Carbonite Adds Remote Access to Online Backup

Author	Gordon Kelly
Published	18th Mar 2009

Carbonite Adds Remote Access to Online Backup

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With all this talk of Cloud computing you'd think online backup services would be both more prevalent and more popular than they are. Perhaps now they will be...

Carbonite, one of the still youthful sector's primary players, has announced it will be integrating the feature everyone wants from online backup: remote access.

In short, this makes it possible for Carbonite users to access backed up files from any PC in the world with an Internet connection, even if Carbonite isn't installed. Users just log on to carbonite.com, navigate to the remote access tab on the navigation bar and from here they can access their hard drive file structures and securely download any files.

"Remote access is a feature our users have been really keen for us to include" said Carbonite CEO David Friend. "Our customers have always trusted us to safeguard their digital lives and keep them secure should their hard drive fail. We're now able to provide further insurance, allowing users access to their files anytime on from any PC with an internet connection".

On top of this Carbonite will be introducing Restore Search, which will allow users to easily find backed up versions of lost files saving time and frustration. This goes with the existing functionality of incremental backups, access to locked files (such as your pesky Outlook pst), 90 day restore versions of all files and encrypted content so that only you can see your content.

The new functionality is available to new customers immediately and should be getting pushed to existing customers as we speak. A year's subscription to Carbonite, providing unlimited backup space, isn't cheap at $54.95 (£39) but it does mean no more wires or physical hardware and there's currently a free 15 day trial available from the main site.

In related news Carbonite has also announced it has this week launched a long awaited version for Mac OS 10.4 and 10.5. This will contain all features found on the PC edition - including the newly added Remote Access and Restore Search - and retail at the same price. Quite a concept for Mac owners I'm sure. No, really there isn't a premium on it. Honestly...

Fine, suit yourselves.

Link:
Carbonite

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Chris said on 18th March 2009

The problem I found with carbonite was if you rebuilt your PC, i.e. it didn't just die, and you managed to save all your data first you couldn't just resync, you had to u... more

Robert Elliot said on 18th March 2009

I use SpiderOak's free 2GB - has a Linux client and you can have it on multiple devices for the one cost.

However, if you;re basically only backing up one machi... more

David Friend said on 20th March 2009

Gordon: Thanks very much for the write-up on Carbonite. One minor point -- we save versions for 90 days, not 30. Both the Remote Access and searchable restore features have been... more