Roxio BackOnTrack Online - Unlimited Automatic Offsite Backup

I get emails from people trying to recover files from a computer crash several times a week. The emails generally start with something like, 'my hard drive failed...' and end with, '...how can I get the photos of my kids back? these were the only copy I have.' I empathize with these emailers because even with a backup plan, I've suffered data loss from a failed computer. After providing a few data recovery suggestions, my first question is always, 'where was your backup plan?' This is followed by, 'what are you going to do to prevent something like this in the future?' I often feel like I'd see blank stares if I could watch someone open my replies.

We insure our homes against loss. We insure our cars against loss. Insurance against data loss is making a back up copy - very few people do it; don't be one of them.

The best second copy you can make is one that's offsite and automatic. That's where a service like Roxio's new BackOnTrack Online comes in. You install BackOnTrack Online software once, choose which files and folders you want to back up, and it takes care of the rest. Your files are backed up over your Internet connection to a secure server, covering the offsite portion of back up process. The software on your computer automatically watches for new items in the folders you protect, or changes to files, backing up as necessary. If you delete a file, the online backup keeps a copy for 30 days, so you can even change your mind and recover a deleted file.

I've been testing BackOnTrack Online for about a week and so far I'm impressed. The software provides visual indicators on my desktop when something is being backed up, is backed up, or is scheduled to be backed up. You can right click a file or folder to tell BackOnTrack you want it backed up. Deleting a file on your desktop does not permanently remove it from your world - recovery via BackOnTrack Online is easy. I currently have 1GB of files backed up, which is certainly not a huge number, but I consider it a large enough number to feel like an accurate test. If your computer crashes, you can recover your files to any computer via the recovery mode.

Here's a video demo where I show how I deleted a file from my hard drive and recovered it using BackOnTrack Online:

BackOnTrack is powered by Carbonite, which is an online backup service I reviewed in May of 2006. One thing I like about BackOnTrack versus going straight to Carbonite is having the Roxio brand behind it. Roxio and Sonic have been around for a long time. Backing your files up to a service run by them likely means you can feel reasonably secure that your backup will be available for a long time. As a side note, Carbonite also powers the online backup for Microsoft Money.

While BackOnTrack isn't free, it's highly affordable, with an annual subscription running $49.99 or 2 years for $89.99. That's cheap insurance - far less expensive than any software I've purchased to recover data from a failed hard drive. While storage is theoretically unlimited, most broadband connections will result in a limit of backing up 3GB of new files per day.

As a point of disclosure, Roxio sponsored my coverage of CES 2008. I'm recommending BackOnTrack Online as a solution because it works. If you don't choose to use BackOnTrack Online back your stuff up with something else. It's far easier to recover data from a copy than pray that data recovery software can dig it out from a failed drive.