Technology has become a necessary part of our life today. While technology has its own benefits for the humankind, it can also cause several damages. It is crucial that you keep the backup of all your business transactions for the future references, in a case of server breakdown or any other critical condition.
An online backup service can be a blessing for any business in the time of need.
Today, there are many leading backup services and solutions that are available in the market. However, it is difficult for a customer to decide the best option as per their business needs and other requirements. In this post we are going to detail analysis of 5 best cloud storage services of 2017 :
Let us make this process little easy for you as we are going to discuss top five online backup solutions that have been able to catch our attention because of their great features and usability. But, before we go ahead, let us see how important is the backing up of the data.
What is the Need of an Online Backup Service?
In this digital era, most of the valuable business information is stored on your servers. Whether the accounting records, crucial details, or other data, they are all accessed by many people in the organization through these servers. But, what if the server breaks down or there is a crisis where you cannot access a vital data from the server? Who can you rely upon at this point?
What if you are on an overseas business trip and are not able to connect to your server for the critical information on which your business depends.
And the answer is an online backup. In case, you have backed up your corporate data with an online solution; then you can access this information anytime from anywhere. This online backup solution stores your data and save it from any disaster and keep it safely and securely.
These online backup solutions are not only crucial for the big industries, but also small businesses and professionals such as a lawyer, photographer as well as an artist.
No matter how good our hardware is, there is no guarantee what lies ahead in future. For example, you save some data on a hard drive, and it crashes. All your data is gone and cannot be retrieved quickly. It is a very arduous process. This is the kind of nightmare we all are afraid of. However, with the daily backup facility, all the data is at your disposal.
While technological advancement is a boon and it makes you dependent. On the other hand, it has its disadvantages also. Technology, if not used properly, can be responsible for the devastation of any business. But, when there is a situation where due to any technical error, your data is deleted or altered, how will you manage to retrieve the correct data.
In fact, at the time of crisis or catastrophic conditions like fire, earthquake and flood, etc., can completely destroy your business infrastructures.
The damage can be irreparable. And no software or tool can retrieve the lost data unless you have an online backup of your corporate or business data. We are giving you a few such examples where you will understand the intricacies of the business frauds and losses that can cause a high damage to your business.
- Your office or workplace can be robbed by some burglars, and they can steal all the expensive equipment, such as laptops, PCs, hard drives and other hardware.
- An employee of the company can misplace the official laptop during a business trip, and it is lost.
- A resentful employee may delete or alter the crucial information and files.
- The hardware may be infected by dangerous virus or malware attack, and you are not able to access the required digital information.
Above are the few examples of some common business disasters. And however, you take every precaution for the crisis management, still sometimes you come to a point where nothing can be done.
That is the reason why online backup services and solutions are designed to store your data irrespective of any hardware dependency. So, even if your device is damaged or lost, you do not need to worry about your vital information being lost. You just need to press the automatic sync button of your online backup service, and all your necessary data will be stored online.
And in case, you are interested in only file storage in the cloud, then read on for the leading cloud storage services.
Make your data disaster proof through the online backup services and solutions, and you will always have your data kept safely at a secondary location. When a business opts for an online backup service, their digital information is kept safe at reliable server present off-shore. Whether there is an issue with the system, or hardware is destroyed or stolen, this stored digital information can be accessed without any trouble.
Our Tried and Tested Premium Online Backup Solutions Detailed Comparison : SugarSync Vs JustCloud Vs CrashPlan Vs Zoolz Vs BackBlaze
We are giving you our selected online backup services that we believe are perfect for any website. We are also providing you with the pricing, and pros and cons of each of these solutions along with the fundamental features.
Below are our picks for the best online backup services. Along with the list of pros and cons for each service, we are also offering their various plans with the pricing of each one of them.
SugarSync online backup service is our first choice of the day. It is one of the best online backup services because of its feature to sync across all the remote devices. It offers you full-time live backup automatically. This service ensures that all the devices such as laptops, PCs, mobile phones, and tablets are synced together. Along with this feature, it also provides real-time backup 24*7, without any interruption.
In fact, once you have done all the settings, no scheduling is required afterward. While this backup program is seamless, it stores five versions of every file that have been changed very recently so as to save you from hassles, in a case you store the wrong version by mistake.
The only disadvantage is that SugarSync does not provide any phone number to contact them for support. However, we have heard of a few complaints only, regarding their services. So, perhaps, you might never need the customer support service. Most people sign up straight and begin their backup procedures without any issue.
Pros- It takes the backup of every file or folder present in the mentioned location.
- Any alterations in the files or folders are uploaded in real time.
