True Story: In 2007 I lost months of irreplacable emails, documents and photos when my hard drive failed.
This is my story...

What is stored on your computer?

I have business records, web sites, software programs, record collection, videos, and thousands of emails, documents, and receipts dating back to 1998.

I also have over 17,000 digital photographs dating back to 2000. Those photos represent years of special memories such as holidays, birthdays, my wedding, and the birth of my son.

In total I have 137,000 documents (94.5 Gigabytes of data) on my computer! I can't imagine losing all that. It would be devastating. But that is what would happen if my hard drive failed and I didn't have a backup. And it almost happened!

I Could Have Lost Years of Valuable Data

During the first few years of owning a computer I didn't backup my computer, so I was lucky that my hard drive didn't fail. But I wasn't going to play against lady luck any longer. I wised up and purchased a removable hard drive and backed up my data regularly.

Backing up onto a removable hard drive involved running a backup software program. This took considerable time and I couldn't use the computer while the backup was running so I would only do it once a month.

In February 2007 my backup drive suddenly stopped working. The data was fine, I just couldn't back up any new data. I meant to get a new backup drive but I was so busy with work that I kept on putting it off.

My Computer's Hard Drive Failed

During the next couple of months, every so often, my computer would crash while I was using it and present me with the infamous blue screen of death. Sound familiar? I stupidly didn't take much notice.

Then one day in May my computer wouldn't start. You know that feeling when your car doesn't start, and you're out somwhere? Yup - it's that same awful feeling.

I rebooted the computer several times, but it still wouldn't start. There wasn't much I could do.

So I found what I thought was the best hard drive data recovery specialist in the area. I removed the hard drive from my computer and carefully drove half an hour to their offices with the hard drive on the passenger seat. I carefully walked up to their office with my sick hard drive in my arms.

They took my hard drive and told me they would run a special program on it to try to recover the data. The program would run for days and they wouldn't know the results until it had finished.

They told me to go home and wait for their call. It was kind of surreal, like something out of Grey's Anatomy or E/R.

Days went by and still no word from the data recovery specialists - the wait was agonizing. Finally after a week they called to tell me the devastating news - they could not recover any data from the hard drive. My backup drive was well and truly dead. I could go to their office to pick up the backup drive or they could courier it to me.

I Got Lucky - But I May Not Be So Lucky Next Time

The upside of the story is that I had backed up most of my data on the backup drive so I only lost a few months of emails, documents and photos.

But what if next time someone breaks into my home and steals my computer AND the backup drive? Not only would I lose all the data on my computer's hard drive but also on the backup drive.

This unfortunately happened to director, Francis Ford Coppola. In September 2007, thieves stole not only his computers but also his backup device. The director lost 15 years of valuable data, from writings to family photos.

Or what if a virus wipes out valuable data on my hard drive and my backup drive? Or what if my house catches fire, or my home got flooded, or a plane lands on it (I live under a flight path)? The tragic events of 9-11 showed us that tragedy could strike anywhere and you could lose all your valuable data if it's only stored in one location.

I Now Use a Backup Drive AND Online Backup

I was determined never to go through that experience again. So I decided to back up my computer's data on a backup drive AND an online backup service. This way, no matter what happens to my computer or backup drive, I would still have all my valuable data backed up in a secure location.

I highly recommend online backups for these reasons:

• Automatic, regular backups without you having to lift a finger.
• Online backup is designed to operate in the background so as not to slow down your computer or internet connection while you are actively using your computer.
• You may backup all of your files or only selected files.
• It only backs up files that have been added or changed, hence requires minimal amount of time.
• Online backup software securely encrypts (128-bit SSL encryption - the same technology used by banks) your data before they leave your computer so no one can see them while they're being transmitted to secure online servers.
• Your stored data is secured by 448-bit Blowfish encryption.
• You are able to access your data from anywhere in the world.
• Online backup offers unlimited storage for about $5 per month for personal use.

Do You Really Get Unlimited Storage?

Yes! Well, maybe not quite unlimited but so far the promise of 'unlimited storage' is living up to its promise.

I have a whopping 94.5 gigabytes of data, or 137,000 files, on my computer. I have backed up all that data on a backup drive and two separate online backup services; Carbonite and Mozy (all links open in new tabs/windows)

Why two online backup services?

