Photojojo is usually a pretty interesting photo-related site/blog, but they had me shaking their head with their effusive recommendation of Backblaze for computer backup,
Backblaze is the best online backup tool we’ve ever used.
Why we love it:
- No DVDs, no hard drives to mess with
- Backups happen invisibly as soon as files are added
- $5/month, no matter how big your hard drive
- Won’t slow down your computer. Really.
- Your online backup can’t be lost or stolen
- Download your backed up files anytime (of course) or have them overnighted to you on DVDs or a hard drive (spiffy!)
Sigh. Okay, here’s the deal — if you really think these service that offer unlimited data backup for ridiculously low prices are sustainable, you might as well go all the way and send your life savings to Bernie Madoff for those consistent 8-10 percent annual returns.
And, no, I’m not suggesting Backblaze or other services like it are fraudulent. In fact I give Backblaze credit because they are very upfront about their business model,
How Can You Backup Everything Online For Just $5 per Month?
We have developed a highly efficient storage system that enables us to optimize how we store data. And we’re counting on some people having a lot of data and others not very much, but that it will work out on average.
Backblaze also has some interesting upselling options including offering to send users DVDs and hard drive backups of their data which is a very nice option to have.
Who knows, it could work out for them. But this is an extremely crowded space at the moment and we’re presumably talking about extremely important files. I’m not sure I’d want to count on a service that’s counting on a certain usage pattern and that is competing against any number of firms counting on exactly the same thing.
Personally I think asking “what’s the cheapest online backup option” is not a good way to think about backups. Rather, I’d start by imagining all of your data has been wiped out today — how much would you be willing to pay to recover that data? Then discount that price over time based on your income and other backup options you’re using.
Maybe ultimately backing up all your data is really only worth $5/month. If so, Backblaze certainly seem like an interesting service to explore. Otherwise, I’d look elsewhere (I’m using an Amazon S3-based system, but the caveat is I pay $50-$60/month for the 300+gb I’ve got stored there).
Excellent points here. Many online backup and file sharing sites will ‘give away the house’ to attract customers, make little to no money, and then fold up when they realize that there is no way they are going to recoup their costs for the massive bandwidth required, hardware, office space, salaries, marketing budget, etc.
MediaMax is a prime example. They gave away 25GB and signed up a lot of customers. Then folded. XDrive has closed up shop. OrbitFiles is “for sale” for sale.
To make money is this business, you need subscription revenue and ad revenue. And if you have been in the web advertising business, you know that ad revenue is a very weak source unless your site is huge and branded. Advertising giant “free space” attracts the ‘cheap’ customers who will use your service (use you) but never pay. They will chew up your bandwidth and the paying customers will suffer as transfer speeds go down.
The ideal model is to allow customers to take your service for a “free spin” with a reasonable amount of free storage (1GB to 5GB). If the free space is large enough that they can storage all their photos, videos, and personal files, the customer will never upgrade.
The online backup sites have robust upload and download and offer options like unattended backup operation and 128-bit encryption. Many lack high-quality sharing facilities though. Then you have the “file drop” type sites that make it easy to quickly upload a handleful of files to share, but cannot be used as online backup. These sites rarely have a high-quality upload program and rely on a “one shot” HTTP transfer operation to upload the file.
The site that blends online backup and file sharing, is http://www.myotherdrive.com. MyOtherDrive has industrial strength backup plus advanced file sharing capabilities. They have public and private sharing. Private file sharing allows you to control who can view your shared files. Many sites only offer public sharing to view your files. Most people don’t need the whole world looking at their newborn baby photos.
Look for more consolation in this space as these companies who over-promise (too much free space) and under deliver (slow transfer) fold up shop, and the companies with sound business models continue to thrive and grow.