How to back up computer to the cloud?

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You might back up your PC or Mac at home to an external hard drive, but an online backup solution ensures that your data is safely protected away from your home--and available to you if your home has been robbed or suffered an unfortunate catastrophe.

Some services such as Apple's MobileMe provide a small, pre-determined amount of storage (such as 20 GB), allowing you to select just your most important files to back up--such as just your photos or your work documents. Amazon's Cloud Drive provides 5 GB of free online storage space, but this can be increased up to 1000 GB (i.e., 1 TB) at $1 per GB for a year.

Other services provide more open-ended storage space, enabling you to back up your entire computer. These include SugarSync, Mozy, Backblaze, Carbonite, Crashplan, SOS Online Backup, and Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3). It can take several days, at minimum, to perform an initial backup over the Internet, as it will consist of hundreds of gigabytes. But after that's been completed, only files that have been added or modified will be uploaded incrementally to the servers. If you need to retrieve a file or folder, you can typically do this via a web browser interface. However, if you need to restore your entire computer, some services can send you a hard drive with your backup at an additional charge. Speaking of pricing, online backup services charge either subscription fee (monthly or annual) or by the amount of data uploaded.

The cloud has brought about a revolution in inexpensive storage, making backing up online inexpensive and fuss-free. But with so many choices out there, how can we narrow it down? Rather than directly recommending services, here are requirements to consider.

• Types of cloud storage available for workstations. Essentially, there are 2: dedicated backup services and cloud sync services.
• When it comes to choosing any kind of service, the first question to ask is what computing platforms are supported. Some cloud storage services offer clients not only for Mac and PC but for mobile devices like iPhones and Android phones, too.
• Consider security. Your data will be undoubtedly be stored encrypted but that doesn't amount to a hill of beans if the sign-on system is weak. If you choose a strong and unique password then this shoudn't be an issue, of course.