Carbonite isn't a web based storage service per se. It doesn't let you watch uploaded videos or look at pictures like other services such as Box.net. But as an online backup service, Carbonite can store a lot of your data online in case your hard drive crashes or you lose your computer and you need to restore your files.

Recently Carbonite decided to make it easier for users to access their stored files from any computer through a web interface. All you have to do is login using your Carbonite ID and you can browse through all the files that have been backed up. You can't open pictures or movies online, but you can download any files stored on Carbonite's servers to your computer using a web browser.

[via Lifehacker]

Part of my day job - like many of you, no doubt - involves making sure that a number of folders on my network are backed up, syncedd, uploaded, and otherwise maintained. After experimenting with Fling on my small, home network, it looks like it might just simplify my chores at work, too.

Fling is a tiny download - about 230KB - but it's packed with features. It's built for local, network, and FTP folder synchronization, which can be set to manual, automatic scans at regular intervals, or whenever changes are detected. SSL is supported for FTP transfers. Not sure things are up to date? Run the housekeeping task, and Fling will show you what's out of sync.

Fling will also update folders on your removable USB drives whenever they're connected. Since I use one main desktop to download my portable tools but maintain flash drives for four other people, this really comes in handy. Once I have Fling configured, I just need to plug in a tech's drive and let it sync.

There are two more aspects of Fling that make it admin-friendly. First, it can run as a Windows service to keep things running smoothly even when your workstation is locked Second, it also supports command line arguments - handy for batch scripting and integration with other apps.

Fling is made by NCH, so there's also integrated supported for burning folder via ExpressBurn Free. It's a great little burning app with a similarly small footprint. To install it, just choose "burn folder" from Fling's folder menu and follow the prompts.

If you had to back up every hard drive, USB key and portable device in your possession, just how much space would it take? What if you wanted to backup the Intarwebs? I see you reaching for that 1TB back pack drive. Not so fast! Try 4.5 Petabytes. That's four and a half quadrillion bytes.

In order to support the ever growing Wayback Machine at Archive.org, Sun just delivered a brand-spanking new data-center in a shipping container. To put that much data storage in perspective, it would hold nearly 55 copies of everything in the Libraries of Congress.

Dude, when that deal with the guy in Lagos comes through, this is the very first thing I'm buying! Take the jump to watch a 4 minute video which would make any good storage addict drool.

Carbonite has been providing online backup services for PC users for years. This week the company launched a Mac client.

Here's how it works. For $54.95 a year, Carbonite provides you with unlimited online storage space to backup all the important files on your computer. At regular intervals, the program will scan the folders you designate and copy any new or changed files to the server. If you're using your internet connection to download files, watch online videos, or do other things, Carbonite will adjust its upload speeds so it doesn't interfere with your other activities.

In the event that your computer crashes, or if you need to recover some files you accidentally deleted, you can use Carbonite's tools to restore the data to your Mac.

Carbonite isn't the first service to offer online backup for Mac users. Mozy also has a Mac client which offers up to 2GB of storage space for free, or unlimited storage for $4.95 per month (or $59.40 per year).

[via Yahoo!]

Less than a year after launching an online backup solution called Upline, HP is discontinuing the service. HP hasn't given any official reason for killing Upline, but in an email sent to customers, the company says that it stop accepting uploads yesterday and will cease operations altogether on March 31st, meaning if you need to get files from the server, you'd best do it before then.

HP will issue full refunds to paying customers. The subscription-based service had offered unlimited storage for $59 per year. Since Upline didn't even last a single year, I guess it's easier for HP to send the money back than to try to pro-rate the refunds.

Online storage and file backup service Livedrive has dropped its beta label and it's now charging for service. We first looked at the service back in December, when Livedrive was offering unlimited file storage for free while in beta. Now that the service has officially launched, the company is charging £39.95 per year for 100GB of space or £89.95 for unlimited storage. That's about $57 US and $128 US respectively.

You can certainly find cheaper online backup solutions (Mozy and Carbonite come to mind). But Livedrive offers a few features that you won't find from other services, including integration with Windows Explorer and social features like Facebook integration. And once your files are uploaded to Livedrive's servers, you can access them from any computer with a web browser.

If you signed up during the beta, Livedrive is offering a 20% discount to the first 10,000 beta testers who sign up for paid accounts.

