Online Backup Services FAQ

You’ll often come across websites stating that they offer free online backup services, but there is of course no such thing as a free meal. Some online backup companies will let you enjoy a bite of a full course they offer to their paying customers in the form of a free trial. Many providers offer you the chance to try their online backup service, often even with full access to all of the available features, for a limited period of time. Most of them will for instance allow you to back up a tiny amount of data such as 15MB during a 14-day period. This type of account is naturally not able to provide you with the backup storage you need, but it’s very often the ideal way to test a service for yourself to check if it’s right for you. It will let you get a taste of how it must be like to use the service for all your backup needs, and afterwards you can easily upgrade your trial account to a full-blown account with all of the storage space you require.

Some providers give you nice snacks for as long as you want through the form of a free account that you can use for as long as you want. In most cases these types of accounts offer you a small amount of storage space such as 2GB with a limited amount of basic features you can use. Your data will be stored in the same highly secure storage centers as that of paying customers, but often you won’t be able to get an answer to your questions as quickly as you would if you were paying for it. A free account like this is a good way to try a backup service for a longer period of time, and can be a way to store a small amount of your most important files and folders only. If you have a lot of friends and family who might be interested in using the same type of service, you can often earn extra storage space by referring them through.

Although you can easily backup your entire system through your online backup service, there are a number of good reasons why you could prefer to only backup a selection of folders and files. When setting up the backup software you’ll be able to indicate whether you want your full system backed up or if you would like to select the files and folders that you do or do not want to have stored. These preferences can be changed at any time through the settings, and you can also manually remove folders and files either through the software or via your online account.

By backing up just the data that’s important and most indispensable, you make the initial backup performed when you set up the service shorter. It will also require less time and bandwidth for your online backup service to upload file edits or newly added data to your cloud storage. Having less data stored in your account ensures that you have a clean overview of all your most important files and folders in one convenient place. When you want to recover one specific folder and file, you’ll be able to find it a lot quicker than you would if all your data was stored in it.

Having less data to store means you can opt for a smaller backup plan, which could save you a few precious dollars. In fact, if you don’t have that much data you certainly can’t miss losing, one of the free backup accounts certain providers offer might be sufficient for your data backup needs. And if you would require more storage space in your backup account later on, you can always upgrade to a paying plan.

It would of course be best that you never need to do this, but how will you be able to restore all of your data in a quick and convenient way? It’s important to choose an online backup solution that features a full backup restore feature, you can use our backup comparison chart to verify which companies offer this in their service. When you’re taking backups of your entire system, this feature will enable you to fully to restore all of your data with just a few clicks. All you need to do in this case is install the backup software on the computer you want to restore your data on, and go through a few steps to start downloading your cloud backup. It might take up to a few days before this process is completed, all depending on how much data you’ve backed up, but once completed you’ll be able to use your computer as you did before. You could also choose to retrieve only a selection of your folders and files, or recover a part of your most important data first and retrieve the rest later.

Imagine you’re working on a few very important files that are being backed up in your cloud backup automatically, and suddenly your PC crashes just a few hours before you need to have them finished. You will want to get your work finished first instead of having to spend several hours getting your computer up and running again. In situations like these you can simply continue working on any PC, Mac or other device you can get ahold of to download the latest backed up versions of your files and continue work where you left off. You could also go to your online account with your backup service and pick up your files through the online interface. A large number of documents can even be edited from your backup account itself through the interface, should you not be able to find another PC that has the office tools you need.

You can download your data from your online backup account through the same encrypted, secure connections as you do when uploading your backups to the cloud. If the old PC from which you’ve backed up your data was running Windows 7 and you’re now looking to restore your data on a new Windows 8 PC for instance, then you shouldn’t be coping with any file compatibility problems. Opening documents you’ve created in programs such as Microsoft Office will open without a problem in the same program on your new PC or Mac since it supports the same file types.

As the data recovery process of an online backup service is just as important as taking the backups, we dedicate a considerable amount of time into testing these aspects as well. We go through the data recovery options available with each provider, and love try different data restoring scenarios. Considering there are various possible situations in which data recovery is needed and the diverse ways in which it can be performed, it’s also wise to go through the customer reviews on our site. Many of our site’s users have been in situations in which they had to restore a partial or full system backup, and often they come up with great tactics that could be helpful to you as well.

