[BML]

Does anyone here use the Carbonite online backup service? I know someone who does, but I'm still a bit skeptical of trusting my "priceless" photos and stuff to some company's server.

I've been backing up on separate hard drives. But they're not big enough now, so I'm going to have to buy a bigger one. Is it better to go with an online service, and upload your files to their server, than mirror a partition to your local backup hard drive? What is the best online backup service out there?

My friend who uses Carbonite loves it (though he's never had to restore a wiped-out system with it). They charge $49.95 per year for unlimited space. Their software monitors your system to detect changed/added files and then uploads those, adding to the backup, but I wonder if that extra software being always active is going to slow down my system.

[DoubleHelix]

"Unlimited" does not mean "as much data as you want". If you check the fine print, you'll find more info. If you've already filled several external hard drives, you may need to look at more expensive professional-level services.

You will see a performance hit and a web surfing speed reduction with such services since obviously you're sending huge amounts of data over the line.

[_FIXER_]

If you've already filled up a lot of external HDs and you plan on filling more, then yes, this sounds like a good idea. Paying $49 a year versus much more on HDs is an obvious win for the online service.

[BML]

Well, I wouldnt say that I've filled lots of external hard drives - I have one, but I need a bigger one - I have to buy a 160gb capacity. I have about 70gb on a drive right now. So for 70gb, is it better to do it on a hard drive or upload that all to an online service?

[_FIXER_]

I say go for the hard drive, seeing as it would be much more faster than downloading stuff off the internet everytime you had a computer crash.