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Colin Pickard
Asked: 2011-01-08 03:04:38 +0800 CST

flat-rate backup service for Windows Server

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Does anyone know if there is a decent flat-rate backup service which supports Windows Server?

I've investigated the following:

  • Backblaze - no WS support, sales say they have a "no server" policy
  • JungleDisk - not flat rate
  • Mozy - no WS on regular edition, no flat-rate on Pro edition
  • Dropbox - no flat rate
  • Carbonite - technically flat rate, but throttles uploads to modem speeds

EDIT: Very similar question:

Is there a decent flat-rate online backup solution for Linux machines?

backup windows-server-2008-r2

4 Answers

  1. One that I plan to investigate is CrashPlan+.

    CrashPlan do offer both a consumer flat-rate service and business focused services (Crashplan+ and Crashplan PRO) but they are completely different, incompatible services, with different client applications, and unlike Backblaze for example, there are no restrictions on using the flat-rate service on servers.

    They specifically DO support Windows Server 2008:

    Furthermore, their terms and conditions do not have any restrictions on what machines or devices you may back up:

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  2. Best Answer

    The best solution I have found so far is livedrive.com

    Unlike some of the other services, they promote their flat-rate service to small business too:

    They specifically allow backing up of servers:

    And they support Windows Server 2008:

    Their more expensive option also offers FTP support and a number of interesting looking collaboration tools.

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  3. In my experience a lot of services make all kinds of promises in the features list on the front page but either cut you off at the knees with the details in the EULA, or end up going out of business.

    One thing that's going to be important with any cloud service is trust, specifically the following:

    • Sustainability of their business model is a good point... no use having a backup service that goes out of business.
    • Data security (keep in mind that a service that looks ideal may be great but may do things with your data that aren't allowed, e.g. EU data privacy laws)
    • Data integrity (a backup service that might delete some of your files is not a backup service at all).
    • Service Level Agreement - if they're your backups, can you afford to have your business out of action because you lost a file, then when you went to do a restore the backup service has a problem and the one person who knows how to fix it is in Antigua for 2 weeks.

    I think GregD's concerns over livedrive show that it might be very difficult to find a service that is flat rate AND meets the above criteria, plus anything else I missed out.

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  4. You may find it difficult to find someone who will offer a flat rate server backup, due to the expense of the storage (and bandwidth requirements at their end) to handle typical servers.

    You also need to consider if your own internet connection will allow for timely backup and restore of typical "server size" backups.

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