- It is compatible with remote or mobile devices.
- You do not need any Linux support to sync your data through SugarSync.
- No contact details for customer support
The SugarSync offers you a free trial for 30 days. Its other payment plans are mentioned below:
- 100 GB data for $7.49 per month or $74.99 per year
- 250 GB data for $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year
- 500 GB data $24.99 per month or $249.99 per year
- 1000 GB data $55.99 per month or $550 per year
SugarSync also offers customized plans for its esteemed customers as per their business requirements, which is a big plus point.
Justcloud is a user-friendly backup service, which is easy to understand. It offers both cloud storage as well as regular backup services. You just need to select the files to be backed up. JustCloud saves every alteration done during the editing process on new records and documents. While space for the syncing of the files is restricted, the storage space is unlimited. JustCloud renders its clients with the mobile application also. Check Justcloud Review
The setup of the Justcloud is easy to install. Once installed, you can quickly begin with the online backup process. The web-enabled desktop client, control panel as well as the mobile application, all work in unison. It also offers you the drag-and-drop sync facility that provides you access to every file present on the multiple devices.
The interface along with the storage application, are easy to use and you can access any backed up digital information without any hassles. It also keeps all the information handy, such as storage device, time of storage and the amount of data saved. JustCloud offers an innate application design that helps you glide through the backup and search processes.
Justcloud has a wide variety of features to offer for an efficient cloud storage service. Backup options are one significant feature provided by the JustCloud. You can schedule these backups as per your needs and business engagements on daily, weekly as well as monthly basis. There is a facility of automatic backup also, which makes it easy if you change any backed up file or folder.
This backup service offers a double layered security to protect your digital information, even during the gap between the scheduled backups that are automatically set.
Although taking backup of a system consumes a large amount of bandwidth, this web-based storage service allows you to set the maximum bandwidth to be used for the backup process of your system. This helps you to limit your bandwidth to control the excess usage of the services offered by your service provider. E.g., you can restrict your bandwidth to 1 GB a day or 20 GB a month for the uploading of the data for storage.
While this online backup service claims to offer unlimited file storage to its clients, it is mentioned in terms of service that in case, your data limit exceeds 500 GB, the company is entitled to terminate or cap the services offered. Hence, in case, you have more than 500 GB data to back up, you need to consider about this service.
Pros- Easy to use and comprehend
- Drag and drop facility to sync files and folders
- Automatic syncing across different storage hardware devices
- Powerful encryption to provide better security to the stored data
- Simplified process for the sharing of various files and folders
Justcloud offers various great payment plans for their clients. These include:
- Home or Pro with up to 75 GB data storage facility: Payment of $8.69 per month. An amount of $134.64 can also be paid for two years
- Premium with up to 250 GB data storage facility: Payment of $9.94 per month. You can also pay an amount of $148.55 for two years
- Ultimate with up to 1 TB data storage facility: Payment of $12.44 per month or a lump sum of $208.56 for two years
- Business Plan with 100 GB unlimited data usage and users up to 5 computers: Payment of $35.94 per month and additional charges of $4.95 per extra computer or 100 GB data usage
- Enterprise Plan includes 500 GB for unlimited users up to 5 computers: Payment of $71.94/month with an extra payment of $4.95 for every additional computer or 100 GB data usage
It is comparatively a new entrant in the online backup service market and is earning a reputation for itself quickly. The company has also released BackBlaze 2.0 recently, with the improved and distinctive features. BackBlaze offers you the facility to store almost all types of files such as DVD backup (large ISO), complete virtual OS backup such as Parallels, VM Ware as well as other virtual machines.
It also comprises of a "silent mode," in which you can store your data through "on click" only, hence, making BackBlaze free from the resources of the system. It means that under silent mode, BackBlaze do not use any system resource.
This makes it a perfect online backup solution for performance based resources such as gaming and video playing. Once you have finished your task, you can resume the service and switch off the silent mode.
Pros- Facility to backups large ISO
- Entirely virtual based backup
- Silent mode for not using system resources
- Does not support Linux platform
- Does not include peer to peer file sharing
- Does not have any synchronization facility
There are only two plans available in the market:
- Personal Plan with unlimited data storage: Payment of $5 every month or $50 annually
- Business Plan with unlimited data storage: Payment of $5 every month for a single user or $ 50 per year.
It provides the facility of unlimited storage for lifetime, to its users and backups all your data stored in devices such as PC, network drives, and external drives, etc. the special feature offered by Zoolz is the lifetime data storage facility. It does not delete or remove your data after a particular period. This unique feature of Zools distinguishes it from the other competitors in the market. Check Out Zoolz Review & Zoolz Coupon
Zoolz is one of the most inexpensive cloud backup solutions available in the market and uses Amazon cold storage system known as Glacier. This Amazon Glacier offers file storage at lower prices. While it is a complicated setup, Zoolz simplifies it before offering this system to their customers.
