lsupremo wrote:
To buy one year of Carbonate back up costs $120/year, a 2TB Seagate costs about the same. Which one makes the most sense? Or, Should I buy 2 Seagates and or something else which pays for itself in two years and free thereafter?
If your bank goes bust, the FDIC will reimburse you up to $100,000 for each account.
Personally, I've been through three FDIC takeovers of banks where I had CDs. No problem.
But if (hypothetically speaking) Carbonite goes bust, who will reimburse you for your data?
For example, if (hypothetically speaking) it fails to make lease payments on its server farm,
what happens to the hard drives containing your data?
Carbonite has only been in business for 13 years. In 2017, it acquired Mozy from Dell Technologies
for $145.8 million -- a considerable outlay. Last month, it acquired Webroot for $618.5 million.
But it only raised $62.5 million in it's IPO in 2011. It has never made a profit.
"Since its inception in 2005, NASDAQ:CARB has lost in excess of
$120,000,000 of public and
private investment. The company's SEC financial reports state: `We expect to continue to incur GAAP
operating losses on an annual basis for the foreseeable future'[54]" [emphasis added]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonite_(online_backup)
There is a reason why people say "safe as houses" not "safe as .coms".
Again according to Wikipedia, "In 2009, it admitted loss of backups of "over 7,500 customers" in a lawsuit
filed against Promise Technology, a hardware provider." [op. cit.]
Ooops. So sorry: you're data is gone. Here's a coupon for a free cup of coffee! You're call is important
to us, please stay on the line.
Of course, you've read the reviews on Amazon. Again, according to wiki, "Apparently, employees of the company
posted favorable testimonial-style ads on Amazon in 2006, including those by senior members of the management
team.[55] Additionally, the New York Times reported that the CEO was made aware of the situation in September 2008
but did nothing to remove the false postings until the NY Times blog appeared in January 2009 [56]." [op. cit.]
Finally, who is more likely to be a target for Russian, Chinese or North Korean government hackers--
you, or Carbonite? But you've audited Carbonite's security, right?
But hey, 100,000 lemmings can't be wrong. Jump, lemming, jump! You'll have a soft landing on The Cloud--
the TV ad said so.