While complex for the company providing it, an online backup service couldn’t be easier to use for you as the customer. Setting up the online backup service on your computer can generally be done in three easy steps: purchasing your service, downloading the software and activating the backup process.

1. Sign up for an online backup service

Did you find the backup service that fits your needs through our buying guide, reviews, comparisons and other articles? Then the time has come to sign up for an account with the backup company of your choice. Whether you sign up using a free trial account or purchase a paying plan, the setup of your backup service involves the same easy process.

2. Download the backup software

After you’ve signed up, either for a paying or a free (trial) account, you’ll be prompted to download the software for the online backup service to your computer. It’s a lightweight, easy to use program that you can install in less than two minutes by completing a few simple steps.

3. Install and set up the software

Completing the installation of the program is comparable with the process of setting up a program like skype for instance. During the installation of the program you’ll be able to indicate whether you want your entire system to be backed up, or if you would like to select files and folders you want to store. Usually this is the only setting that’s required to start backing up your data in your online backup account.

When you’ve completed these steps, you can enjoy full peace of mind in the knowledge that your data is safely stored in the cloud, available for you to recover no matter what happens. No further actions are needed from your end onwards; the online backup service will work quietly in the background and do its thing. Whenever you create or edit a file or folder, the changes will automatically be backed up. You can access and manage your data at any point either from the backup software on your computer itself, or through your online account. If you’re a bit tech savvy and want more control over the backup process, you can go through the settings in your backup software to edit a number of things such as the backup schedule, bandwidth consumption, file types you don’t want to backup etc.

Backing up your data is about safeguarding it from whatever could happen, so naturally the security of your documents and other information should be a great concern. Looking at the privacy and security features in place with quality cloud companies, you can easily say that your data is safer with one of the top cloud companies than it is on your own computer or on your offline backup device. These cloud companies use the same infrastructure and technology to store your data as some of the world’s largest enterprises do to safeguard their information. Server technicians, IT specialists in the field of data security and other trained personnel monitor the servers ensuring that your cloud storage space can only be accessed by you. They also make sure that your information isn’t susceptible for viruses and any other malicious software that your anti-virus software might not be able to stop.

Many services feature geo-redundant storage, which means that they have server infrastructures in different locations allowing them to store different copies of your data in more than one data center. So whatever would happen to one of the locations, your information would still be safely stored in another server location. All data connections over which your files and folders are being transferred are https-connections, meaning they use SSL protocols that rely on advanced encryption to ensure your information can’t be intercepted. Our backup service comparison chart lets you compare the security features of each company, while our reviews also go in-depth on the security and privacy measures in place with each provider.

As well as the proper security technology, every online backup service has a privacy policy in place. A trusted cloud backup company that has a good security rating in our reviews has a privacy policy that clearly mentions it will not snoop through your stored data. A company that respects the privacy of its customers will only look at the total amount of data you store with them strictly for server usage and statistical purposes only.

You may wonder if there’s a difference between an “online” backup or storage service, and a “cloud” backup or storage solution. Just like many of the companies offering these services out there, we also like to use both of these terms alongside each other. The truth is that they are synonyms and mean the exact same thing. Cloud computing is a bit of a rage nowadays, especially in the business world, which is why many companies like to call themselves cloud backup providers. The whole cloud technology thing refers more to a new way of thinking and organizing information, and therefore it has become a much-loved term.

The concept of “the cloud” is that your data and software is always traveling with you wherever you go, as if it were in a cloud that’s floating above your head all the time. When you store your data online with your online backup service, it becomes available to you wherever you are as long as you have Internet access.

So online backup services and cloud backup services are one and the same thing, there is absolutely no difference between the companies calling their service an online backup solution and those naming it a cloud backup solution. Don’t think that one service is better than the other because one is called an online backup while the other is called a cloud backup, our reviews and comparisons offer a much better way to find the best solution!

