Syncing is not Backup
Dave Greenbaum points out, quite well, that syncing is not the same as backing up.
http://theappleblog.com/2010/03/26/syncing-does-not-a-backup-make/
It is a really great post, which notes the distinction between making something available in multiple places and actually backing up. MobileMe, DropBox, and Sugarsync, for example, are not online backup services, they are sync services, and while they offer some potential to use file versioning to retrieve files, there is no guarantee! Of course, Mozy doesn’t guarantee anything either. But some folks do, like The Backup Plan 
iPad backup considerations
My guess is that Apple will sell 1 or 2 iPads this weekend. If they do, then there will be quite a few folks out there taking pictures loading pictures, storing music, books, files, apps, etc. So, remember, this is not an item that is approved for end-user service. So, if your device dies, or the screen cracks, or the battery dies, then you may end up sending the iPad in to Apple for warranty “repair” – depending on your service options. Apple has already stated that for battery issues, they will be sending out REPLACEMENT iPads, and it seems likely that the same may be true for most depot service orders for the iPad.
SO??? So, make sure you sync it with iTunes often. That is the only current backup method for the iPad, and doing so will make you feel much better if or when you do have to swap it out for a replacement.
Fileslinger review of Cloudberry Online Backup
Fileslinger has a great and thorough review of Clouberry Online Backup…which is not actually an online backup service. It is a slick and well designed client that helps the end user do their backups…and the destination is the Amazon S3 storage cloud. So, you buy this software, and then you also pay the (rather small) fees to Amazon for storage. Check out the article, it is well written and quite useful, as usual.
I do wonder sometimes about the business model in situations like this. I would personally lean towards distributing the software for free and wrapping the S3 service into monthly billing…it may have some more issues in terms of collection, but recurring income is better than 1 time income.
At $30 a pop, if you sold 100 licenses you’d bring in $3000.
If you were able to up charge the S3 service by about $1 a month, the same 100 customers would net $100 a month. But, over 3 years, you’d bring in $3600…and possibly much more if their data requirements expanded over time. Free downloads also remove the initial obstacle of purchasing software. This is the model Vembu is following for their @home service. This is NOT the model that Mozy or Carbonite follow….their models make almost no long-term sense, given that unlimited use generally means that costs will get bigger while revenue stays flat…so i guess they hope to make a lot of profit early on?
All that said, the Cloudberry Online Backup software does look really solid, and they have other offerings that also make use (and sense) of the sometimes confusing S3 interface.
Is a local disk really a backup?
I have met a lot of people who, when asked about their backup preparedness, shrug the question off saying, “Well, i backup to an external hard drive.” Increasingly, folks buy the external drives and home NAS products that are designed to assist with backups (like the Apple TimeMachine). HOWEVER, backing up to a single, local hard drive is not really backing up…it is making a second copy. Consider what might happen if your external drive were to fail? Or, even worse, if you had a disaster, like a fire, that charred your home computer and that external drive?!
As if to underscore this point, thousands of users have had issues with their Apple TimeMachines. The devices themselves suffer from (typical) Apple heat issues (some folks out there have suggested that aesthetics are ranked about all else, and that has been cited as the reason for the lap-scorching properties of many generations of MacBook Pros). Well, CPUs, Power Supplies and Hard Drives hate heat, and tend to fail when operated outside of their normal range. Initially Apple rejected warranty claims unless the user had applecare on their computer as well, but they have since extended the warranty to replace these failed TimeMachines. But replacement doesn’t get you your data, and so this really illustrates the value of having more than one method of backup. And I, of course, would recommend that at least 1 of those methods should be offsite!
Some interesting links:
http://appletimecapsule.me/
http://timecapsuledead.org/
What’s killing Apple’s Time Capsules after 18 months?
DON’T “set it and forget it”
Melissa Perenson, with PC World, urges computor users to try “Set it and forget it” backups. It is mainly an intro to other articles and pointing at some new devices that make backups easy. I am all about promoting backups, and in fact I am all about making them easy. However, I would strongly caution against setting it and forgetting it. When it comes to backups, the easy button is a bit dangerous. It is a false sense of security blanket. If your data is important, then backups are actually something you (or someone) needs to pay attention to regularly. Here are some problems with making backups too easy:
1. Vendors focus on making the backup easy, but how easy is the restore? Do you even know? Many reviewers never even test the restore process. Chances are good you might not find out until you are actually trying the restore, and by then it might be too late.
2. An easy setup might grab far too much data, or it might miss some. For example, if it grabs your whole drive, you could be backing up unimportant system files, wasting valuable space on your backup media, or worse, paying to store that with an online vendor. Or, it might miss some, perhaps if you have a folder that isn’t in a standard location, for example.
Those are just a few of the issues. Real backups take work, and attention, both in the planning stage and in an ongoing maintenance stage. It can still be easy, but if you want to really feel secure about your data, the setup of the backup should be conscious, not haphazard.