So I spent several hours last week doing some research on remote backups. Even though I have a file server here for local backups, something could always happen — fire, flood, crazy electrical storm, theft, etc — that could cause me to lose files or data from every machine in the building.

What I wanted was something simple: make it automatically back up certain files and folders on my computer, start up when Windows starts, run in the background (when idle or on a schedule), and back up changed files only. I did not want to manually click some “Backup” button all the day — I needed “set & forget” behavior. And I was even willing to pay!

I started by reading reviews of storage providers on PC World and TechCrunch. After some more research, I signed up for a small GoDaddy Online File Folder since that got some kudos. Verdict: bleh! Would have been nice to learn about it before shelling out my $10, but oh well. Their web interface is slow. The backup software can only automatically back up one folder on your PC. One? If you want to back up multiple folders, you instead have to find a third party app and over it over FTP or WebDAV. WebDAV is slow, and their FTP service was giving me weird errors. I spent a few hours trying out third party software and eventually gave up.

I then looked at Box.net, a Web 2.0 darling. However, it didn’t have any backup software — I’d have to log into their site & drag files onto it every time I wanted to back something up. Forget that, guys. I started seeing a trend with other online storage services, too — it was like they didn’t really focus on backing up files, and instead made cool-looking web sites that made it easy to share your MP3 collection with your friends. Like we don’t know how file sharing companies eventually turn out. Granted, I can see how sharing might fit in, since people will want to back up their photos, and why not share them with friends and let them print copies etc. But anyhow.

Finally I tried out Mozy, which thankfully fit the bill. Easy to install, 2gb storage for free, with a little app that rests on your computer and automatically backs up what you want when you want. They even encrypt your files before uploading, which is neat. You can upgrade to 30gb of storage for about $5/month. Two additional things I’d like to see out of Mozy, though: 1) offer a business-grade plan for 100+gb storage; and 2) compress the files (or at least compressible ones like BMP/TXT/.CS) before uploading so we can store more stuff and use less bandwidth.

So for now I’m trying out Mozy…we’ll see how that goes. If anyone knows of third-party software that does automatic, differential backups over FTP, please let me know! I was tempted to write my own, but you know how that goes.