The Carbonite backup service gets its name from the fictional compound from Star Wars. Hans Solo was frozen in carbonite in Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Given the emphasis this online backup service gives to security, your files are probably just as indestructible as the compound it is named after! The Carbonite backup service encrypts your data files twice on your computer and then stores them encrypted on their secured data servers, making them virtually impossible to be compromised.

Having your data files fully secured is certainly most important when considering an online backup service, but ease-of-use, customer support, and the ability to easily restore your backed up files are important too. After reading this full review of the Carbonite backup service, you'll see why I gave it our "Best Personal Service" award for 2011. This backup service isn't perfect, but it met most of the criteria I looked for when choosing an online backup service to backup data on my own computers! Yes, I actually use Carbonite. I tried others but ultimately I stayed with Carbonite.

The Bad:
No file syncing
Support can be slow to respond
May affect playback of audio and video files

The Good:
Easy to use
Automatic backup
Remote access
Inexpensive

The bottom line:
Home users who want a simple, automatic online backup solution

4 Star Rating

Full Review

Carbonite makes no distinction for home and business use as they only offer one service. While many small businesses will find Carbonite invaluable, it won’t always work because it lacks support for network drives. Carbonite is compatible with PCs and Macs. You can get started with the Carbonite backup service for just $54.95 for one year, and you can get it even cheaper if you sign up for a 2 or 3 year subscription. The company also offers a free 15-day trial which is a snap to try out because no credit card is required.

Ease of Use

Ease-of-use best describes Carbonite online backup. Even a total computer novice could figure out how to use Carbonite. You simply install a small program on your computer, run the initial backup wizard, and then literally set and forget it and you’re done. You don’t have to sync or refresh anything or manually do anything. The backup is entirely automatic and done without you having to think about it.

The Backup Process

As with all these online backup services, it can take days or even weeks for the initial backup depending how much data you have on your computer. On average, it takes 24 hours for Carbonite to backup 3-4GB. If you have 30GBs of data, the initial backup will take about 10 days – assuming you are not using your computer for other work and that your computer is always on and connected to the Internet.

Carbonite slows down while you are using your computer to avoid interfering with your computer’s performance. If you are working on your computer 8 hours a day, Carbonite will slow itself down for those 8 hours, which will extend the time needed for the initial backup. The good news is this all happens in the background without bogging down your computer or interfering with anything you’re working on so it shouldn’t be a big deal. If you want to speed up the process, just leave your computer on and connected to the Internet at all times. It’s also important to point out this “backup delay” is a one-time thing. All backups after the initial backup will be completed within hours as Carbonite will only need to backup new and changed files.

Another important point regarding the backup process is that not every file type is automatically backed up. These files are automatically backed up:

• Photos
• Documents
• Settings
• Email
• Music*

*Music files are NOT automatically backed up during the 15-day free trial period.

These files are NOT automatically backed up but can be added to your backup with a few extra steps (explained below):

• Videos
• Executable files
• Files larger than 4GB

*To include these files in your backup – and to make sure they are included automatically moving forward – you just right click the files and then choose to have these file types backed up automatically.

One final important note about the Carbonite backup process. If you delete a file on your computer, Carbonite will recognize that change and will also delete that file from their servers after 30 days. Carbonite only monitors and backs up folders and files that are actually on your computer. If you accidentally delete a file on your computer, you’ll have 30 days to retrieve it from Carbonite before it gets deleted from your backup as well.

Backup Status

After the initial backup is completed, the Carbonite backup service will automatically backup your data everyday. You don’t have to turn anything on nor do you have to remember to manually backup your files – except for those file types that aren’t set to backup automatically as mentioned above. To see what has been backed up you just need to look for the dots.

Each folder and file on your computer is marked by a colored dot when you use Carbonite. Solid green dots mean the file has been backed up, yellow dots mean the file is awaiting backup, no dot means the file isn’t being backed up, and a green dot with a white circle in the middle of it means the folder has some files in it that are not being backed up.

Performance

I have been a Carbonite customer for over two years now. It has worked exactly as advertised. It was easy to setup and the backup process truly has been “set and forget” since day one. My backups have been automatic and flawless as promised.

In addition, I’m a heavy computer user who plays and records a lot of audio and video. For that reason, I was very leery about a “small program working in the background” when I first started using Carbonite online backup. To my surprise, I didn’t notice any system performance issues at all – until I upgraded my computer to Windows 7.

When I upgraded to Windows 7 I was having issues with the playback quality of audio and video files. They would periodically skip during playback. It was driving me nuts. I spent hours researching the issue and could never find a fix. I chalked it up as a Windows 7 issue.

Then one day I noticed Carbonite was in the process of backing up my computer while I was watching a YouTube video – which was experiencing this skipping issue. As a test, I temporarily paused the Carbonite backup. I kept it paused for the duration of my work day and guess what happened? None of my audio or video files skipped!

After extensive testing, I confirmed that for my system (typical PC setup with Windows 7) if Carbonite is in the process of a backup and I play audio or video files, they’ll skip. While this has been annoying, it hasn’t been a deal breaker at all. I simply pause Carbonite for a few hours when I know I’ll be playing and recording a lot of audio or video.

