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WHAT COMPANIES OFFER THE BEST ONLINE BACKUP SOLUTION?
Four of the most highly regarded online backup services are: Xdrive, IBackup, First Backup and Connected Backup.
Xdrive is the easiest
to use, and the least expensive (currently $99.95/year for 5
gigabytes). It is slow to upload files, but as a result you have enough
bandwidth to browse the Web while uploading. Some users complain that
Xdrive has too many bugs, and that occasionally it fails to upload.
The other three services are in the $200 range per year for backing up 5 gigabytes of data. Ibackup is not as easy to use as Xdrive, but it is more reliable, and free to friends and colleagues for file sharing. First Backup is easy to use, but lacks common automatic backup features. Connected Backup
is easy, fast and fully automated. But because of its speed, it uses so
much bandwidth that you will not be able to surf the Web while backing
up your files.
HOW DO I PREPARE TO DO AN ONLINE BACKUP?
1. Although the best online data backup services have high security and
encryption, you may want to personally encrypt your most private data.
2. Organizing your files and folders may decrease your stress if you
ever need to do data recovery, since the online backup system you use
is likely to save your files and folders according to your current
organizational structure.
3. When you subscribe to an online backup service, make contact with a staff
member in the company to whom you can turn if you ever need immediate
help with your remote backup software.
4. Finally, after your first backup, test the recovery process to make
sure it works. If recovery fails or is too difficult to use, you may
want to choose another offsite or online backup system.
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