Mozy acquired by EMC for $76MM
techcrunch.com
techcrunch.com
For those who aren't familiar with Mozy, you have to install the software and wait a day for it to upload about 1 GB or two. After that, it uploads any changed files.
Here is where the fun begins--when you actually need the backup!
Say you need to recover your files. You must login to your web-based account within 30 days before the backups are deleted if they're not touched, and request a ZIP file of your files. After a few hours, you must login and click download. After you download the huge zip file, you must download the decode utility. After that, you must run the decode utility on the contents and unzip.
Then, if this is the same computer as before, with the same operating system as you had before, you can download Mozy and login to it which will at least remember the folders you had set to synch.
But if you change your operating system, or get a new computer, even if you keep the same username (e.g., Vlad-PC) on both, it will treat it as a new computer. So, instead of simply installing Mozy on a new computer, signing in, and it knows the 10 folders you setup to synch and downloads them since you don't have them (which would make too much sense), you must follow the web-based restore procedure above, and tell it which folders to backup for the future all over again.
Mind you, this isn't a follow-the-wizard type procedure--you must figure this out as you go along and always pray you will 1) have your data back, 2) reconfigure which folders should be backed up in the future all over again and hope you don't forget any, 3) wait for it to slowly reupload all these same files all over again since it thinks you're on a new computer.
Or I can get a 500 GB external hard drive for 125 dollars. So...someone help me out. Why would I not just get a couple big drives and avoid all the hassle and slowness of online storage? I don't understand the impulse people have to pay for inconvenience.
It's certainly a wide open market.