My problem, restoring the files so that I could use them, has been escalated to level three support, and I’m now waiting to see if my files can be retrieved and restored on my computer. I wasted my money. And try to cancel a subscription. I explained that the decision to cancel mobile back-up was made 120 days after my last payment, so how could I have cancelled on time? How to Access the Deep Web and the Dark Net, How to Securely Store Passwords in the Cloud, MP4 Repair: How to Fix Corrupted Video Files in 2019, Best Cloud Backup for iPhone in 2021: Ditching iCloud, What Is Data Lifecycle Management? tl;dr: you have a backup that falls within something like the top 0.01% of backup sizes for that product leve. As mentioned, Carbonite also lets you set up two-factor authentication, which provides an additional layer of security to make sure that no one can access your files by obtaining just your password. 4. For all of these reasons, I've rated it a 3.5 as a cloud backup service. There is no setting in the Registry that can fix this, there is no method for removing that prfile, or even for adjusting it: whatever changes I make to that profile (such as telling it to ALWAYS sleep when the lid is closed) are totally ignored, and the computer refuses to sleep. The first “complete” backup (about 80 GB) took 5 full days, on a fast broadband connection. But at the end of the day, Carbonite is not really at fault. There are some notable limitations to Carbonite’s backup. It interupts my productivity, sucks up bandwidth, and frankly, I’ve only used it once or twice to find a previous version of a file. I couldn’t really believe the ‘unlimited’ claim so I wanted to try it out. Thank god my hard drive are still running smoothly and I have not needed Carbonite yet to restore my files. If it’s the former, it should be fairly fast on recent (<5 years) hardware, if it's the latter, it will not run great, period. However, we’re not big fans of parceling out the features like this, especially for arbitrarily chosen functionality, such as the automatic video uploads. If you are fond of browsing the internet frequently without applying privacy and security measures, then I suggest you start creating backups of all your files and folders. Next up is the Plus tier, which also includes unlimited storage for one computer, but it gives you the option to backup external hard drives and automatically select video files for upload. I was a Carbonite customer for 2 years I was a Carbonite customer for 2 years, most of our work is to sync to physical drives, and the program did well in this job, the main con is the pricing was very expensive. It’s easy to use on both … After a quick search on the net, I noticed that I’m not alone when it comes to this type of “restore” problem, which further erodes my confidence in this product. I paid a ton of money to backup my computer, which included some files from a network drive. It does not work as advertised. The speed, especially for downloads, is also terrible, so if you require quick access to the files that you backup to cloud storage, Carbonite probably isn’t the service for you. What if you go on holidays? Details below. Now they tell me that this is normal – but who knows? In addition, the server plans also let you upgrade your encryption from 128-bit to 256-bit. Pros. Interested to read Joe’s explanation of this issue, as Carbonite don’t admit any link on their part to a slow backup speed. The SSD is 500GB, and the other internal magnetic drive is 1TB. But those looking for an end-to-end business continuity solution will need to keep looking. DON'T LOAD THIS SOFTWARE ON YOUR COMPUTER. This will give you two options. When it comes to its privacy policy, Carbonite is clear about what information it gathers on its users and how it uses this data. Bottom line, until the term “unlimited” actually means unlimited … there are better (less expensive) options for cloud storage. Although it’s a bit spare on features, Carbonite offers … Carbonite Cloud Backup starts at $59.99 per year and does a good job in its mission as a business backup and data protection solution. So now I’m downloading it all again… 1 mbps. I’ll just log into my Carbonite account and download onto a new hard drive. However, it’s still an annoyance if you like to exercise as much control as possible over the process. Despite this review being written in the middle of a global pandemic (which Carbonite warns could lead to increased support response times), we got a reply within 24 hours, which is more than adequate. So Carbonite it is. To upload and download a 3.51GB test folder, we used a stable fiber connection with an upload and download speed of 50 Mbps. I thought it was copying both my C and D drives and now, after THREE DAYS of retrieving backups, none of my D drive files appeared and the ones that have are so contorted in appearance that it’s pretty much a total aggravation. I see my subscription as some kind of fire insurance for example: you’re glad you have if you need it but if you don’t you don’t want to think about it either. Now that I am restoring my “complete backup”, I have come across yet another major insanity issue: When you start your restore, you get the option to select which files you want to prioritize, so they get restored first. I called Carbonite and they checked the backup. Overcharge twice, they didn't return my call as promised, they failed to provide the promised restitution. Expert Reviews. Carbonite uses SSL to protect your data while it’s in transit, which means it’s protected from things like man-in-the-middle attacks. I cancelled my subscription. Then I will know where the files are!! In what twisted, mangled, distorted usage of the word “backup” does that make sense? It acts as a