Great data backup for Appraisers

The program encrypts your files before they leave your computer so nobody would be able to access your data which is great but the best part is never having to remember to back up your files. When I choose my comps I first pull my legal/county information then go back and pull all my MLS info. Usually by the time I finish MLS, the legal/county information has already been automatically backed up! It is that fast! :-) (the initial backup could take several days depending on your internet connection. It took 3 days for me.)

Like I said in my first post, on each file name the program puts a colored dot. Yellow if it is scheduled to be backed up and green if it has already been backed up. You can also go to "My Computer" and you can see a "Carbonite" drive just as you would your "C" drive. You can double click on the "Carbonite" drive to open it and see your backed up files. If you just need one particular file you can just grab and drag it to your desktop. It takes a second to un-encrypt the file and presto! Your file is there!

Here are a couple reviews:

http://pcbackupreview.com/carbonitetest.php   

http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/buyersguide/article.php/3618861

The only drawback I can see it that it is only good for one computer. It wont backup networked drives. BUT, being the creative person that I am, I found a way around that!

I like a lot of people work from my home office and have all my computers networked together. Each computer has a "shared docs" folder were they can drop in files to share with others on the network. So all I have to do if I am on another computer and want to have my files backed up is: 1) create and name a folder inside the "shared docs" folder on the computer that has Carbonite. 2) As your are working on "Computer 2" save your work to the folder you created on the Carbonite computer. If you are using a program like WinTotal where you choose which folder to always save your file, again choose this folder.

So bottom line, you are just saving all your files on the hard drive of the computer that is running Carbonite. Since the files are on that computer just select that folder as one that should be backed up. That was a little long winded but I hope you get the idea.

Have a great day!

Jackson :-)

I took a look at their site to compare.

With Mozy you only get one month free for paying for a whole year at a time. But who cares about that, the extra month is less than one grande non-fat moca-choca-skinny-latte with foam at your local Starbucks. :-)

However, it does say that if you are running a small or home office to use MozyPro which is $3.95 a month per computer for licensing and $.50/GB for storage. If you work alone you would still be fine with the regular version. If you have employees, you would probably want to use the pro version. The way most companies get in trouble with licensing issues and wind up paying huge fines is when a disgruntled employee turns them in. (just something to think about.) :-)

Mozy says to select the file types that you want backed up. Carbonite allows me to select specific folders and files that I want backed up no matter what kind of files are inside that folder. I didnt see that with Mozy and with WinTotal (my appraiser software) it uses ".zap" files which wouldnt be on a normal "File Type" list. Maybe you can do this with Mozy but I couldnt tell from their site.

Some of the features that Mozy has such as Mac support doesnt matter to me personally since my apprasier and some broker softeware only runs on PC's. Being able to access files through a web browser would be a plus for some. Both seem to be a set-it and forget-it operation.

Overall, I think that this would be another good option! Thanks for the heads up Matt!

Jackson :-) - Real Estate Appraiser and Broker