This issue may be exclusive to my computer system and setup so don’t assume you’ll experience the same thing. If you do, simply pause Carbonite temporarily and you’ll be good to go.

Security

Even more important than Carbonite’s ease-of-use is their emphasis on security – and rightfully so. If anyone’s data was compromised, they would likely be out of business pretty fast. Data security and privacy should be the top priority for any online backup service and it appears this is the case with Carbonite.

With double-encryption, your files are virtually impossible to be compromised when using Carbonite backup. What double-encryption means is that the data on your computer is first encrypted using 128-bit Blowfish, which is the industry standard encryption protocol for banks and financial institutions. A second layer of encryption is added via the connection between your computer and Carbonite’s secure servers. That connection is done over SSL-encrypted HTTPS. Your data then remains encrypted on Carbonite’s servers.

To ensure that their security measures are indeed as strong as they say they are, Carbonite pays a professional security firm to test their intrusion defenses. To date, Carbonite has never failed their tests.

This security and encryption stuff may be over your head and quite boring (it certainly is to me) but the bottom line is this, nobody is getting your data when you use Carbonite online backup. It is safe and secure at all times.

If you’re wondering what happens if you leave Carbonite, your data is automatically deleted (permanently) after 30 days.

Restoring Data

In regards to restoring files, this is an area where apparently things can get dicey. I haven’t had to restore any files yet (knock on wood) but I have restored a couple files just as a test and it was completely painless. According to some customer comments, however, restoring all your backed up data at once can be a time-consuming and frustrating process given the constraints of the Internet as data can only move as fast as your Internet connection.

I currently have over 350GB of data backed up on Carbonite. Even with my souped-up cable connection I have here at home (I pay Comcast a pretty penny for top download speeds), it would take several days to get all my data restored. I’m sorry, but if my computer crashes today, I can’t wait “several days” to get my data back!

This isn’t unique to Carbonite, however. Any online backup provider that only allows the restoration of data via the Internet will have this liability. If you are concerned about that, then you’ll need to look at another online backup provider that offers other methods of restoring your data. Alternatively, you can do what I do – do regular backups to an external hard drive so you have immediate access to all of your data in the event of a total data loss.

Remote Access

What should be a brilliant feature isn’t – at least for Carbonite online backup. For some reason, you cannot access your files remotely if the file names have spaces, underscores, or dashes in them. The strange exception seems to be Android devices, where accessing files remotely with these characters in the file names isn’t an issue. This is a significant flaw in Carbonite’s remote access capabilities. I’d bet 95% of the files on your computer have files names with spaces, dashes, or underscores in them. After all, who names their files with one long name?

What this means is you will not have remote access to these files – unless you access them via an Android device. As strange as it sounds, this issue has been confirmed by a Carbonite customer and Carbonite themselves (see the comments following this review of Carbonite). If having flawless, easy access to your backed up files is paramount to you, then this may be a deal killer if you’re considering Carbonite.

Customer Support

As with any online backup service, you want to be sure there is adequate customer support. This is where Carbonite isn’t perfect and frankly, needs some improvement. Granted, Carbonite gives you more access to support than most online backup services. They offer phone, live chat, and email support, but this isn’t the problem.

The problem is with the inconsistent response times and the quality of help you actually get when you have a problem. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve been using Carbonite backup without any issues so I haven’t had to use their customer support. However, after reading through several customer comments of Carbonite found online and from the emails I get, some say they get immediate and helpful support, while others say it takes forever to get support, or worse yet, they don’t get the support they need.

I think the reality of the quality of their customer support is somewhere in between “really great” and “really bad.” I have to say I read more good things about their support than bad, but I do read the occasional bad experience customers have had. I suppose like any fast growing company like Carbonite, customer support isn’t always going to be perfect.

If this is a concern for you, I always advise people to test their customer support before signing up. Send them an email with a general question or give them a call. See what your experience is and then decide for yourself how good (or bad) their support is!

Bottom Line of Carbonite Backup

Carbonite backup isn’t perfect but no online backup service is right now. I don’t use Carbonite as my sole source of backup. I personally wouldn’t rely on any single method of backing up my files as it’s just too risky. If I used Carbonite backup exclusively and found out later restoring files was indeed a pain, then what would I do? And if I relied exclusively on my external hard drives, what would I do if they crashed or were destroyed in a fire?

For me, Carbonite backup is an incredibly affordable insurance policy. I still continue to do weekly backups to my external hard drives. By using both Carbonite backup and my external hard drives I get total protection. If my computer crashes, I can get get immediate access to my files via my external hard drive. And if my external hard drive crashes or gets destroyed in a fire, I’ll still have all my data waiting for me at Carbonite.

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1. Carbonite Business Review
2. Carbonite Launches Carbonite Blackberry App, Upgrades iPhone App
3. Carbonite Security Issues: Who Has Access To My Carbonite Backup?
4. Carbonite vs Mozy Home: A Review and Comparison
5. Mobile Access to Your Backed Up Files: Carbonite for iPhone

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