switch that puts your system in backup or restore mode. What I thought would be a simple task is now in it’s second week, with no resolution in sight. Now, when I reached out to Mozy to request a refund, I was told “the most recent renewal is outside of our refund policy”, despite the fact that I purchased two years of service for $209.79 on December 29, 2017 and received just under 5 months of backups during that time. – Note: These “check files” also get smaller over an extended time if you stop/slow uploading data for storage. The software was very easy to use, though I must admit I was a little baffled by the setup procedure: did it really select all my files I wanted to backup? This is when the surprises began. The system strongly encourages the user to create a full system image backup first. I had written Carbonite on a few occasions complaining about it and did not receive a satisfactory response. I don’t care a thing about ‘ease’ of use. By now means do I have a lot of data, a couple of photos and videos that I cannot afford to lose. … Backup and recovery to the rescue. Support? In fact, it hasn’t even started on two of the drives. There’s also no proper throttling included in Carbonite. Unbelievably, if you have a file in your backup and then you happen to lose the original from your own disk, Carbonite will then delete the backup! Keep an eye on your inbox! I had two large files. In this scenario, customers are looking to bring key app services back online quickly so they can continue doing business even in the face of a disaster. Now that I’m in a customer relations nightmare with them…not so much. At least, it is not in practical terms. I emailed support about the fact that I had not been able to backup for several months, and their response was that this error was a known issue and “we do not yet have an estimated time as to when the update will come out with this fix,” but that if they ever found a solution, they would email me! If this is something you’re looking for, we can recommend Degoo, which makes it onto our list of the best online backup for mobile, despite it having many issues when it comes to backing up your computer. I tried switching to Carbonite after Crashplan, which I’d used for years, discontinued their “for home” offering (and Crashplan actually suggested Carbonite). Carbonite is ending support for the Mirror Image feature on October 15, 2018. They refused to offer the refund, saying I was beyond the 30 day refund period. I agree that online backup can be slow at times. Carbonite is super slow… like 2-3 day behind. At any time of the day, you can be exposed to malware, virus, worm, and ransomware that can bring destruction not only to your files but also to your computer’s operating system as well. Create an account on the website, download the app and start installation. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product or service, we may be paid a fee by that merchant. I’ve been a Carbonite reseller for several years. My little external drive has done just fine and has not caused any slow down or stop-responding. Although it’s a bit spare on features, Carbonite offers unlimited storage for a single computer for a reasonable price. Would I like the “complete restore” to take an hour or two? That`s the best I could get out of them. If you’ve used Carbonite, you know that there’s an icon to indicate when a backup is pending. Backblaze is a great (and less expensive!) This online backup service makes it easy to send all of your crucial files to the cloud with a single click. SolarWinds Backup (194) 4.3 out of 5. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time. 58 in-depth Carbonite Server reviews and ratings of pros/cons, pricing, features and more. You can either fill out the detailed support form, or you can contact them via chat or phone, if you’re within the opening hours. I was limited to how many files could be recovered at a time then in the middle of a restore I was timed out and yes, it was very slow. ago. After saving any changes, you are encouraged to begin backing up immediately. What Carbonite does is created “check files” (for lack of a better phrase) that are intended to get larger the more data you upload (…within a short period of time). and would continue even after the initial backup. Now I am questioning whether I can believe anything that they say. We’ll cover that process later in this section. You’ll have to clear the flag from the files to get carbonite to see them, or stop using whatever program you’re using to download attachments that’s marking this as those file attributes. Like synching up the files with a local restore (much faster). Because I am moving none of my information is the same so they are even sending emails to old accounts. I have tested Mozy before but I was a little overwhelmed by the features and option so I thought before paying for it I’d rather try out a different service and I’m glad I did. Found out today – almost by accident – that Carbonite is discontinuing their hard drive back up service. Is this 3TB of 20 files or 3TB AND 3 million files? Carbonite was unable to resolve the issue. With Carbonite, I continually have errors. I’m now moving away from Carbonite after a client experienced an issue with the program on several Windows 10 computers. Setting up your backup and restoring your files is incredibly easy to do and requires little effort on the user’s part. Laptop Mag. According to tech support, my account only backs up the C: drive. When my computer broke down, Carbonite had only backed up 7gb of the over 300 gb of lost data. And, I can’t help but feel mislead by the website. During the initial backup, Carbonite can prevent the computer from going into sleep or hibernate mode. The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or the endorsement of PCMag. Expert Reviews . It’s screwed me up many times. (Yet most of the files ‘were’ restored.) 