Are Unlimited Online Backup Services Really Unlimited?

Data storage and backup are becoming more and more important as our lives become more and more digital. The average computer user has at least a couple gigabytes of important data that mustn’t be lost. However, very few people actually think about backing up their data, let alone backing it up in the cloud. There is also a common misconception that it is enough to have a single backup on a secondary disk or external hard drive. While this is the first step it is like going to the doctor and only taking one of the several medications she prescribed.

That’s where off-site backup comes into play. Off-site can mean several things; for example, you can backup your data on an external hard drive and put it somewhere other than your home. But “off-site” can also mean online or “in the cloud.” There are countless online backup services — several of which have already been covered here at BenchFly — but in this article I’ll set my sights on so called “unlimited” online backup services. I’ll dig a little deeper and show you that not all “unlimited” data storage and backup services are created equal, and what you should keep in mind when choosing one.

Why use unlimited online backup in the first place?

Before we dive into the world of unlimited online backup providers, I’d like to explain why one would even need unlimited data backup. Nobody has unlimited amounts of data, right? While that is true, you don’t need hundreds of gigabytes to make those services worthwhile. Storage prices have decreased dramatically due to the high level of competition in this niche; and each company is doing their best to offer us as consumers attractive prices that are hard to resist. Nowadays, you can get unlimited online backup for as low as $5 per month, or even less if you’re willing to commit to a longer membership period. So for the price of a caffè latte per month, you can enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your data is safe.

How can those services offer unlimited storage space?

Another interesting question I hear a lot is: How is it possible for those providers to offer unlimited online backup? Obviously, offering unrestricted data backup is a nice claim that draws the attention of lots of customers. But it is based on the simple assumption that the majority of people will only backup a couple of gigabytes, while only a tiny majority will backup more than a terabyte. So, the company earns money off of one customer and loses money off the other. As long as the people backing up fewer files outnumber those who backup large quantities, this remains a sustainable business model.

Overview of unlimited online backup services

Now that we’ve covered our bases, let’s delve right into the thick of things by taking a look at the service providers that currently offer unlimited online backup, and what “unlimited” means to them. We’ll soon discover that the term “unlimited” can be interpreted differently as you look at it from different angles. The “unlimited” segment of the online backup market is still quite small, so I’ll only be looking at 5 services today.

Carbonite is one of the “big players” in online backup. In fact, you’ve probably heard about Carbonite on some radio commercial or seen it on the Internet, because they invest heavily in growth and thus do a lot of marketing. Together with Mozy, they were one of the first to offer unlimited storage of files; however, Mozy discontinued its unlimited offering a while ago.

Carbonite offers unlimited online backup for $59 per year. Unfortunately, there are no monthly plans available, but you can test the service for 15 days for free. And while it is nearly impossible to get a full initial backup done in 15 days, you can still access and restore your files before that initial backup is complete.

Now, is Carbonite really unlimited? Unfortunately, the answer is no. There are some caps built into the system which might be a deal breaker for those looking to backup more than 200GB — allow me to explain:

Carbonite implements a bandwidth throttle of 2 mbit/s, so even if you have a 10 mbit/s upstream, you won’t be able to use it all. Furthermore, they limit your upsteam even more aggressively to 512 kbit/s if you’re backing up more than 35GB; and if you surpass 200GB you can only upload at a measly 100 kbit/s. You see that “unlimited” comes with a catch here. While many users won’t ever backup more than 35 GB, the ones who do will be very unhappy to know that their backup will take a year to complete.

If you’re looking for cheap unlimited online storage then Carbonite might be an option; but only if you don’t care how much time it takes to complete your backup.

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Livedrive has one of the most interesting offers if you have more than one machine that needs backing up. While many services offer unlimited online backup, they only do so for one machine; any more requires an upgrade. With Livedrive, you get unlimited storage for as low as $7.95 per month for up to 5 machines, making it the cheapest option of the providers I’ve tested provided you actually have 5 machines you need backed up. They also claim to have neither bandwidth throttling nor file size restrictions in place.