The name MyPCBackup and the fact that some companies specifically profile themselves as Mac online backup services might lead you to think that there are differences in online backup services for Mac and PC’s running Windows or another operating system. MyPCBackup however supports both PC and Mac, and cloud backup services heavily focusing on Mac support PC’s as well. All of the top-rated online backup solutions on our site support both Mac OSX, Windows and almost all other operating systems such as Linux and mobile software, as you can find out by checking the device support table in our comparison chart.

This means that you’ll be able to use these backup services on both your PC and your Mac if you have both and want to be able to share files between the two. All of the pictures, movies, documents and other files you’ve stored through your PC on your online backup for instance can be restored on a Mac, and vice versa. All this can be done through your online account with the backup company, which you can access from any device that has an Internet browser, or through the desktop software available for PC and/or Mac.

Although top online backup providers support both PC and Mac, one solution is more Mac-friendly than the other. Some of the smaller providers may not have a Mac desktop app yet, while some don’t have an iOS application for iPhone and iPad for the time being. The power users among us who are already backing up data from their Mac OSX device through Time Machine on a Time Capsule or another external hard drive will probably want to find a solution that works in conjunction with this existing offline backup. Some of the more advanced online backup services out there will let you backup your data in Time Machine to your online backup service, making them more compatible with this service. For this reason we’ve created a section dedicated to online backup services for Mac with more information on the best solutions complete with a comparison chart that ranks all the top services for this operating system.

Maybe you’re already backing up your computer regularly using external hard drives or another storage device, which is a good thing! If so, when was the last time you took a backup? Unfortunately we often tend to forget about taking such a backup, which could leave you with old versions of important files you’ve been recently working on if your computer goes down. An online backup service will automatically backup your entire system or a selection of folders and files based on your settings and schedule without requiring any action from your part.

Your online backups are being stored in bank-grade secured cloud storage centers with 24/7 monitoring by server specialists. The latest advanced servers are used to store your data, with all data being transferred over highly secure connections with encryption, so that it can’t be intercepted by third parties. A quality cloud company will store your data on multiple servers located in different locations at the same time to ensure that if something would go wrong with one server, your data would still be stored on another location. If you spill a glass of water on your external hard drive when making a new backup or you drop the device on the ground, all of your backed up data may well be gone for good.

Online backups are being stored in immense cloud storage centers with constant monitoring by technicians who look after these advanced systems that are a lot less susceptible for exterior threats that may cause hardware damage. Because of this huge infrastructure, these cloud companies also see great economies of scale and are able to offer you storage space for a lot less money while easily providing you with more storage as you need it. Many of the best cloud companies now even go as far as offering unlimited storage.

You may have already come across instances where we and other websites talk about “online storage” and in other places about “online backups”, or perhaps even about both in the same context. An online storage service simply lets you store files and folders into an online storage space. An online backup service also lets you store data online, but it is powered by backup software that lets you upload large amounts of data in an automated and convenient way. An online storage space doesn’t feature a convenient way to perform backups of your data or a selection of your files and folders.

In other words, an online storage service is like a simple folder on your computer with the difference that it’s a folder located somewhere on a server. Online backup services work in the same way, but will automatically store any of the files and folders you want in this space following the schedule and settings you’ve submitted in the backup software powering the service.

Dropbox, Google Drive, Box and Microsoft’s OneDrive are four of the most popular online storage companies and are all fantastic services. They’re perfect for storing a few files or folders you want to have access to at all times from any of your devices, they make it easy to share files with friends and colleagues and they offer clever ways to collaborate on documents together through file syncing. These are all features that are also present in top-rated online backup services. The big advantage of an online backup solution lays of course in the fact that their software also includes data backup features, through an easy all-in-one solution.

There are ways through which you can also use pure online storage services such as Dropbox and Google Drive to automatically perform data backups. The companies that offer the software to do this will charge you a monthly fee for this, while you’ll also have to pay for additional space with the online storage service you’re using. Setting up such a system requires more technological knowledge and means that you’ll have to manage two different types of accounts. You may also end up paying more for these two stand-alone services than you would if you were relying on a complete online backup solution. For all of these reasons, we strongly recommend you to use a specialized all-in-one online backup service. Online storage services are great to have as well, but they just weren’t built for backing up data.

