TAG | Hard disk company LaCie offers Carbonite online backup |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Friday, 07 November 2008 | |
  
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Now it’s offering one year of Carbonite’s unlimited online backup with every hard drive it sells at what Lacie says is “$98 of added value in the box”. LaCie says that it recognises “the importance of secure digital media for both consumers and professional users” and so partnered with LaCie. It explains that: “For one year following software installation Carbonite will automatically backup the LaCie drive by finding new and modified files, encrypting twice before leaving the original workstation, then transmitting them by HTTPS (SSL) to secure data center, where the information remains encrypted, protecting the users privacy.” “Additionally, backups are completed only when the computer is idle, so the process never interferes with computer performance.” Of course it’s important to note in Australia that some ISP’s charge for uploads, so if you’re about to upload gigabytes of data you may wish to do it in the very last days of your monthly limit. Carbonite lets you delay uploading to off-peak times if they are available to you as well. Given LaCie’s strong Mac focus, it’s interesting to note that LaCie says it expects Mac compatibility of the Carbonite service in December. Carbonite previously did not offer Mac compatibility but did say it was coming – LaCie seems to be confirming when it will arrive. Carbonite claims users in 120 countries, has backed up 4 billion files, has restored more than 300 million lost files for its customers and has a large data center where capacity is measured in petabytes. Carbonite charges a flat rate for unlimited backup, around US $5 per month in the US, and around $6 per month in Australia. It’s also worth remembering that Carbonite is a backup service, not an archive service – it keeps a copy of what you’ve told it to backup from your computer. If you delete something from your computer, Carbonite will delete it too – after 30 days, giving you enough time to retrieve something within the month if you realise you want it back. For permanent archival, you’ll still need something like a LaCie hard drive, although now with LaCie and Carbonite’s move, you get both in the box, which is a great added bonus. If you want Carbonite’s service to work with the hard drive that exists in your computer today, you can visit Carbonite’s web site (in Australia or the US) to sign up separately. |
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