So all in all Livedrive seems like a sound offer, right? Technically yes, but in my testing I found some reliability issues with restoring: sometimes it just wouldn’t restore my files correctly. That being said, they do offer a 14-day free trial, so you should certainly test this out for yourself.

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JustCloud is one of the youngest online backup services in this industry. They run (as many other online backup and syncing services) on Amazon servers, which makes them both fast and reliable in terms of upload speed and restore reliability. Currently, I have 400GB of data with them, and I have yet to experience any problems.

There are some downsides, however, that can’t be ignored: For example, they limit the maximum file size to 3GB, which can be a deal breaker for video producers or podcasters who frequently work with larger files than that. Also, they clearly state in their TOS that they reserve the right to charge for overages. The question is: what do they consider excessive use? and how much do they charge? There are, unfortunately, no answers available to these questions. As I said, I keep around 400GB with them and I haven’t run into problems; but this could be a slippery slope for people with lots of data.

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Like Carbonite, Crashplan is also one of the bigger players in this business, and rightfully so; their product is just great. Offering unlimited online backup for as low as $2.95 (if you’re willing to commit to a 4-year period) it is clearly one of the cheaper options out there. What I like about Crashplan is that I couldn’t find any restrictions. No bandwidth throttle, no file size cap — just easy backup, plain and simple.

Crashplan even offers some gems, such as the ability use their software for free to make a local backup to an external hard drive. Another feature that makes Crashplan unique is their free peer-to-peer backup, which allows you to backup to a friend’s machine if he also uses Crashplan. So you can get an onsite and off-site backup for free (unless your friend gets greedy and starts charging you).

The only downside I noticed is rather slow backup speed; but this is probably because I am based in Berlin, Germany while their servers are in the US. I never surpass 3 megabit/s, which is alright but translates to about 6 – 8 weeks for a 1 TB backup. If this is too long for you, you can send in an external hard drive (up to 1TB) to seed your backup in just a couple of days for an additional fee.

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Backblaze is the easiest online backup service out there. After downloading the software, it just backs up everything. If you don’t want to backup some files, you have to put them on a file exclusion list. This makes Backblaze the best backup solution if you don’t want to think about your backup or geek around with your setup (as I like to do). That being said, if you are a geek then you might find Backblaze “too easy” and a little restricting.

Backblaze is also very quick at both uploading and downloading (restoring) files. Backblaze (note the second lowercase “b”) used to have a file size limitation of up to 9 GB, but with their version 2.0 they’ve made it completely unlimited, doing away with bandwidth throttle at the same time. I have interviewed the CEO, Gleb Budman, in my podcast and I absolutely trust those guys with my data. I use it as my secondary backup, and it runs so quietly in the background that I often forget that it’s there.

What about sync?

Many people ask me: Mauricio, what about sync? It’s a good question, because it is very important to separate the concepts of backup and file sync. I would never use, for example, Dropbox as my main backup because it would be too expensive. However, it is the perfect companion to the unlimited online backup services I mentioned above. So here’s my recommendation: get a solid online storage and backup service, and combine it with a well known syncing service if you find yourself needing one.

There are providers like JustCloud and Livedrive that combine online backup and syncing, but I didn’t find it very smooth, and syncing was always a little laggy.

I hope I’ve provided you with some insight into the world of “unlimited” cloud storage and backup providers, and you now understand that they are not always as unlimited as they claim to be. In fact, in some cases the “unlimited” badge is downright misleading. So read carefully before signing up. A great tip is to search google by typing: “site:nameoftheprovider.com throttle”; What this does is search only on the provider’s domain for the word throttle, saving you the time it would take to scour through a lot of useless information and marketing talk.

Mauricio Prinzlau is the owner of Cloudbackuping.com, a website providing high quality reviews and video guides on a plethora of online backup companies, while also publishing daily news about the cloud storage industry.

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Disclaimer: BenchFly is not affiliated with any of these services and has no vested interest — other than making sure your data is safe — in your decision whether to use them or not.

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