Pros- It is a very secure as well as reliable service.
- Its pricing is very affordable for every pocket along with the flexible plans even for large businesses.
- Complete users management
- It handles entire user management.
- There is a facility of data storage for the lifetime.
- It offers unlimited backup
- It provides user-friendly file sharing system.
- It takes a few hours for retrieving files.
- It has Compatibility with Windows only.
Its different payment plans are as given below:
- Basic Plan: $14.99 for one year and 100 GB data storage for one user only with no external drive backup. It offers standard customer support to its clients with basic plans.
- Plus Plan: $49.99 for one year and 500 GB data storage facility for three users and one network or external drive.
- Family Plan: $79.99 for one year and 1000 GB data storage facility for five users and three network drives.
- Heavy Plan: $299.99 for one year and 4000 GB data storage facility for five users with unlimited external drives.
Zoolz offers superior customer support for its family plan and Heavy plan clients. Only Zoolz users have the facility to collaborate with each other.
It is a web-based backup service that stores all your digital information automatically. It encrypts all your data for better safety of your information. CrashPlan does not restrict the storage of file of any size.
Code42 started Crashplan online storage service in 2007. The Crashplan is a leading backup service with an excellent reputation in the industry. This service offered by Code42 comes in various packages. These are:
- CrashPlan
- CrashPlanPRO, and
- CrashPlan Enterprise
Though the firm was inaugurated in the year 2001 as a software development company, gradually it moved to backup and storage industry and made a name there. The company has a significant experience in the backup services business and provides these services to various individuals as well as businesses.
Crashplan offers three types of packages to its customers, and they all comprises of different features. However, the greatest difference is their encryption techniques. While the home package is provided with the 448-bit encryption, the business packages offer AES-256 encryption for the better security of sensitive corporate information.
While Crashplan's major clients are because of online backup solutions, it also deals with other services such as storage of data from the external hardware and other devices like mobile phones, tablets, etc. for its existing online backup application clients.
This is an additional feature offered by the company for the security of the data against the network related issues that can cause some serious information loss.
Crashplan claims that the backup space provided is unlimited for all the plans other than the basic package. It also offers the facility to schedule the backups just like any other backup application. However, it facilitates the users to set the priority of the data to be backed up, which is an advantage for businesses that want to secure crucial data before anything else for the better safety.
The restoring of the files is a straightforward and quick process, mainly because of the unlimited storage for the different versions of files and folders. But one thing we can say for sure that your data is safe with them.
One more important point about the Crashplan is that they let their users keep the track of all the stored files through a linked account. The tracks, however, can be protected if you disable the history.
The minimum payment plan offered by the Crashplan is $6 a month, which makes it available for every type of business or home. This online backup service also provides local backups and is easy to use and install for anyone.
Pros- It provides 448-bit as well as 256-AES encryptions.
- The service offers a facility to store unlimited recent versions of files.
- It is compatible with Windows phones and iOS also along with Android phones.
- The company offers unlimited storage for every computer linked to the system.
- Crashplan also supports Linux, OS X, Mac, and Windows.
- The files that are stored in the Crashplan can be accessed from every supported device
- It has a user-friendly and comprehensive user interface.
- The company refunds the unused months if you pay a yearly amount.
Cons
- At times it is hard to find any accurate data.
- It only offers virtual backup services.
- There is no sync or file share feature provided by Crashplan.
- It offers very few features for the mobile users.
- Its web portal is difficult to search.
Crashplan offers various plans to their clients that are mentioned below:
- Individual Plan that includes one computer: Payment $5.99 per month or $59.99 annually
- Family Plan that includes 2-10 computers: Payment of $13.99 per month or $149.99 annually
- Business Plan: Payment of $10 per month for single user
We have discussed best online backup services available in the market with the kind of features they offer, their strength, weaknesses, and pricing as well. Which is your favorite cloud storage backup services form SugarSync Vs JustCloud Vs CrashPlan Vs Zoolz Vs BackBlaze.
Our Top recommendations here
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While some of the backup companies provide flexible plans, others offer unlimited storage for a lifetime on affordable prices. Some of them provide premium customer services; others may not have a customer contact number at all. You can compare all these online backup services and take your decision based on the size of your business.
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We hope that we have been able to simplify this information for you to understand these web-based backup services and this article will help you to select the apt service as per your requirement.
For detailed information, please comment below or contact us.