5. I then contact Carbonite support, which admitted that FOR A COMPUTER UPGRADED TO WINDOWS 8.1, CARBONITE’S MIRROR IMAGE PRODUCT DOES NOT WORK. They always interop you when you are working in something else. AVOID CARBONITE AT ALL COSTS!!! Mirror Image is a useful feature. There are numerous files missing from the “backup”, which is not actually a backup at all! So not only did they change the services I paid for, they refused to refund the payment for the mirroring service I pay for. Carbonite refused to refund the prepaid year. Customer since 2009, in 8 years, I never had any worries, except the day I lost my data and wished, normally recovering object of the service paid for 8 years. alternative and seems to be doing a fantastic job! That 30 day policy is a huge risk for users. it is causing terrible slow downs in my PC. Carbonite Warning!! Unfortunately, Carbonite’s data centers are located in the U.S., which is a country infamous for its awful digital privacy laws, including legislation like the PATRIOT Act. But in any case, this wasn’t OK for me. =================== Downloaded files, and files saved locally from email attachments, were not getting automatically backed up. Many customers may opt to schedule this for a period of low activity but, for a company with no prior solution in place, it would make sense to begin this as soon as possible. Read our full Carbonite review for the details. I’m not a college professor, so just for the fact that they are so unhelpful, I’m off. Then I have two much larger drives attached to this machine too. Check out alternatives and read real reviews from real users. This probably isn’t a big deal for most users, especially since you can set “exclusion times,” during which the upload won’t run. It would have tied our Editors' Choice winner in this category, Arcserve UDP, but it lacks the ability to failover virtual infrastructure, which, in this day and age, we consider mandatory for anything calling itself a business-oriented solution. This is Friday, December 29. 3. ), and after upgrading to a new notebook, I just discovered yet another huge failure with this product: It modifies your Windows Power Plan without telling you, so that your notebook will NEVER sleep. They’re dropping Mirror Image. At least, that is my guess. Circling back to restoring via your web browser, this process is perhaps even simpler. This means that deleted files would be removed from your backup 30 days after they are deleted, per our retention policy. 2. https://support.carbonite.com/articles/Safe-Pro-Windows-Carbonite-and-OneDrive-File-On-Demand-Feature. Yes, read that again: That really is how it works. I found a hidden article on their website, which says: “the installer automatically changes the power settings of your Windows computer for the initial backup so that your computer remains on when the computer is plugged into a power source.” That’s not true. Harrison tried to convince me to leave my over payment as is and turned off my auto debit so won’t get charged again. Their promotional material, including the advertisements on this site as I write this, still claims to offer service at $5.00 per month (I originally paid $59.99 per year). I would have lost practically everything were it not for another resource in place. That was nice, but I’m not sure it’s worth all the disruption (plus the annual cost). Even they could not find it!!! In any case, the speed of your CPU, aka “Clock speed” matters way more to single threaded processes than having multiple cores does. Just testing Carbonite and Backblaze. Minimum 2 users. All in all, Carbonite is a good cloud backup service for users looking for a simple way to secure their data without the need for a host of advanced features. Their service people are sending me obtuse unproductive emails to my phone without giving me the refund I have been asking for. Start Backing up with Carbonite I have the fastest connection from Comcast, with speeds between 200 and 400 mbps. This is useful if you don’t want it to gobble up your bandwidth at a certain time when you know you will need it. It would not update, so I got another program for backup. Carbonite supports versioning, letting you retrieve older versions of files you’ve changed. You can minimize it to the system tray, but there’s no way to actually close the client. The only option was to restore my hard drive to the factory settings. It turns out, there were tens of thousands of files “pending”–including several years of family photos. Unfortunately, this company is not friendly about the 30 day rule “stuff” like they use to be when I started using them about 10+ yrs. Signing up and getting started with Carbonite is straight forward. Keep reading this Carbonite review to learn more. If you prefer talking to the support team in real time, you have to do so between 2:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. EST on Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. EST on Saturdays, and 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. EST on Sundays. Favorite. I left Carbonite uninstalled for 1 yr., then reinstalled and all the data was still present. Now I can’t even get it to reinstall. Carbonite Cloud Backup starts at $59.99 per year and does a good job in its mission as a small business-oriented Disaster-Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS) solution. Turns out Carbonite does not back up the hard drive. Unbelievable. If you have very limited data to backup it may work but an unlimited backup that is this slow, is not capable of delivering it’s promise. So no local backup, and an online