CrashPlan

Avantages

It runs continuously in the background to ensure that the files selected are backed up.
The Crashplan client automatically backs up to ensure that customers are using the very latest client and are not in danger of security leaks.

The Crashplan client is cross-platform and will run on Linux and Mac

Inconvénients

Code42 appears to have removed their plan for standard household users and now only has plans for small and large businesses. Unfortunate for the average household computer user.

When I used Crashplan for backup in Beijing, China, the upload speeds were horrendously slow. I assume this was not the fault of Crashplan, but the result of serious Internet throttling by the internet provider or by state security apparatus in China where all connections to the outside world are severely curtailed. Backing up 200gb of data took nearly half a year. But my experience was likely unusual.

Based on other user reports of Crashplan, the upload and download speeds are quite good.

Avantages

Flexibility, reliability, ease of use, configuration options. Unlimited storage, file modification history. Local backup and peer to peer options.

Inconvénients

Withdrawal of home user option, which I understand given the economics of providing unlimited storage.

Avantages

The fact that the cost vs amount of storage you receive is incredible with Crash Plan. I have looked through so many providers for online backups and I don't believe anyone comes close to what is offered by this software.

The fact that once you you install the program and sign in, the interface is very straight forward allowing you to select what on your computer you want to back up, all the way down to the entire contents of your C: drive is great and makes the product easy to use.

Notifications are also a great feature to notify you if there was a problem during a backup.

Inconvénients

My major issues come down to resource usage and customer support. This software, even though it does fantastic things, is an absolute resource hog.

In the past I have been able to run constant backups incrementally at 15 minute intervals without much slow down of my systems. Within the past year however, on a 16GB memory system, as soon as crash plan begins to backup my memory usage jumps from about 15% to over 50% until I stop the program completely. On windows server 2012, the same issue happens, whether Crash Plan is installed for every user, or just my admin account, the instantaneous system slow down is there to where everyone on the system is effected.

My two attempts at contacting support about the issue resulted in almost a 1 week wait time between calls/emails and the answer I ended up receiving was that they would no longer be supporting servers with the Crash Plan application. However present day their website still says it supports windows servers.

The idea behind the program is amazing, I just wish the execution and support was more clear and helpful.

Avantages

It's easy to setup and once you do you can forget it. Also, support team is very responsive nad helpful (had few minor problems along the way and they were quickly resolved).

Inconvénients

Compared to some other softwares the upload speeds could be better (I tested same files with the same network and Crashplan was the slowest).

Avantages

It's a "set it and forget it" program which is great for backup and archiving. I loved the feature that allowed you to keep previous versions indefinitely.

Inconvénients

They've recently changed their terms and exclude certain file types for backing up. They eliminated their lowest priced plan and only offer their more expensive plans. Since their organizational changes, I've had lots of connection errors and interruptions. Backups need to be one thing - RELIABLE