Livedrive is an online storage service that offers two advantages over most services in this space:

1. Unlimited file storage
2. Integration with Windows Explorer
   

When you install Livedrive (and reboot your computer), you'll notice an L drive show up in Windows Explorer. To copy files to the service, just drag and drop them to the L drive. You can also upload and download files through a web-based interface. And once your files are online you'll be able to access them from any computer using the web client.

Thanks to the Windows Explorer integration, you could easily use LiveDrive as an offsite backup tool like Carbonite or Mozy. Just install your favorite file backup utility and point it to the L drive.

Livedrive is free while in beta, but I have a feeling the company will probably start charging a fee when the beta ends.

[via Lifehacker]

There are a couple of good reasons to backup your web browser settings periodically. If you want to install the browser on another computer, you can use that backup to restore your settings, history, bookmarks and other data. Or if something goes wrong with your browser on your current computer, that backup can be a life saver.

There are several good utilities for making backups of Firefox profiles. And there's at least one utility for backing up your Opera data. But what about Internet Explorer? For that, there's the creatively named Internet Explorer Backup.

The utility can backup profiles for Internet Explorer 4.0 through Internet Explorer 7. It saves Favorites, Proxy and connection settings, security zones, user customizations, and pretty much everything you see in the screenshot above. You can also schedule backup jobs to run on a regular basis.

Internet Explorer Backup is available as a free download.

[via gHacks]

Many users have the same problem when it comes to configuring a backup application: they forget to add one important file or folder to the job. Backblaze - a new online backup service - thinks they have a solution to the problem.

Unlike most applications where items to be backed up must be manually added by the user, Backblaze works by automatically excluding the junk it knows you don't really want to back up anyway. Gleb from the Backblaze team explained it like this:

"The reason we took this approach was that most users would get stuck at the "pick what files and folders to backup" step. They either didn't know how to navigate the file system (try finding your PST file), or their files were not organized, or they just didn't have time."
By default it won't back up operating system, application, or temp files, and you can add any other exclusions you like via the settings screen.

Now, if you're like me and confined to 30kbps upload your initial backup is going to take a while - four days in my case. Once it's done, Backblaze keeps things efficiently in synch by performing differential backups. Your data is encrypted prior to uploading, transmitted securely via HTTPS, and users that demand added security can add their own private key.

The holiday shopping season is upon us, and if you're trying to think up a few good gift ideas for your geeky or not so geeky friends and family, we're here to help. Over the next few days we'll be bringing you a number of suggestions for Download Squad style gifts.

To kick things off, I wanted to talk about a gift idea for the computer user who doesn't really need any new software: subscriptions. Nothing says I love you like a year's worth of unlimited domestic VoIP phone calls, or the security of knowing your files are securely backed up to an offsite storage space. Well, maybe not nothing, but certainly few things. Here are a few ideas for subscription based services you might want to buy for your loved ones. Feel free to add your own ideas or argue with my choice of services in the comments.

Skype

Skype provides a free way for Windows, Mac, and Linux users to make free voice or video calls to one another. But you can also buy credit or monthly subscriptions to make calls to regular telephones. You can also purchase a phone number that people can call to ring you on Skype.

Prices range from a few cents a minute for domestic calls, to $9.95 a month for unlimited international calls. For less than $36 a year you can buy a plan that will allow users to make unlimited domestic calls in the US and Canada. $60 a year will get you a SkypeIn phone number. If you purchase both an unlimited calling plan and a SkypeIn number, the price is even lower. And there are a ton of other options available.

Skype isn't the only game in town. You might also want to check out Gizmo5 or newcomer VoxOx.

When you back up your iPhone or iPod Touch, iTunes can use the backup to do a restore, but not much else. It's nice when Apple's stuff "just works," but what if you want to see inside the black box and interact with the data on your phone? This is especially important for developers, who can fix bugs a lot more easily if they can look at a user's backup to figure out what's causing problems with an app. iPhone Backup Extractor is a tool that makes this possible.

With iPhone Backup Extractor, you can convert an iPhone/iPod Touch backup to make it readable by the OS X Finder. This lets developers get access to application resources that there's no way to see in iTunes. It might be of some interested to curious non-developers, too, if you just to figure out what files a 3rd-party app has created on your phone.

[via furbo.org]