Choosing the Best Cloud Backup Service

With so many providers now offering cloud backups services it is important to choose one that fits your needs first time. Whilst you could (in theory) switch providers at any time you would potentially loose old versions of any files in the process of dong so and with this some level of protection against ransomware attacks and the like.

In the points highlighted below I will be addressing some of the main things to think about whilst evaluating any cloud backup provider, these include:

What gets backed-up

One of the primary things to look for when assessing a cloud backup service is to find out exactly what gets backed up as a part of the plan. Some providers are very generous and will backup your entire PC including any external hard drives whereas others might allow only a single external hard drive to be backed up and enforce a policy meaning videos (and other large files) must be selected for backup manually. In other words, especially with some lower cost providers the service on offer might not be as automatic as you think, so please be aware of this!

Having said this, there are some great cloud backup services available today and thanks to the in-depth testing carried out at bestbackupreviews.com this list (below) should help you identify those that are worth your time to investigate further.

Amount of Storage on Offer

The amount of storage allocated for your backups is an important thing to think about, whilst some providers offer an unlimited amount of cloud storage, others do not. As such when assessing cloud backup services you need to be realistic as to what you need to have backed up and whether it is potentially worth opting for a provider which offers unlimited storage over one which charges based upon a tiered storage basis (albeit sometimes at a relatively high cost for the unlimited option).

This is also a good time to think about how your storage usage might increase over time, generally speaking most people will have an increasing number of files to keep backed up over time. With this increase in mind, be sure to look at the costs involves with potentially upgrading the storage on offer in case it is needed in the future or alternately mitigate this issue by choosing an unlimited plan from the start.

Historic File Versioning

Another very important (and often overlooked) aspect of online backup is the retention period of old, modified or deleted files, in other words, when changing or deleting a file how long will the old version will be kept available for.

This is important not only for those who might need to go back to old versions of files from time to time (programmers, digital artists etc.) but also critical in helping protect your valuable files from new threats including viruses and ransomware!

In the case of ransomware (which encrypts your files making them useless) there are even reports of such malware lurking in the background for many months before striking and doing any damage. In such cases (albeit rare) providers with short version retention periods (say 30 days) might not offer suitable protection against such an attack. With all of this in mind my personal advice is to look for providers who keep old versions for at least 6 months at a minimum!

Desktop & Smartphone Apps

All cloud backup services will offer, at a minimum, some kind of desktop software for controlling the backup of your files to the cloud. Sometimes this software is very simple and to the point, other times such software is built to perform many other functions such as performing local image-based backups, setting-up of synchronisation drives, performing PC maintenance tasks plus much more.

With this being said, neither approach to such desktop software is necessarily right or wrong, but instead, if any service does offer any additional features this should be seen as a bonus and not persuade you to choose a service which is not quite right for you backup needs otherwise.

Something else which some providers offer are smartphone apps to compliment their main backup service. Sometimes these apps allow the smartphone itself (along with its camera) to be backed up alongside the a PC, other times they are simply used for accessing any files backed up from any PCs using the service.

Privacy & Security Measures

Security of your files whilst using cloud backup is very important, as such I would always recommend choosing a provider which offers built-in, zero knowledge encryption as a core part of the service (or at least offers it for those with sensitive information to store). Not all providers offer such strict encryption with many using a shared approach whereby your data is still encrypted albeit with the provider managing the encryption keys on your behalf (meaning they “could” potentially see the contents of your backup!).

Ultimately which route to take here depends a lot on how much you trust the provider, most of the mainstream providers should not pose any threat to most backup customers. Having said this if you do have sensitive data to backup it is worth getting I the habit of ensuring it is always encrypted, even if you do trust the provider who is storing it for you!

With regards to privacy on a more broad level, it is wise to choose a provider which enforces multi-factor authentication on their user accounts and (if necessary) look for providers who are based in certain privacy friendly jurisdictions such as the EU for maximum user privacy.

The Upgrade Path

Something which is often overlooked when assessing cloud backup is the costs of potentially upgrading the service at some point in the future. Whilst you might only have a single PC and a small amount of data to backup today, this might turn into multiple PCs and a high volume of data in the near future as work and life commitments change over time.

With this in mind (as when choosing cloud storage also) I always advise people to always check not only the cheapest plan to meet your current needs but also any plans above it and how fairly they scale up. Some providers offer much better value as you add more PCs and / or storage to your account whereas others operate on a very strict “per PC” pricing model which might not scale up in a cost effective way!

What About Lifetime Backup Plans?

Something which does come up from time to time is the issue of “lifetime plans”, usually when looking at services such as cloud backup or cloud storage. These are usually plans which allow you to use the service “for life” thanks to a single one-off payment, thus removing the need to continually pay for such a service every month and as such can potentially offer very good long-term value!

Such plans are usually offered by newer companies as a way of marketing themselves and getting noticed in a crowded cloud marketplace, often with the intention of selling only a certain number of lifetime plans before retiring them and charging any new customers monthly or yearly.

If you are tempted by one of these plans it is important to realise that (as with most things in life) nothing is certain and your “lifetime plan” is only valid as long as the provider intents to honour it. There could be multiple reasons a lifetime plan is not honoured including, but not limited to, the provider going out of business or simply declaring that the lifetime service is not longer viable for them to continue running and subsequently closed down.

If you would like to learn more on this topic please consider reading our post where we ask Do Lifetime Subscriptions Offer Good Value.