Backify - free 512GB online

[stevech]

(I have no financial ties to Backify)

Backify seems to be a reseller of livedrive.com. I had tried Livedrive but their prices were higher than others'.

Backify has a free account with a 512GB limit for one computer. you select the folders/files to backup, the schedule for backups, and the bandwidth constraints you wish (if you want to reserve some of you ISP bandwidth for other things, unless you schedule backups for wee-hours). It will access any real drive or mapped network drive, but not UNC paths.

Client side software is good - is Livedrive's software with backify's logo. Indeed, if you click help, you wind up on LiveDrive's help. To include LiveDrive's pricing plans, not Backify (!).

You can download files using a web browser. Cannot upload via browser.

The $3/mo backup plan allows for up to 5 computers and unlimited space.

The free and $3 plans are "teasers" for their Briefcase service - with shared folders for selected friends/associates to access and multi-computer synch.

What's remarkable to me is how much less expensive Backify's plans are than are LiveDrive's plans.

Well, I'm giving it a try as a candidate to replace my $3/mo JungleDisk account which has all the features of Briefcase and Backup from Backify, but the storage limit is lower, and you pay (modestly) for GB above a cap of 5GB.

 

[thiggins]

Why would you trust your data to a company that provides no information about itselfand does not provide access to any support info without registering?

 

[stevech]

Yes - Backify (not to be confused with Backupify) is probably a one person enterprise as a reseller of LiveDrive. Its longevity is suspect, no doubt. I read a semi-credible note that LiveDrive charges just $2K for a reseller like Backify to get started. The 512GB limit no doubt assumes that in reality, residential-users never use but a tiny fraction of that, if for no other reason that slow upstream data rates from the ISP. Backify doesn't offer a mail-in-the-disk-drive bulk load as do some other with low caps.

For me, off-site backup is backup of backup - not essential, i.e., I have backups on network drives and big thumb drives here. But if the remote chance all my local storage goes poof (theft, fire, etc) the offsite is a fall-back.

Of course, no personal/financial info goes to the cloud unless I encrypt it myself with independent means such as TruCrypt, SafeHome or (new to me) BoxCryptor. Indeed, I've not moved such info to the cloud even if privately encrypted - paranoia I guess.

I think the value in cloud storage is not so much backup (for personal users), as it is a means to share photos and the like with friends/family. And many folks share (legally or not) music/video. I'm not into that.

 

[stevech]

Interesting thread discussion on Backify

http://blog.forret.com/2011/10/is-backify-512gb-backup-for-free-also-for-real/

 

[thiggins]

It's good you do your own encryption. When Matt reviewed Livedrive he found security generally lacking. Thanks for the article link. 'Nuff said.

 

[stevech]

In the US and elsewhere, the "legal intercept" laws require data storage services, email providers, etc., to respond to a court order to disclose. Just as common carrier (cellular, landline) telephone companies must do (wiretap).

So the good cloud providers make an honest effort to limit which employees have access to the customers' encryption keys for stored data. I understand that the good ones have systems that hide from rank-and-file employees the file contents and file names.

But there's always that hacker or rogue employee with access. And more so if the support is outsourced and without proper limits on that company.

 

[stevech]

given BackIfy is a LiveDrive reseller- dirt cheap, one is skeptical of the business model. Though LiveDrive is the operator, should BackIfy go tango-uniform, your data may go poof and you don't want that backup to have no other copy.

To give BackIfy some credibility, maybe, here's another LiveDrive reseller with similar free/low prices
http://www.beecloud.eu/packagesprices.html
Probably not highly relevant that they're EU based. LiveDrive's storage is in the UK and perhaps elsewhere.
BeeCloud is up-front that they are a LiveDrive reseller and use their client software and servers.
http://www.beecloud.eu/livedrivereseller.html

and drilling down...
http://www.livedrive.com/ForResellers/Pricing/