Thanks to all of you for keeping me informed of all things digi!
I’m so glad we didn’t disappoint! We talk about it on the show we recorded this week too.
I was very impressed that you put in the “rule of three” for backups – most people don’t realize the importance of redundancy. Backups can fail – that’s why you should either have a service or TWO off-site backups. Services like CrashPlan (my favorite) have backup systems and contingency plans. Taking a hard drive and leaving it at the office (or a safe deposit box), there is no guarantee that it couldn’t suffer a crash or mishap of its own.
Also, writeable optical media (CDs, DVDs) are NOT a good long term option for backups. Their shelf life is far shorter than most people realize (as short as 3-5 years). If fact, there aren’t really any good long term options right now. For the foreseeable future, we’ll just have to live with the fact that backing up is something we have to worry about – like flossing and filing our taxes.
I’ve actually had two back up EHD’s fail at the same time.
Thanks for your input!
Great post and just what I need! I did Carbonite too and had the same frustration about EHDs. Mozy solved that but when my computer crashed, Mozy had changed all my filenames. It took forever to identify them and complete the task of getting them onto a new computer. Mozy said they would delete my backup in 30 days and start the process over with the new computer because they do backup and not data storage. I had to work through the night for several nights to meet the deadline, but at least I had my stuff. Their recent rate hike takes me out of their league. I LOVE the Seeded Backup idea and will definitely check out CrashPlan. Thank you, thank you.
That’s really frustrating!!!
I love this conversation. I know what it is like to lose data and would love a near perfect if not perfect plan. I completely agree with the sentiment regarding the house burning down or another catastrophe and losing your data. But, I have only one friend ever who has had their house burn and they didn’t lose their pictures…lots of smoke damage though. I have had almost every friend have a hard drive crash they had meant to back up but hadn’t and lost everything. So, whatever you choose, just doing it is the most important thing. Even using the windows back up utility is better than nothing. Also consider that back up services can have considerations as well. One thing to think about is it isn’t an archive, it is a back up. So, if you delete something off of your hard drive and you don’t realize it in a certain amount of time (maybe 30 days), then it is gone. Archiving is really a separate issue. You know, when you are running low on hard drive space you might delete something thinking it is backed up online but then it isn’t after awhile. That is actually an issue for all back up systems not just online-most back ups are mirrors not archives. Just a thought-sorry it’s kind of off task.
That’s one of the great things about CP from what I have ready on their site. They don’t delete anything until you tell them to. That’s why you don’t have to have your EHD’s attached when a back up is run.
Again, I haven’t tested this, but I will be!
I had used Mozy in the past but it screwed up my computer so badly I had to drop them. So I now back up only by EHD’s. I have 2 1TB EHD’s – I have one that I use all the time and one as my backup that I only plug in every so often to add the new stuff.
Oh, I’m so glad you posted this! After Mozy raised its rates, I too had to quit (and like you, I’d loved them). What I did was buy a 1TB drive to work off of, and then bought a safe deposit box @ the bank ($60 for a year). Every Monday night I just copy my new stuff onto the drives–I figured I’d rather copy than back up, so I could use the files more quickly. But I’ll look into this new company too! The seeded backup is a really excellent idea.
So glad you posted this !!! I started using Mozy and signed up for their 2 year plan, last year. But after the rates go up, I’m going someplace else !!! I have had LOTS of problems and errors (not sure if it’s due to being a Mac or what). So I have not been head over heels in love…and recently found out that not ALL of my psd files had been backed up (after my hard drive crashed and Mozy had said the files were backed up)….I’ve had to re-scrap pages to get them printed due to errors or what-not. Glad to know I have a backup for my backup !!! LOL
Thank You ~ This has been on the back of my mind since Mozy changed the prices. I wanted to look around to see if I had other options. So again Thanks for information and I will stay posted for your updates.
Hi Steph – thank you for another great post!