When you choose to go for an online backup service that offers you unlimited storage, you might as well opt for a full system backup that will copy over all files and folders from your system to your cloud storage space. The downside to this is that it takes a while before all of this data is stored, backing up just the data you need is of course faster. The advantage is that you can fully restore your system as it was in case your computer breaks down and you need to set up everything on a new device. You’ll also never have to go back in your backup software’s settings to add a newly created folder to the path of your cloud backup.

Yet it’s also perfectly possible to choose to only store the data that you really wouldn’t want to lose. Photo albums, work files, email archives and any other important files and folders stored in specific folders – you can choose to have just this specific data stored in your cloud backup. It’s not necessary to spend time and money uploading movies, music, programs and other files that you can easily download again when you set up a new computer. Storing just those files that are of importance makes the whole backup process faster, and gives you a better oversight of your stored data. In case you want to access the stored data from a different location on your tablet or smartphone for instance, it will be easier for you to go through your cloud storage. The backup software will only have to consume bandwidth the moment you change or add files in the folders you’ve specifically selected, meaning you won’t risk a loss of Internet speed when you add a heavy movie file into a folder that isn’t set to be backed up in your cloud storage.

There are a number of things that can go wring with your computer, smartphone, tablet or any other device on which you’re storing data you don’t want to lose. Whether it’s viruses and malicious software causing your system to malfunction, a thief running off with your laptop, or your tablet falling down the stairs – all of these unfortunate events can make it impossible to retrieve any of your data stored on your device. And even if your device can be retrieved or fixed, quite often in situations like these things keep going wrong and you might be left with a completely reset device. It could also take days before you find an IT specialist who is capable of getting your computer fixed and recovering your data. And if this person does, it might have cost him, her a lot of efforts to get things back to normal leaving you with a hefty bill to pay after days without your precious computer or mobile device.

It’s better to be safe than sorry, so it’s advisable to make backups of your device now before things go wrong. Ordering and installing an online backup service requires a lot less of your time and money than recovering from a data loss. Furthermore, having your data backed up online provides you with a number of handy additional advantages. First and foremost it lets you access all your files from any device by safely logging to your online backup service, even from your mobile device. It also makes it easier to share data with other people through file and folder sharing, with the option to collaborate on files for instance.

Whether you’re mainly using your computer for business or private purposes, the fact that you can easily safeguard your data online is just one of the many advantages of taking backups online.

An online backup service should help you make life easier with the thought that your information is securely stored and safe while. Of course you don’t want the online backup software to slow down your Internet connection and have a negative impact on your web browsing behavior and work. The software behind the cloud backups is designed in such a way that it won’t be consuming all of your bandwidth and will only use a certain percentage of your bandwidth to backup data. When you first launch the software and have the service create its initial backup, you shouldn’t worry about the service using up all of your upload speed. It will gradually back up your files and folders ensuring that you’re still able to continue using your system as you otherwise would.

It is possible that during the initial backup, your browsing might be slower than otherwise as the software still needs to find its pace and it of course wants your data to be safe as quickly as possible. After this first backup is completed, only new and changed files and folders will have to be uploaded to your cloud backup. From then on, the amounts of bits and bytes that need to be sent to your storage space are a lot lower, meaning your computer’s performance should never be impacted by the cloud backup service doing its thing in the background. If you want control over the Internet consumption of your backup service, you can adjust the bandwidth settings in your software and control the time schedule of the cloud backups, as well as the maximum upload and download speeds and daily, monthly upload limits.

The big advantage of having an online backup service is that you can you have all your data from different computers, smartphones, tablets and other devices conveniently stored in one place. The quality backup providers with high ratings in our reviews support backing up data from multiple devices through one backup account. Some companies offer the ability to backup multiple devices by default in every package, whereas some will make this an added feature included in their more expensive plans. With some providers, especially many of those offering unlimited storage, the amount of devices your backup account supports is one of the main differentiating features in the different plans available.

When you’re backing up all of your computers and mobile devices through one account, you’ll be able to check the backups and their settings for every specific device through the software or app available for it. That way, you can neatly keep an eye on which data you have stored for each device and transfer data from one device’s backup space to the other by dragging and dropping it from one device to the other. You can also create a shared folder to exchange data between your devices, enabling you to easily make a specific file available on all your devices through file syncing, a nice and convenient added advantage of using a cloud backup space.