Yippee! I’ve been waiting and waiting for Carbonite backups to be available for my Mac for about a year now, and I just discovered that my wish has been granted!
First, some background: Carbonite is a backup utility that you install on your computer, and then as long as your computer is connected to the Internet the program will always and continually search for anything that has changed and backup your files.
If someone breaks into your house and steals your computer your backups are safe because they live online on Carbonite’s server, so you can easily restore to a new computer.
My plan of attack is to have constant ongoing backups with Carbonite, as well as weekly backups to my external hard drive that is stored in a media-specific fireproof safe. That way if we have a fire and the whole house burns to the ground, I’ve still got my Carbonite backups; if a thief steals my computer, I’ve got both backups; if a thief just happens to steal my computer and my hard drive (let’s say I was in the process of doing a backup and therefore the two were side by side), I’ve still got my Carbonite backup.
Here’s a real life example that recently happened to a friend of mine, and a great example of why Carbonite would be the ideal backup even if you’re already doing a backup: My friend (let’s call him Bob) has his own business and has his office in his home. Bob comes home the other day to find that his house has been completely cleaned out by burglars (in the middle of the day!), including all of the papers and computer equipment in his office. And just by sheer bad luck, Bob was right in the middle of a backup when he stepped out, and so the nasty thieves got external hard drive too. Now, Bob has no record of what his clients owe him, he has no records for his taxes this year, he has lost all of his client contact info, EVERYTHING! Now, if Bob had been using Carbonite he would have had that one final fail-safe to fall back on. Bummer!
So what are you waiting for? Especially if you have a home business, you need to have all your bases covered. Carbonite is part of the solution!