Backing up your data is crucial if you want to avoid losing your photos, videos, music and documents for good. Theft, system errors and accidents can happen at any stage and in a matter of seconds, your valuable family memories and important documents can be gone for good. Prevention is the best way to avoid this scenario, which is why backing up the files stored on your computer is essential. Although online backup services (also known as cloud backup services) work in a similar way to regular backup software, there is an important difference. With cloud-based backup services, your critical files are transferred over internet and stored securely on a server in a professional data facility.
Using online backup services to protect your important files offers multiple benefits. One of the main advantages is that even if your computer is damaged or stolen, your data will be safe because it will be stored remotely. Additionally, the most reliable cloud backup solutions keep multiple copies of your files in their servers. This ensures that your files are protected and that they can be restored whenever needed. Although there are many practical free plans that would be suitable for a few critical documents, photos, songs and videos, if you have a lot of data (specially media) that needs to be protected, you should consider an unlimited online backup solution.
An unlimited online backup plan gives you the possibility of getting as much storage space as you need for your files. Unlimited backup plans are the right choice for people who have several audio tracks, high quality videos, thousands of photos and files, and need to make sire that all of them are secure to avoid losing them. While the claims of unlimited online backup may sound too good to be true, there are reliable services that will give you the possibility of avoiding data loss, no matter what happens to your computer hard drive.
Here are the best unlimited backup services currently available in the market.
Backblaze
Backblaze is one the most solid options for users who need to protect a great deal of data. The setting up process is simple and you can get all your data backed up to the cloud without hassle. The service doesn’t offer many add-ons or advanced features, but it does a great job at backing up your data effectively. Backblaze is also very affordable and you can enjoy unlimited backup for one computer for just $5 per month, or even less than $4 per month when you pay for 2 years of service in advance.
Carbonite
While Carbonite offers unlimited online backup, it imposed bandwidth caps on uploads and as a result, the speed of the service was affected. Thankfully, new customers don’t have to deal with this issue since the company stopped the practice, although some existing customers may still be experiencing throttling. Nevertheless, Carbonite is a reliable service, with solid experience in the online backup industry. There are three unlimited online backup plans: basic, Plus and Prime. The Basic plan excludes backup of video by default, but you can manually change this. Overall, Carbonite is a good option for users who need simple, everyday backup.
CrashPlan
CrashPlan is a popular solution that also supports unlimited online backup. One of the highlights of the service is its software, which is clear and very easy to use. CrashPlan is also suitable for users who are concerned about the security of their data since it applies a high level of encryption. When you pay for one year in advance, the monthly price is just $5. If you need to backup more than one computer, you can opt for the Family Unlimited plan. This option costs $12.50 per month when you choose an annual subsbcription.
AltDrive
AltDrive is simple, yet very powerful and it offers two unlimited plans: Gold (one computer) and Platinum, which supports up to three computers. The service can be installed without major hassle and it works well with Linux. AltDrive offers incremental backups and once the backup job has been set up, it will be completed in the background so you can continue working on other tasks. AltDrive uses SSL for transferring the data and it protects it with 256-bit AES encryption. The Gold plan costs less than $5 per month and the Platinum plan is available for $9.95 per month.
Livedrive
LiveDrive features a well-deigned interface and it gives you efficient performance to backup your files without limits. To keep your files secure, Livedrive uses military grade AES-256 encryption. Their Livedrive Backup plan costs $8 per month and the Pro Suite plan, which supports up to 5 computers, costs $25 per month. These two plans give you unlimited backup and it is possible to add additional computers for just $1.50 per month.
