Five Top PC Online Backup Services

Isn’t it amazing what we store on our computers? Most are a virtual treasure trove of music, video, and irreplaceable pictures, not to mention tax returns, lab results, lawn mower manuals and thousands of other documents and files we’ve downloaded over the years. What if you lost it all?

Before you have a panic attack, let’s talk about five of the top online backup services for PCs.

Backblaze
Backblaze installs a very small program that runs quietly and inobtrusively in the background. Once your initial backup is complete, Backblaze monitors your system and only uploads new or changed files. Not only do they offer unlimited storage, they offer unlimited file-size storage. So even your longest HD video can rest safe and sound in the cloud. According to their website, they are already making a profit from unlimited storage -- without any outside funding -- and are committed to providing unlimited online backup services permanently. They support this claim by citing statistics about the continuous decline of equipment costs and increasingly efficient storage technologies. While only time will tell if they honor that commitment, they sound convincing. If you are interested in reliable unlimited storage for only $5 a month -- or $50 a year -- this may be the service for you.

Jungle Disk
This company is the only online backup service that allows you to choose where your files are hosted -- either Rackspace or Amazon cloud services. You are allotted only 5 GB of included storage with your $2 a month subscription. However, you can easily add more storage for only $0.15 per GB with no limit on the number of computers that may share the account.

Carbonite
Carbonite’s completely automatic online backup service offers a secure way to store an unlimited amount of data for $49 a year for one computer. Plus, you can access any of your archived files from any iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry or Android device.

IDrive
IDrive goes beyond PCs and offers an online backup service to cover your smart phones too. With support for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices, you can rest assured that your contacts, photos, videos, and other mobile data are protected. You can also use your mobile device to search and share files you’ve backed up from your computer.

CrashPlan
Unlike a typical online backup service, CrashPlan allows you to back up easily to another computer for free. It could be another computer in your home or a computer in a remote location like your parent’s house or friend’s apartment. It’s like online backup meets social network. If you want to add online storage, it has an unlimited option for only $50 a year.

As anyone knows who has ever experienced heart failure when their hard drive crashes, the value of backing up data is not something we want to learn the hard way. Whether you’re recovering from a computer crash or house fire, an online backup service is one of the best defenses against permanent digital data loss.