Mozy Review

Testing Out Mozy Online Backup

Mozy comes in three flavors (free, home, and pro) that are sure to handle everyone’s needs. The free version is designed for very basic backups, although it offers a nice 2 GB limit, which will backup plenty of documents. Mozy Home offers unlimited backups and basically everything a home user needs at $4.95 per month. (Pre-paying for a year gets you 1 month free, while pre-paying for two years gets you 3 months free.)

Mozy’s Pro version offers additional enterprise-level features to handle the corporate environment, which we won’t really get into here. But it is something to look at if you’re a CIO or even if you’re running a small business with valuable client data.

Rating: [starreview tpl=16]

Pros:

• Automatic file backups.
• Backed by a large, established company.

Cons:

• Gets expensive after 50GB.

Website: www.Mozy.com

Here is my full evaluation and review…

Putting Mozy To The Test!

While Carbonite was my personal choice for online backup due to ease of use, there is another service that is very similar, and that is the remote backup from Mozy, which seems to offer even more features.

Downloading and Setup

Let’s get started with Mozy Home. (Note that you have to click to the Mozy Home page before you see a link to the Mozy Free edition.) Mozy Home is compatible with Windows 2000, XP, and Vista, and Mac OS X 10.4, so that covers most computers.

Just click the “Get Started” button to signup.

Then download and install the software.

Once it’s installed, you can select the files that you want to backup and configure some basic options (or advanced options, if you desire.)

Then just sit back and relax while Mozy does the hard work for you!

You can check everything out in your online account, and even access a PDF instruction manual to keep you on the right track. Don’t worry though, the interface is nice and simple. You don’t need to be a computer geek to get Mozy working properly!

Restoring Backups

Well, now your important documents are being backed up! But what if something happens down the road and your files get lost? Then just restore the files through Mozy’s easy interface! All you have to do is select the files to restore and click “Restore.” Simple as that.

Everything should work flawlessly unless you’re on a dial-up connection. (Note that it can still take a while to connect to your control panel to change any settings, though, even on high-speed lines.)

I could go on to tell you all the cool stuff Mozy does, like…

• Your files are encrypted on your computer using 448-bit Blowfish encryption and then transferred to the Mozy servers using 128-bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption.
• Checks your computer every 2 hours to see if anything has changed and needs backed up.
• Stores multiple versions of your changed files for 30 days, so you can always find what you want.
• Will ship you a DVD containing your files if that is how you want to restore backups!

Just to name a few 😉

But I think you get the point that Mozy is a sweet addition to any computer!

In that case, you should be all set, so it is the time to sign-up! For my final recommendation…

Final Decision on Mozy

What I liked about Mozy:
Great features in the software and a large, established company behind it.

What I did not like about Mozy:
The pricing structure could empty your wallet if you have large amounts of data to back up.

Definitely download Mozy today. You can start out with the free version – it’s awesome, and there is no credit card required for the free signup, so there’s no obligation.

If you like it and need more space, just upgrade to Mozy Home or signup with Carbonite, both are just $5 a month. I think Carbonite is simpler and less cumbersome, but Mozy works well, too.

P.S. The neat thing with the Mozy free version is that it has a built-in referral program. If you refer a friend who starts to use Mozy, you get an extra 256 MB of storage space added to your account! It’s a nice deal – just refer 4 friends and you’ll end up with 3 GB of storage space instead of 2.

Official website: Click here now to get started!

Key Features

As you would expect, Mozy is packed with features.

Automatic or scheduled backups
Normally a backup service offers either automatic backups or scheduled backups – Mozy offers both! You get to choose the method that best suits your needs and lifestyle.

What’s the difference? With automatic backups, when Mozy software detects a file change, it backs up that file immediately (as soon as system resources allow.) Basically, anytime your computer is idle, Mozy automatically backs up any file that has changed. With scheduled backups, you pick a time of day (or a time of week,) and Mozy runs the backup process at that moment, once per day (or week.)

I greatly prefer to have my files backed up automatically 24/7, but some people will prefer to only have the software run at specific times.

System Compatibility
Mozy works on both Windows and Mac operating systems (specifically Windows 7, Vista, and XP (32 & 64 bit), and Mac OS X 10.7, 10.6, 10.5, & 10.4.) The latest Mozy update, Version 2.14.2, is Windows 8 certified.

Mozy Stash File Sync
You can now sync files between computers with Mozy Stash. Your “Stash” folder is very similar to Dropbox (or even MyPC Backup’s sync folder.) It’s a separate folder on your computer where you can drop files that you want synced with any other devices where you have Mozy installed. And yes, you can even try Stash in a free 2GB account.

File Versioning
File versions from the past 30 days are stored, so you can restore any of these versions.

Icon Overlays
Icon overlays have been added recently. Similar to Carbonite’s dot system, Mozy uses a red dot with exclamation point and a green dot with checkmark to designate if a file needs backed up or is already backed up. Seeing the green dots and checkmarks gives you peace of mind.

Local Backups
You can even use the Mozy software to run a local backup (i.e. backup your data to an external hard drive.) This new feature is called “2xProtect.” It’s nice to have both local and online backups, after all, so I think this is an awesome feature.

Why do this? Local backups are much, much faster, whether you’re backing up files or restoring them.

Install and Setup Process

Installation is easy, and for the setup process, you follow a setup wizard. It scans your computer for you and presents a list of recommended files to backup. You can change it if you want, but it does a good job by default.

Changing options and settings was fairly complex with Mozy in the past, but in recent years, Mozy has overhauled their interface to make it very easy to understand. You shouldn’t have any trouble getting your files backed up.

Backup Space and Pricing Plans

The MozyFree account gives you 2GB backup space, free. It even includes all the MozyHome features, even file sync with Stash.

MozyHome, the popular choice, comes in two varieties. There’s the 50GB plan for $5.99 per month and the 125GB plan for $9.99 per month (with discounts for 1 and 2 year subscriptions.)

Additional computers can be added for $2/month per computer. Or you can add an additional 20GB of space for $2/month.

This is great if you’re backing up less than 50GB, but if you’re backing up a lot of data (500+GB,) you’ll be paying $50+ per month.

Money-saving tip: Every so often Mozy gives a promo code. Click below to see the current code:

Want 10% Off? Click Here To Reveal The Code!

Security

All user data is encrypted locally with military-grade encryption prior to transfer via a secure SSL connection. Users can choose a managed encryption key or choose a personal key for added security.

Restore

Users can restore data via the Mozy software client, through the web, or by ordering a DVD restore. Windows users can also restore data via right-click or through the Mozy Virtual Drive, which shows up in “My Computer” just like your C drive.

If you were lucky enough that your external hard drive survived whatever happened, you can restore from that and it will be much faster than downloading files over your internet connection.

Mobile Access

Users can access their backed up and synced files on their iOS (iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch) and Android devices. Get your app in The App Store or Google Play (Mozy provides the links on their site.) I’m pretty sure I mentioned this already, but these apps are free, even for MozyFree users.

Final Verdict

Mozy is a great company with a great product, but recent changes to their pricing structure have made them a less popular service for many users who need to backup a lot of data. (For $5.99 per month, you could backup well over 50GB if you went with a place like CrashPlan instead.)

But if the price isn’t stopping you, and you appreciate quality products, Mozy is a fine choice that I highly recommend. And hey, you can always use the 2GB MozyFree account.

Download the Mozy software:

Configure your Mozy settings:

Mozy doing the backup thing:

Restore from Mozy: