Best Online Backup Service for Personal Files
Summary: If you’re like most people, the majority of your files and photos aren’t in albums or cabinets – they’re on your hard drive.
The problem is, once that hard drive gets damaged or stolen, the files are gone for good.
An online backup service can keep you from losing your files in the split second it takes for an accident to happen.
By copying and uploading your files to their remote servers, an online backup service makes sure that even if your device is gone, your personal files aren’t.
For the best protection and online backup for your personal files, get iDrive now.
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Why Are My Files at Risk?
With smartphones and digital cameras to take all of our photographs, it’s a rare occurrence for those memories to actually see the light of day in print form.
Most of us have hundreds of files and photos saved on our computers and devices, and surprisingly, most people don’t have them backed up in any way.
If this is the case, if your device is ever damaged, stolen, lost, or infected with a virus, those files, those photos, they’re all gone – for good.
It’s a devastating loss that most people don’t consider until it’s too late. It’s time to break the mold and start backing up our files, people.
How Does Online Backup Work?
When you sign up for an online backup service, you’re provided with a link to a download for their software.
Once installed, the program will immediately begin walking you through the initial backup process, which often starts by backing up your entire system automatically.
When the program backs up your files, it essentially copies them and uploads them somewhere else, to their secure data center, where they are then encrypted and stored.
The idea isn’t to delete the originals to free up space, but to ensure that if the files are ever lost or compromised, there still exists copies to recover them.
Top 3 Online Backup Services for Personal Files
Online backup services are very easy to use, but come with a variety of features for securing and storing your personal files.
Here are a few of the most popular ones, and what they have to offer with their service plans.
#1 Choice: iDrive – 9.5/10 – Back up any device at a great price
So many of us have files on everything from our tablets to our laptops, so a backup service that can back up all of them is ideal.
iDrive is one of the few whose software not only works on every operating system, but also allows you to back up mobile devices.
Their mobile apps also allow you to sync your account, so you can access all of your backed up files anytime, anywhere.
iDrive is also one of the few backup services that has a feature allowing their users to discreetly share personal files.
Just set up a folder, set parameters for access, and use the link they provide you with to share its contents with your friends and family.
It’s a great option for families that want to share photos without posting them on social media.
Another big plus with iDrive is your security.
Not only do they secure your files with military-grade encryption, but they also give you the option of setting a private encryption key, so that even they can’t access your files.
Plus, they’re one of the only companies that doesn’t employ third parties and has multiple data centers for geo redundancy.
iDrive even has a remote wipe feature, so if your device is stolen, you can actually remotely delete everything off of it, so none of your personal information falls into the wrong hands.
With 1 TB of storage space per personal account at less than $45 per year, iDrive is the absolute best deal for securing and backing up your personal files.
For the best backup service for your personal files, get iDrive now.
#2: CrashPlan – 7/10 – Can’t back up mobile devices
If you have a lot of files and photos stored on your tablet or smartphone, keep in mind that CrashPlan’s mobile apps don’t allow you to back them up.
While you can sync and access them on the go, their software is only designed to back up external hard drives and computers.
However, with unlimited storage space, file versioning, and recovery, CrashPlan definitely has something to offer that other companies don’t.
The name of the game here is unlimited everything – nothing you ever modify or delete from your backed up files is ever gone for good.
Plus, like iDrive you can back up your external hard drives to protect those files as well.
CrashPlan also comes with a remote wipe feature, military grade encryption, and a private encryption key option for ultra-secure file backup, though they aren’t geo redundant like iDrive.
There are also no third parties involved with storing or securing your files, so they’re all completely private.
Keep in mind that their software isn’t nearly as user-friendly as iDrive’s and is more expensive.
CrashPlan can be found at this website.
#3: Acronis– 5/10 – Not the best for protecting privacy
Acronis is definitely not my favorite backup service, and they’re not a company I recommend much. Their service comes with unlimited storage space and no file type restrictions.
However, their terms of service leave some serious questions to be answered about just who has access to your files and when.
If you do go with Acronis, be sure to set up a private encryption key.
In addition, this company requires a ton of personal information to set up even a free account – we’re talking first and last name, phone number, physical address – it’s borderline creepy.
Also, though storage space is unlimited with Acronis, there is absolutely no recovering a deleted file.
On top of all of this, Acronis isn’t ideal for people who need to back up their person files on Mac computers – their service for Macs is a $25 price jump.
And get this, they only provide 24/7 support to premium users.
Given the ridiculous amount of price gouging and privacy invasion that goes with Acronis, it’s definitely safe to say you’re much better off using iDrive to back up your personal files.
Acronis is here.
Conclusion: Use iDrive for Secure Backup Anytime, Anywhere
Backing up your personal files is something you should have done yesterday, but if you’re just getting around to it, here’s the short list of what you need:
- plenty of storage space
- mobile device backup
- excellent customer support
- secure, geo redundant file storage
- affordable yearly rates
The only company that has all of these features is iDrive, and at a great price to boot.
Don’t wait until it’s too late – start backing up your irreplaceable memories and personal files with iDrive today.
