There has been an explosion in the number of remote backup services recently. I figured I'd get a list together of some of the more interesting ones I've seen recently.

• Syncplicity

  Syncplicity is a lot like Dropbox, but isn't limited to just one folder on your computer. It keeps a version history and allows you to share folders with other Syncplicity users. Also like Dropbox, you get 2GB for free and another 50GB for $9.99 a month. Windows only.

• Backblaze

  Backblaze is a regular backup solution much like Mozy or JungleDisk with a couple of cool features:

  1. You can order your files on DVD or USB Drive. This is a very cool way to have a remote and local backup without having to go through the work of doing the local backup yourself.
  2. Unlimited backup size for $5 a month.
  3. Ability to set your own encryption key.

  This is definitely a company I'm watching at the moment. Works on Windows and Mac.

• HP Upline

  Even HP is getting into the act with HP Upline. It's nice to see an established company getting into the act but for a hardware manufacturer, I'm always worried that these extra services outside of their main business will be the first to go when they need to cut down on their products. The plans seem pretty standard; one computer on the backup for $59 a year. Windows only.

  UPDATE: Wow, that was quick. HP Upline goes offline. Looks like the big players don't want to be in this business.

Not only are more solutions coming in the near future, there'll be solutions from big names like Microsoft, Symantec and possibly even Google. Time will tell how this all shuffles out.

With all the hullabaloo about Carbonite recently, I've been thinking about the value of trust when it comes to data backup and data protection companies.

For those who don't know, it was recently found out that Carbonite faked a number of five star reviews on Amazon.com. This set off a small firestorm of controversy over the ethics of some of the people at the company. To many, however, it was just a company trying to get a little positive publicity that backfired a little. For most, it really wasn't a mark on their main business of online, secure backup.

I happen to disagree. Online backup, and especially data security, are businesses of trust. If you feel like you can't trust a company to be honest in it's marketing, how much of their other marketing is bogus? How secure is their data center? How well does their software verify your backup data? You don't know anymore. They could really be making up anything at this point.

Ultimately, you have to take the company's word and if they're lying about one thing, how do you know they are lying about others? You're sending the most sensitive data you have over the internet to some ultimately unknown location. Trust must be an integral part of this process.

What you'd really like to do it not have to trust anyone! If you run backups, be sure to test them and see how long it takes to get your data back and that it's still in one piece. Don't take assurances that you data will be fine. Also, handle security yourself if you can. What I like about JungleDisk is that my data is encrypted before Amazon.com sees it on their servers. I don't have to worry about JungleDisk or Amazon.com being secure since I've already handled that step myself (and verified it myself too.)

There is, of course, a certain amount of trust that you must put in the company. I personally would rather trust a data center that is redundantly backed up and global (Amazon.com) than one that is only located in a small data center on the east coast (nearly every other backup service). I can also buy backup software from a company that concentrates on backup software and my data center is run by a company that concentrates on data centers. I don't have to trust them with everything and can even switch one or the other at a later time, if I need to. I'd rather be in control than have to rely on people I may not trust. I also pay by the month and am not locked into a yearly contract that I'd have to go through the hassle of canceling. If I switch to a data center other than Amazon.com, I can remove all my data from their servers and no longer pay anything for their service.

I still recommend JungleDisk for these reasons and more. It's just a better solution, even if it isn't as slick and fancy as some of the other backup services. It's a little extra work to set up, but it keeps you in control of what you're doing.

Trust me.

A Buddhist allegory overheard in a podcast recently:

One day, a man decided to take a walk in the jungle. This happened to be extremely foolish because the jungle was dangerous and there were rumors of a man-eating tiger in the area.

But he wasn't quite thinking and decided it might be a nice day for a stroll. Sure enough, as he was getting deeper into the wood, a tiger jumped out of the underbrush and ran towards him. He took off running, but knew he wouldn't be able to outrun a full-grown, hungry tiger. Instead of just resigning to his fate, he ran as fast as he could and looked for a way out.

As he ran around a small tree, the crashing of the tiger's feet right behind him, he saw a well. He jumped into the well just as the tiger swiped at his back. As he was falling, he saw that the well had no water. A drought dried up almost everything and this well was no different. Just before hitting bottom, he grabbed a tree root that was growing through the side of the well to break his fall.

The man made so much noise during his escape that it woke the snake that was sleeping in the bottom of the well. The snake rose up and showed it's hood, striking at the man as he hung onto the root. The man was just high enough not to get bitten by the snake and just low enough that the tiger couldn't reach him with it's paws. He sighed as he realized he was trapped.

As the man hung there, two small mice crawled out of a hole near the top of the root, one white and one black. They both started to gnaw on the base of the root, making the base of the root thinner and thinner. The man tried to shoo them away, but the tiger prevented him from getting close enough to scare the mice.

As the tiger paced above, he kept rubbing up against the small tree by the well, shaking it little by little. In the tree was a bee's nest and it started to sway back and forth in the branches. The bees started swarming around the top of the well and the nest started to drip honey right down the center of the well. The man leaned out and was just barely able to catch the honey with his tongue.

It was delicious.