Mozy backup increased prices. Alternatives? | Hacker News Reader

Mozy backup increased prices. Alternatives?

5 pointsalexu5 comments

Thanks for being a valued Mozy subscriber. For the first time since 2006, we’re adjusting the price of our MozyHome service and wanted to give you a heads up. As part of this change, we’re replacing our MozyHome Unlimited backup plan and introducing the following tiered storage plans:

50 GB for $5.99 per month (includes backup for 1 computer) 125 GB for $9.99 per month (includes backup for up to 3 computers)

You may add additional computers (up to 5 in total) or 20 GB increments of storage to either of the plans, each for a monthly cost of $2.00.

While this policy takes effect for new MozyHome customers starting today, your MozyHome Unlimited subscription is still valid for the duration of your current 1 year term. Your new plan will take effect on your first renewal after March 1, 2011. Based on your current usage of 4 computers and 385.56 gigabytes, your renewal plan will be $439.89 for a 1 year term.

As the leader in online backup, we’re committed to continually providing the highest levels of service and protection that you’ve come to expect from us as well as delivering those innovations you’ve been asking for. For more information on the factors that led to this change, please read my note or visit our FAQ.

Be safe, Harel Kodesh President

Just picked up a program called Arq (http://www.haystacksoftware.com/arq/) for OS X that backups a machine to Amazon S3. You pay Amazon based on standard storage and bandwidth costs (http://aws.amazon.com/s3/pricing/) and it allows for reduced redundancy storage, so you're looking at about 10cents a gig per month.

Based on your note above, for 385 gigs you're looking at about $36/month ($432/year) -- and that's before you get smoked on transferring all that data to Amazon, which will cost you about 10 cents a gig and run you about $39 for a one time transfer.

Once most those files hit S3 you won't have to re-send them (just backup newly changed files) but Mozy's $439.89 is still looking like the cheaper option.

I've been using Arq for a little while now (former Mozy user) and can recommend it. Arq is substantially better than some of the other S3 backed storage solutions as it takes steps to minimize S3 traffic, keeps incremental backups of recently changed files (ala Apple Timemachine), and an open sourced (Github) restore client in case they go out of business and you need to restore your files.

If you're worried about cost, you can also use their Reduced Redundancy storage which would save you a chunk out of that.

AltDrive has secure versioned unlimited backup for $44.50/yr. (http://blog.altdrive.com/welcome-mozy-users)

Free two month trial. Giver her a try. (http://altdrive.com)

Oops! I just asked this same question (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2167346). I'll stay tuned in both places - interested in the same answers!

How difficult is to cancel Mozy and still get a refund on an annual plan? It looks like refunds aren't automatic with Mozy upon cancellation.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com