Backblaze mac external hard drive android#
Backblaze mac external hard drive software#
Backblaze mac external hard drive plus#
Backblaze mac external hard drive windows#

Intuitive user experience: The software to back up your computer should be easy to use.Some backup services also support network-attached storage, but we didn’t make that a requirement. An external drive is often the primary storage location for important older files, especially for laptops. Support to back up external drives: A backup service should allow you to back up external storage drives.We looked for affordable services of both types for this guide. The option that’s better for you depends on how many computers you own. Amount of storage and number of devices: Cloud backup plans can be either unlimited plans that cover one computer or storage-based plans that allow you to back up multiple devices.

Backblaze mac external hard drive android#

Most services also have iPhone and Android apps, but we didn’t find them all that useful, so we didn’t test them.

Backblaze mac external hard drive windows#

Support for Windows and Mac computers: We looked for services with both Windows and Mac apps.

Most people shouldn’t pay more than $100 for a cloud backup service. It’s usually cheaper by the year the annual price typically ranges between $60 and $100 based on factors like the amount of storage or how many devices a service supports.

Annual price of $100 or less: Cloud backup services operate under a subscription model where you pay per month or per year.

When they do, those features are clunky and don’t work well. Cloud backup prices are typically lower than those for cloud sync, but cloud backup services rarely have sharing or syncing options. You’d typically access these backups only in case of an emergency, such as storage-drive failure or physical equipment damage.

Cloud backup software grabs nearly all the data from your computer’s storage drive and stores it in cloud storage, without your having to do anything.

Cloud backups are really just cloud storage, but the software behind it is different.As with cloud storage, it’s up to you to manually move files to the folder. But cloud sync is typically more expensive than other options, which makes it a poor choice for large files, and it doesn’t usually offer encryption, which makes it a bad option for private files. People often use cloud sync for collaboration-such as when multiple people need access to files-because when a file is changed on one computer, that change is reflected on the others. This arrangement is like storing your files at your regular house and your vacation home, as well as at your friend’s house. Cloud sync is like a shared remote drive, where the contents of a folder are synced across computers.Cloud storage on its own tends to be the cheapest of these three options but doesn’t include fancier features like syncing, file sharing, or automated backups. With cloud storage, you have to manually move your files to the cloud drive, and you can access them only through the internet. Think of it as putting your files on a storage drive at a friend’s house (your friend in this instance is a corporation). Cloud storage is essentially a remote external storage drive.

Backblaze mac external hard drive plus#

Details at a glanceĥ TB (upgradable to 10 TB for $100 per year)ġ TB (can add more at a rate of $0.00599 per GB per month)ģ0 days for free, $2 per month for one year, or $2 per month plus $0.005 per GB per month forever And if you just need as much space as possible, go with IDrive. If you want to nerd out over every detail of your backups, go with Arq Premium. If you just want software that works and does everything for you, stick to Backblaze. Although Arq appears to be a smaller company than Backblaze or IDrive, support was just as quick to respond to our questions its documentation, however, isn’t as thorough, searchable, or readable without a glossary.

But Arq Premium doesn’t support continuous backups, instead relying on scheduled backups, so there’s always a chance it won’t be perfectly up to date. Its restoration process is far less cumbersome than Backblaze’s and speedier than IDrive’s, too. During setup, Arq Premium encourages (but doesn’t require) you to use a private encryption key for a secure backup. The Arq Premium software gives you a lot of control over how your backup works, including options to choose how long to keep files around, to select any external drives, and more. Arq Premium supports up to five computers, and if you need more than the included 1 TB of storage, it’s an additional $0.00599 per gigabyte each month (which amounts to about $6 per terabyte each month, making it more expensive than Backblaze and IDrive for data hoarders). If you like to configure software to meet your specific needs, Arq Premium, available for Windows and Mac, offers far more customization options than Backblaze or IDrive and costs less than both for 1 TB of storage.