How to backup and synchronize files online

If you’re a typical computer user which doesn’t have more than one computer it’s easy to backup your files: get a few DVDs or an external hard drive and you’re all set. Things get more complicated if you have more than one computer and need to synchronize files between them along with backing them up.

Backup on the Fly

I won’t make a big list of the services available online, but I’m gonna present you the stuff I use daily to backup and sync my files between multiple computers.

My solution

I use a combination of two software programs to first backup my files and then to sync them between computers.

1 – Sync Toy, a software I’ve talked about earlier, that I use to rapidly backup and syncronize files between my laptop, desktop and mobile hard drive. It’s easy to set up and it is reliable from what I’ve experienced in past two years. I miss the function of backing up settings and detailed reports after synchronization but that’s the price of free.

2 – Syncplicity, it’s a software that can synchronize folders between computers but it also keeps a copy of the files online (even files you’ve deleted). It saved by ass a few times after deleting sensible info. In order to use it you must create a free or paid account (see the difference here) and download a little piece of software that will synchronized the folders you’ve selected between multiple computers running the same software and configured to be logged into your account.

Why I use two different pieces of software? Mainly because one backup is not always enough plus the online versions it’s not very fast for large directories with multiple files.

What I’ve tried and not liked

I’ve also tried Microsoft’s Live Mesh Service but I’ve had one of the biggest disappointments in modern Microsoft software ever. The way you define folders to be synchronized is not very easy to understand, that’s why when I’ve defined the second computer it created the Mesh folders from my first computer on my desktop. I’ve deleted them (stupid me) and to my surprise it started deleting the files on the first computer.

I’ve stopped the process when I’ve realized what was going on but it was a little bit too late for a few hundred files. Syncplicity, which was running in the background managed to delete files and all I’ve got was two computers with the same two folders empty.

Thankfully, Syncplicity has a backup of all files in an online Recycle Bin, from where I’ve managed to recover them. Suffice to say Mesh was uninstalled the second I’ve recovered my files.

Conclusion

My solution doesn’t necessarily meets your needs that’s why you should check out other services, free or not. You should check google for “online backup services” to find an extensive list. Don’t forget to share with us what you did find an what you use on a daily basis to backup and synchronize your files.