RealTown's RealTalk

Gary -

I'd like to correct some misinformation in your post above. Carbonite does not automatically back up files that are larger than 4 GB, not 4 MB as you suggested (there's a big difference). Carbonite is designed to automatically back up the files that are most important to most people; their photos, music, emails, Quicken files, etc. Yes, there are some files that are not included in the default backup set, because these files are usually of little or no value to most of our customers. We also want to make sure that your initial backup completes as soon as possible. Therefore, we exclude files larger than 4 GB. That way, the backup of important files like financial records and photos won't be held up while Carbonite spends two days trying to back up one 5 GB file.

You can, however, manually add any file to your backup by right-clicking on the file and selecting "Back this up" from the Carbonite menu.

And to make everybody's life a little easier, we put color dots on the files that are backed up, so that it would be easy to determine in a glance which files are backed up and which aren't.

Sincerely,

Dave Friend, CEO

Carbonite, Inc.

Dave - Gary - I'd like to correct some misinformation in your post above. Carbonite does not automatically back up files that are larger than 4 GB, not 4 MB as you suggested (there's a big difference).

Gary - There IS a HUGE difference. That was a typo, and you have my apologies.

Dave - Carbonite is designed to automatically back up the files that are most important to most people;

Gary - There I will take exception with that generalization. Many people, myself included, have downloaded many applications and they have an ".exe" extension. Without specifically including them, they are gone.I have not had time to review exactly what files I would have lost, but there were thousands.

Dave - their photos, music, emails, Quicken files, etc. Yes, there are some files that are not included in the default backup set, because these files are usually of little or no value to most of our customers.

Gary - And I pointed that out. You make it easy to select individual files to back up. I won't argue that. But I believe you should make what is backing up by defualt MUCH more clear. People tend to read as little as possible. For Carbonite to come back and say "We make it very clear that only certain files are backed up" is all well and good. but if a significant number of people end up losing files in a backup because they did not see that, they are still going to be unhappy. Maybe some kind of warning window should pop up just prior to the final step, stating that "The following files have not been included in your backup".

We also want to make sure that your initial backup completes as soon as possible. Therefore, we exclude files larger than 4 GB. That way, the backup of important files like financial records and photos won't be held up while Carbonite spends two days trying to back up one 5 GB file.

You can, however, manually add any file to your backup by right-clicking on the file and selecting "Back this up" from the Carbonite menu.

Dave - And to make everybody's life a little easier, we put color dots on the files that are backed up, so that it would be easy to determine in a glance which files are backed up and which aren't.

Gary - That IS a nice visual. Unfotunately the average user has many tens if not hunderds of thousands of files. To go through them all and look for the missing dots is excruciating. Having just done it, I can attest to that.

I'm not trying to beat up Carbonite. I would just like to see it better in those respects. I'm still using it!

I use Carbonite and am wondering what files are not backed up. Is there an
easy way to find out? Any way to do a search?

Jim Clauser
Your Real Estate Consultant For Life
RE/MAX Associates Athens, Inc.
706-714-1181 Direct
706-433-0542 Fax
http://www.JimClauser.com to view over 3000 homes!
mailto:Jim@JimClauser.com
Check out my Blog at
http://www.VisitJimsBlog.com

• Carbonite will then automatically put a Solid Green dot on any Folder or File that's completely backed up.
• A Green dot with a White center on a Folder means that some of the files within are being backed up.
• The dot will be Orange when the Folder or File is flagged to be backed up on your next scheduled back up.

Tal Kramer

Tal and Jeanette Kramer
Re/Max Communities - Metro Atlanta
770-971-0025
678-978-1900 - Tal cell
678-978-1800 - Jeanette cell
Kramer@MyDreamHome.com - Tal
Jeanette@MyDreamHome.com - Jeanette
www.MyDreamHome.com

We're never too busy for your referrals :-)

4/25/2009 @ 11:13 AM HST

>>

Randy Fullerton (snip):

Ahh, the dreaded back up conundrum……First off, I personally use and am a referral partner for Carbonite. For my smaller business clients, I strongly encourage them to use it in addition to the other "data protection," systems we implement.

Here's the skinny folks, if IT (data) is important, you should have a layered approach to protecting your information, period.

<<

Thanks Randy, that was very helpful. We do a lot of what you suggested, but there was a lot of helpful information in your post.


With Warmest Aloha,

Ruth A. Gabbard (R), CRB, CRS, SRES, PB
Gabbard Hawaii Properties | Honolulu, Hawaii
808-534-1850 | 877-ALOHA HI (256-4244) Toll Free
Listserv E-mail: hawaiihomes@alohamls.com

Thank you Randall for a very good and thorough solution to back ups.

I've been using Mozy rather than Carbonite for sometime. I've never needed to restore anything, luckily.

Is there any real difference between the two solutions--Mozy vs. Carbonite?

Thank you.

Christopher Rocca