Ben Moore Michael Muchmore The Best Online Backup Services for 2019 Whether from accidental deletion, hard drive failure, or ransomware, data loss occurs more often than you might think. You need to protect your PC with one of the best online backup services, and our guide can help you choose. Secure Your Data With Online Backup Software You can either tear out your hair when a disaster strikes your data or you can prepare for it ahead of time. But that disaster is going to happen eventually, either way. An online backup service is one of the best ways to protect yourself against the loss of precious data, whether it's the result of a crashed hard drive or an unintentional deletion. Natural disasters such as fires, floods, and earthquakes can also spell the end of your digital media and documents. Even if you're among the very few who diligently perform local backups at regular intervals, you could still lose data if you don't store backups offsite.

For sharing and storage of document and data files, regardless of application, then a service like DropBox is necessary. For comprehensive off-site backup, then CrashPlan or similar is the better choice. For my needs, the free iCloud and DropBox accounts are enough.

Online backup services scan your hard drive for files worthy of protecting, encrypt them for security, and send them up to the cloud. There's no such place as 'the cloud' of course; this just means powerful, secure, and high-storage-capacity remote server computers attached to the internet with fast connections.

Once your files are stored on those online servers, you can access and restore your data from anywhere, should a file go missing or a hard drive crash unexpectedly. Most services also let you view and download your files from a web browser or mobile device. Though there's some overlap, online backup services shouldn't be confused with like Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive. Those services do store files in the cloud, but they aren't designed to automatically protect all important documents and media files, let alone system files.

Their strategy is generally to sync just one folder with all its subfolders to the cloud, and in some cases to offer online document editing. Many backup services now offer similar folder-syncing capabilities, but few syncing services offer full-scale backup functionality. How Much Does Online Backup Cost? Since you're probably going to be paying for a backup service for years, you should pay attention to its cost before you sign up. They're all subscription-based, but the services partition their features and fees differently, so it's worth comparing plans closely before committing to one. Most construct pricing tiers based on the amount of cloud storage included, however, or by the number of devices you can use with an account.

Some backup services list a low monthly price, but these rates often only apply if you commit to a one- or two-year contract. Others offer free accounts, but they also tend to impose paltry storage limits or restrict key features to the paid versions. Create a Backup Set and Schedule Uploads Backup services vary widely in how they set up and perform backups. For example, the totally hands-free Backblaze automatically encrypts and uploads all your important files without any input. Print creativity software for mac. On the other hand, services such as IDrive and SpiderOak ONE, let you choose specific files you want from a file tree.

Some services restrict you from backing up specific file types or using particular sources. For example, some don't let you protect system and program files, while others don't let you back up items from an external or network drive. If you have any of those needs, make sure the service you choose supports them. Acronis True Image, for example, can back up your entire hard drive and any external drives—the best protection against a total system failure or a local disaster that takes out all your hardware. There are two main ways a service can determine when files should be sent up to its servers for safekeeping. The first is by using a fixed schedule, such as once a day, week, or month. The second, which we prefer, is to upload file changes as you make changes locally, in a continuous backup setup.