I had researched external CD/DVD burners (because part of the computer problems I've had is having internal burners not working...better off having an external one that won't be impacted by internal issues)...I definitely wasn't going to go with an external hard drive after the WD MyBook fiasco as well. Anyway, yadda yadda, I decided maybe Carbonite would be the ultimate way to go, just effing pay someone else to deal with my problem.
So here's my review so far...
You can a free one month trial, so thumbs-up for the cost factor so far (sort of hard to complain when worst case, you get what you pay for**). Initially you select the file or folder you want to back up, right click, then select Carbonite-->Back Up This File.
**side note: now logic would tell you that you don't pay anything for spyware or viruses, so that's not the worst case. However I would argue that someone else using your computer for malicious purposes is more like, THEY should be paying YOU...and since they're not, then that's NEGATIVE money which is even worse. So worst case with something like Carbonite is that it doesn't work...they didn't benefit from you, you didn't benefit from them.
After that Carbonite just runs in the background backing up the files, and alerts you with a little green icon when it's all done. They warn you that initially it'll take a boatload of time, and then after that as you modify files it just automatically backs up, no action needed.
Now I didn't truly take the time to assess their fine print. Online reviews warned me that you have to manually push video files (since I have zero video files on the computer in question, I didn't care). Same for executables (once again, not something I was worried about). The problem? I didn't note how you also had to manually push files over 4k in size.
I have a gazillion mp3s from my Napster days, and almost all are over 4k in size each. So here I was all happy thinking my files had finally been updated, a little ghetto green dot was placed on the mp3 folder indicating my files had been uploaded...and then I realized that it had only uploaded small playlist files.
So there was my dilemma...was I going to right-click and manually push each and every one of those mp3s? Well the moron that I am actually attempted to this, and realized that the RIAA was going to find me long before I actually finished up.
In my infinite wisdom, I decided the way to go would be to zip a given music folder, and the push the single zip file.
Riiggght. Did I mention that this was at like 2am on Saturday night? Did I mention that this is for the older computer that we used because the "good" PC's hard drive went dead, and now it's fixed but contains no personal files?
Zipping A music folder containing a zillion files over 4k each, let alone MANY folders, on a computer that moves at the speed of molasses combined with the stress of Carbonite running in the background made for a painful, PAINFUL process.
Well that's pretty much all I can review so far. The trial runs out in 2 weeks, so eventually I'll get off my fat ass to nag at my husband to carry the "good" PC upstairs so we can try the next phase: Operation Copy My Music Back To Me.
3 comments:
Sabrina, thanks for signing up for a free trial of Carbonite. It sounds like you had a pretty frustrating time trying to copy all your music files—I hope you finally were able to get the backup completed (and then get some sleep). Although it’s probably too late for you, I wanted to offer a tip for anyone reading your blog who might go through the same ordeal.
The reason Carbonite doesn’t offer automatic backup of your music and video files during the free trial is that some users have hundreds of gigabytes of music and video. Over most people's internet connections, music or video libraries take a very long time to upload (this is true for any online backup service). This being the case, for those users, it could take almost their whole free trial to finish their initial backup—and that pretty much defeats the purpose of a trial. Like you discovered, we do give you the option of manually selecting a file for backup.
For people in your situation, our customer service team would give you the following tip: You can perform a search for all your music files (search *.mp3) and then “Select All.” Once all the files are highlighted, right-click on one of the files and select “Back this up” from the Carbonite menu. As I said before, it would take a while to back everything up, but it would have saved you the trouble of zipping all the files. If you decide to subscribe to Carbonite after your free trial, we automatically back up your music files, so you wouldn’t need to go through all that. Oh and good news—the download is much faster than the upload, so you should have an easier time copying your files to your “good” computer.
Also, I wanted to correct one statement. With Carbonite, you have to manually select files that are over 4GB (not 4k) in size for backup. We try to make things as easy as possible for you—manually backing up things over 4k would be a nightmare! The reason your music wasn’t backed up was simply because it was a free trial and not because of its size.
Sorry for the frustration, but I hope this tip saves anyone else reading this in the future.
Sincerely,
Alison Mahoney
Carbonite, Inc.
www.carbonite.com
**Oops-- I apologize for misspelling your name. My fingers were moving faster than my eyes. Sorry!
Sabina, my CEO was just in my office the other day telling me that he uses Carbonite and loves it. He travels a lot with a laptop and loves not having too worry about lost files. So, Carbonite gets a thumbs up from Ed:-)
Post a Comment