Carbonite vs Mozy Home: Which Service Holds the Edge for Online Backup?

Carbonite vs Mozy Home is the ultimate match-up between two of the leading online backup services available today. In this day in age where data loss, virus attacks, computer crashes, and theft are too common, it's imperative computer files are backed up regularly and that's where these two providers come into play.

So why only compare Carbonite vs Mozy Home? The answer is easy. These are the two most popular and widely used online backup services for home users right now. They dominate this market because they both are easy to use and very inexpensive. The real question is, which one is best? Let's take a look at some of the most important areas to evaluate when it comes to online backup and see how these two providers compare.

Cost & Storage Capacity

The amount of data you can backup online and the cost of doing so are probably the two areas of concern that come to mind immediately for home users contemplating which backup provider to choose. Both Carbonite and Mozy Home offer unlimited backup. It doesn't matter if you have a few files to backup or several thousand, you won't have anything to worry about with either provider. Carbonite offers one, two, and three year subscriptions. The one year subscription costs $54.95. Mozy Home offers a month-to-month plan and one and two year subscriptions. Their month-to-month plan costs $4.95/month while their one year subscriptions are $54.45.

Ease of Use

Both providers promise their services are easy to use and that the backup process when using their services is literally "set and forget." According to most users of both services, Carbonite and Mozy Home deliver on those promises. There is one common complaint, however, for both providers and that is the time it takes for the initial backup. It's important to point out that this isn't the fault of either service provider. The time it takes for the initial backup is totally dependent on amount of the data that needs to be backed up and the speed of your Internet connection. If you have 30GB of data that needs to be backed up initially it will take roughly the same amount of time using either one of these providers because of the constraints of upload speeds of most Internet connections.

While the match up in this area seems to be even, Carbonite takes the slight edge over Mozy Home according to users because of its simple interface. Mozy Home has more advanced settings within its interface which may satisfy computer geeks but it seems to be overwhelming for some home users. 

Backup Process and Security

Carbonite and Mozy Home both allow automatic or scheduled backups so that you can just install the software, run the initial backup and select your backup settings (automatic or scheduled), and then just literally forget about it. As for security, both of these online backup service providers use advanced technology to ensure that your files are encrypted on your computer before they are uploaded to their secured servers. Both services keep your files encrypted while being stored on their servers.

Restoring Files

Carbonite uses a standard process for restoring files which is activated simply by using the restore function in the software's desktop interface. With Mozy Home, you can restore your files using one of three methods: desktop interface restore, web restore, and DVD restore. It is also important to note that with both Carbonite and Mozy Home, restoring a large set of data and files can take a while so if you have 30GB of data to restore, don't expect to have it back on your computer within a few hours. Instead, it can take a few days. 

Customer Support

In this category, users of both services say their is need for improvement. There have been comments from users of both providers that support can be slow at responding to customer queries and that the information they are given isn't complete and thorough. Overall, Carbonite has the edge because it offers phone, live chat, and email support. Mozy Home only offers live chat and email support.

Carbonite vs Mozy Home Summary

Judging from the above feature-for-feature match up, Carbonite and Mozy Home are virtually identical in price and features so it's difficult to declare an absolute winner. Neither one is perfect but you shouldn't expect that when you're getting unlimited online storage for less than $5/month. For every customer that swears by Carbonite, there is one that swears by Mozy Home. The match up is virtually dead even.

The best thing to do is to try both services to see which one works best for you and to decide which one you like the best. Both services are incredibly cheap and easy to test. Carbonite backup offers a free 15-day trial and Mozy Home has a month-to-month option that only costs $4.95/month. Take them both for a test drive and see for yourself which one is the winner!

Read the full Carbonite vs Mozy Home comparison and review and see which one is declared the "Editor's Choice" by the editor of the website, best online storage.