backup that cannot be relied on. They’re not dropping external hard drive backup. Nice feature. We are all so busy, we do not need one more thing to remember or log into EVERY DAY. Somewhat annoyingly, if you’re on the Basic plan and want to upload a folder full of video files, you’ll have to select each file individually, rather than just right-clicking the whole folder. So they’re not there. I found this to be a sensible choice since initial seeding to the cloud can easily take days or weeks to complete for even a moderate 500 GB of storage. I hadn’t used the laptop for a while. Ultimately, though, most cloud backup services host some or all of their data in the U.S. You need to hire more people! Backing up 500 GB took approximately two hours. The resulting email from Carbonite said that in 30 days my software would be automatically updated. As mentioned at the beginning of this section, we think these prices are pretty reasonable. They auto charged me from an account I set up SIX years ago. The external drive ‘died’. I thought Carbonite was backing up all of my files. If you require more space, you can purchase more at a price of $99 per 100GB of extra online storage per year. “No problem” I thought. Bottom line: Do not waste your money on this product. However, if you’re looking for one that doesn’t, we recommend Acronis True Image, which lets you choose between a variety of storage locations. I have been using Carbonite for a few years. From time to time, I got an email telling me that there are vast numbers of files backed up. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Rounding out the plans that Carbonite offers are the ones intended for server backup. The first is “choose files,” which unsurprisingly lets you pick and choose individual files to restore. But hey, there were lots of green icons for “backed up”. Now my youngest boy is 45 years old! I used to love the IDEA of carbonite. At one point I asked for a refund and was told that Carbonite did not give refunds. And second, the restore process takes forever and may not work at all. What ever I am typing just goes away. Got the ‘we are going to delete all files as you’ve not synced for 30 days’ message. I don’t leave my computer on 24/7, but it is on all day and into the evening, and I still am not backed up. It’s really a sham, they had a chance but couldn’t handle their explosive growth to the point the company should just close their doors before they get in any more trouble. For me, this defeats the purpose of a “set it and forget it” backup. Carbonite told me there’s no option or setting to change this. However, this feature isn’t unlimited; only the 12 most recent versions of your files are kept on the server. There’s also no way to set Carbonite to only do backups manually, meaning you’re forced to set a schedule or enable continuous backup. It f***ing takes forever. However, within that constraint, it does well; delivering an easy, effective product that suffers only slightly from slow restores and a lack of Linux support. My friend’s subscription is up in two weeks and I don’t think he is going to renew. Required fields are marked *. Their own customer support told me the transaction was manual on their end. I went ahead and changed my CC. With the help of Capterra, learn about Carbonite, its features, pricing information, popular comparisons to other Computer Security products and more. This software does not in any way interfere with any of the desktops, laptops, or servers being used. Absolutely unacceptable for a service that I’ve been loyal to for 3 years with 1-3 computers subscribed at any given time. That’s a shady business practice in my opinion. Like any warranty service, which is what this essentially is, it looks great until you have to use it. I signed up for Carbonite on March 26th. OF COURSE. I’ve been a Carbonite customer for several years. Actually, this was not the fault of Carbonite. Mirror Image will be removed from all remaining accounts on the end-of-support date of October 15, 2018. So all those photos that I had placed on Carbonite are purged. Backing up the files is a snap, restoring the files specially to a new one is not very intuitive and there should be better ways to do it. Yes, that means you could get hit with ransomware today and find out none of the work, photos, whatever you’ve done over the past 2 weeks could be recovered. I have about 500 gigabytes of photos on my computer. If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to backup files and don’t care too much about speed, then yes. Both of these types of notifications should happen MULTIPLE times, one would think, from a company selling security. Not suitable for business travellers using an external drive where sometimes random drive letters are assigned to external drives when the computer if started. I received no renewal notices, warnings about a forthcoming complete purge, nothing. (Wasn’t I already on that list, as of May?) To date — more than 2 months later, I am receiving daily pop-ups on my screen saying “there’s a problem with your Carbonite.” So, I called and cancelled again — five days ago. That you were not aware of this is not necessarily a fault of your own. I would NOT recommend this service, not for anybody. I don’t understand why Apple chooses to display it this way because I consider that confusing. It crawls at best, on a good day, going downhill, with the wind behind it…. The user is confused. Mhhh, okay, I am patient but waiting months until my backup completes? It does not do what it claims to do, it is extremely slow, it is very stupidly designed, and it will not give you back what you thought it had backed up, because it never did actually do a “backup” at all. Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology. Don’t trust this compnay. They were unable to help. Restore issues. The easy fix is to disconnect the USB device and the computer reverts back to booting from the hard drive/SSD drive in the computer. If you do, Carbonite won’t be able to hand over your files, even if the authorities order it to. It happened in every program including my web browsers. And by the way, while you can recover an entire crashed HD over the WAN – that’s just it – it’s over the WAN (i.e. So, based on a couple of reviews I’ve read throughout the web and in some forums I decided to give Carbonite a try. I was with Mozy server backup which was sold to Carbonite. If I have to worry about this and log in every day, I might as well do a manual backup. However, for more advanced users who prefer a greater degree of control over the process, Carbonite won’t have what they’re looking for (check out our Carbonite alternatives list). Read Carbonite Safe Backup Reviews. There is a setting called “reduce Carbonite’s internet usage,” but it doesn’t let you decide how much bandwidth the application is allowed to use. When I realized why and that it would never speed up, (without paying $230 a year for the business plan) I calculated that it would take nearly a year and a half to finish my initial upload. I think I am not wasting my money, the program is fine but for the part of transferring a large file at once, GoodSync and Gs RichCopy 360 is better. Let us know in the comments below. Had you asked me about Carbonite when I owned my XP, I would have said glorious things about it. Not only did it take 8 days, it turned out that the Carbonite backup was missing 2,000 files and 0.2GB of data were missing, despite its software saying the backup was complete. There is also no mobile backup functionality with Carbonite. When I’ve had to call support, it has taken no less than 45 minutes to get through. Therefore, Carbonite can claim it is your service provider that is limiting the upload rather than the fact that Carbonite is intentionally creating too large of “check files” for uploads to be completed. I used that feature once and never went back. When sitting on the server, your files are encrypted using AES 128-bit, which — although not as strong as AES 256-bit — is still more than capable of keeping your information out of the wrong hands. Reaching out to the Carbonite support department is easy. Can’t help until someone can log in to my laptop. Although there’s no free version of Carbonite available, the company does offer a 15-day trial of the Basic tier so that you can try it out before committing to spending any of your money on the service. Let us know if you liked the post. The first is through the client itself, which is the only way to restore your file if you opted for private encryption. Two web mail requests. Carbonite is an easy-to-use online backup provider with great security, privacy and customer support. Relying on metadata, which windows often loses anyways, is not a good way to keep track of your files, and really isn’t what file metadata was meant for. I simply cannot fathom such a stupid backup strategy: What purpose does a backup serve if the backup copy is DELIBERATELY deleted when the original “protected” file is lost? Nothing and that is still like yesterday to me when I heard, “The system failed.”, Have had nothing but computer problems since Carbonite Online Backup techs installed an “update” to their software a few months ago. – Restoring my 300GB to 60-100KB / s, more than a month to restore => convoluted response from customer service but it’s like that for everyone, I purchased a new external hard drive to make this backup. I just gave up on the first one. I agree and they lost my files with no explaination. I have tried some of their “fixes” but no luck so far. The initial backup took a month. A couple of times over the years I have been able to restore files that were corrupted, deleted, overwritten, or otherwise lost, and that has been useful. I had to reboot constantly. If you get stuck, then there's a 24-hour US-based help line ready to assist. Still not sure about Carbonite? A Carbonite user here. For many years, I never had a problem with Mozy and they are tech support was open 24/7. I had more data on my new computer than imaginable. Once installation is complete the app will start backing up. DO NOT USE THEM. Assuming the default option is chosen, the user is immediately taken to the Monitor tab, which is efficient and clean. Carbonite Plans and Costs Review. If you’re not clear on the difference between these two categories, you can read our guide to cloud storage vs online backup. Every time I select either the “Balanced” or ” High performance” profiles, it immediately changes back to “Carbonite” as soon as I take the focus off that setting window to another window. So be warned, when it works the interface etc are nice. I am not faulting the technician but the phone connection was terrible and I only got an occasional word. The backup is very slow — it struggled for two weeks and never quite finished backing up the last 20GB of files, although I have a decent (10Mbps upload) connection at home and a very fast one (>100Mbps upload) at work. Your subscription has been confirmed. The price was a bit too steep for some reviewers, though. It is slow! It took two weeks to get a refund from them and I got hit with $120 in overdraft fees before I could cover their fraudulent charge. They wouldn’t refund me for the year either. During the restoration process after I switched over to a new computer with W7, Carbonite not only duplicated the files but triplicated them! What did Carbonite do? Pastelli. THEY ARE NOT A REPUTABLE COMPANY. I have a personal laptop and external drIve backed up.