Did you look into LiveDrive at all when you were making your decision? That was one I had looked into a couple weeks ago and they did offer a lifetime 25% off to Mozy customers but it was still 2x as much as CrashPlan. I really liked it because it gave you a virtual drive on your pc and you could share your files with other people by just giving them a link to any one of your folders. For me this was great because that’s a good way to give Mom access to my kids pics rather than emailing them because she’s a bit challenged when it comes to PCs/zipping, etc.
I have a NAS but it isn’t set up as RAID (and I have no option for RAID in it) so there’s always the chance of a crash of that too (call me paranoid) so I still want to back up somewhere in a cloud. It’s always a good idea because as much as you can back up on EHDs and home servers, if (God forbid) there’s a fire, you are out of luck. Everything is gone.
I’ll look again into CrashPlan now that you’ve posted about it. I’m wondering if you can access your files remotely and are they in a non-proprietary format? I frequently find myself needing a file or 2 while I’m somewhere so for me, accessing a file remotely would be great. I can do this today by logging into my server remotely so it wouldn’t be a “make or break” but a great + for CrashPlan when making my final decision.
Thanks again!!
Yes, my understanding is you can access your files from anywhere and they encourage you to do that. I haven’t tried it yet, but will because I’m curious about how easy it is.
This is definitely a great topic for this site. Everyone with digital files especially pictures needs to make some decisions about backing up. I love Katie’s post regarding Flickr and I sort of use it as a back up back up (Pro Account) but I struggle with the real issue-their are plenty of back up solutions but any solution that requires action on my part is already somewhat flawed. We have really busy lives and even though backing up is really important I can get behind. That happened right after my third child was born and I “lost” all of his birth photos through the first three months of his life. At that point, I would have paid thousands of dollars just to get them back. So, I looked at alot of solutions and purchased the DAM book and decided to do what the pros do. I purchased an HP Mediasmart Home server. It is spendy but I love it and it has been put to the test. It automatically backs up all of our computers (everything) every night. I went for overkill but it keeps a back up for three days of the current week, one day of last week, one day of each month and and an annual back up for each computer. When my hard drive crashed last month,the back ups were amazing. My husband even realized that he had over written a file last August and within 60 seconds I had recovered it. Everything was there. I had a 64 bit driver issue but now that I have that figured out I am confident that a restore would only take an hour or so (there’s alot of data). HP doesn’t make this model anymore but I see that they sell Drobo and then they do have another small server. I’m not an expert or anything but this was the solution for our family.
I’ve thought about doing something like that as an additional insure back up. How easy/hard was it to set up?
I am still using Mozy :/ I have an issue with change and haven’t gotten brave enough to move yet. I have only been using Mozy a year, but haven’t had an issue yet. I have 1 external I keep here, and I am about to add another one, too. I like the idea of offsite backup, though!
Backing up for me to an offline site causes me to go over my upload limits so I am liking the idea of backing up to a drive they send you and then going from there. I have several EHD drives that my digi stuff is backed up to but I also worry that I may lose some of my newer photos or digi supplies if I haven’t backed up recently . . . so yes I would be interested in hearing more.
I’m glad you posted this, Steph. I had heard your comments about your new back-up service and wanted to learn more.
I bought a three year subscription to Carbonite a little over two years ago and am starting to think about what I’ll do when it’s time to renew. I really like Carbonite, except for the unable to back up EHDs issue. It wasn’t a big deal when I started digi scrapping, but after two years of collecting supplies, taking tons more photos as well as scanning in old ones . . . well, I just can’t keep all of it on my laptop to ensure it’s backed up.
I haven’t had a failure yet, but I did accidentally delete a whole month’s worth of photos once — yikes. I was glad I was backed up.
Yes, I’d be interested in hearing more.
Backing up is boring until you have an issue…then it becomes a really big deal. My toddler threw up on my laptop…that was a bummer. You don’t realize how much stuff you have saved on a computer until “poof”! it’s gone.
I was using Mozy – until the price change. That was too much for me.
For now – I’m using a external hard drive off site (I leave it @ work) Once a quarter I bring it home & back everything up again. It’s not perfect – but it’s simple. If I had something really important to save I could put it on a jump drive or burn to a DVD and bring it to work to toss on the external drive.
I’ve been thinking about some of the other services that you talked about.