Because I used to have a Windows PC so I used the best online backup service available at the time, Carbonite.

After my hard drive died I decided it was time to switch to an Apple Mac. At the time, Carbonite wasn't available for the Mac (it is now). So I signed up to the best online backup service for the Mac, Mozy. I stopped backing up data to Carbonite but I decided to keep the Carbonite backup just in case.

Online Backup Services to Buy

There are many online backup services to choose from. Some offer unlimited storage while others charge for each gigabyte you use.

HP Upline, Omnidrive, and Xdrive are some of the well known online backup services that have closed down recently, so it is very important to choose one that will still be around five or ten years from now.

For this reason the table below only shows two companies that offer unlimited storage for a low monthly or annual fee, and has good management and financial backing.

Both Carbonite and Mozy fit all those criterias. I have used both online backup services for years and I love them both!

• Carbonite has 125 employees and received about $47 million in venture capital funding.
• Mozy has over one million customers and is owned by the EMC Corporation, a NYSE publicy traded company with a market cap of $25 billion.

Special Offer: Mozy Coupon Code

For this month only, enter this promotion code, 'JULY', into the sign up form for 10% OFF any one or two year MozyHome subscription, or a MozyPro subscription.

What About Online Backup for Business Users?

Online backup plans for business users offer slightly better service and quicker support, but you typically have to pay a lot more for the privilege.

• Carbonite doesn't offer a separate plan for business users.
• MozyPro
  • Desktop: $3.95 + $0.50/GB per month.
  • Server: $6.95 + $0.50/GB per month.

Other Online Backup Services

Here are some other online backup services that you might like to consider.

• Data Deposit Box: $2/GB.
• IBackup: From $9.95/mth for 10GB to $299.95 for 300GB.
• IDrive: 2Gb free (IDrive Basic), $4.95/mth for 150GB (IDrive Pro for Personal Use), and from $9.95/mth for 50GB to $49.95/mth for 500GB (IDrive Pro for Business).
• Intronis: 2GB free + $2.99/GB per mth (Business)
• iStorage: From $5.99/mth for 1GB to $49.95/mth for 15Gb (iStorage Home), and from $9.99/mth for 1GB to $99.99/mth for 25GB.
• KeepIt: $4.95/mth (KeepIt Unlimited) and $3.95 + $0.50/GB per mth, per computer (KeepIt Pro).
• Norton online Backup: $25GB for $49.99.

Still Not Convinced? Check Out These Facts!

• 140,000 hard drives crash each week in the U.S. alone (Mozy)
• 1 in 4 PC users suffer from data loss each year. (Gartner Group)
• 43% of people lose irreplaceable files every year (Carbonite)
• 7 of 10 small firms that experience a major data loss go out of business within a year (DTI/PriceWaterhouse Coopers)
• One in every ten hard drives fail each year (Mozy)
• 15% of all laptops are stolen or suffer hard drive failures (Gartner Group)
• Only 3 out of 100 stolen laptops are ever recovered (Carbonite)
• Study showed typical annual replacement rates of between 2% and 4%, and up to 13% observed on some systems. (PC World)

Don't become part of those statistics!

Summary

I sincerely hope you protect your valuable data today by backing it up online. You never know what could happen to your data tomorrow. Please don't put it off for another day or you may regret your decision when your hard drive fails and you lose all your precious photos, emails and documents.

Think of online backup as insurance for your data. We all buy car, home, health, and life insurance. Why not data insurance? It's just as valuable, and you can buy it for just $5 a month.

I have used Carbonite and Mozy for years and I love them both! They keep my valuable data safe and are very affordable. So I highly recommend that you backup your valuable data with one of those services.

They both offer similar services and cost about the same so there's not much to choose between them. Take them both for a free trial to make up your own mind. You may even decide to use both like I do just to be on the safe side.

If you like to check out all 9 online backup services without having to click on each link individually, click here to open 9 web sites in new tabs.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Wong

P.S. If you found my online backup story useful, please share it with your friends by tweeting it and linking to it from your web site or blog. Thanks.

Here is an example link (Feel free to edit it as you see fit):

<a href="http://www.myonlinebackupstory.com">My Online Backup Story</a>: A true story of how Michael turned to backing up his data online after losing months of emails, documents and photos when his hard drive failed.