Duffbert's Random Musings

1 - I do agree with you on that point, Ben... I'm probably not quite as paranoid (but should be). The nice thing about Carbonite (and I assume other online backup services) is that you can define what folders you want (and don't want) to have backed up. In my case, it's a couple of particular folders that have back copies of articles and such, as well as local copies of Notes database designs I've kept over the years. Add in my collection of digital photos and such, and it makes for a convenient solution that has little downside risk for me.

Plus, I figure in today's world of blogs and such, any transgression of a company like Carbonite would be quickly found and trumpeted widely (like Sony's DRM rootkit)...

2 - I have about 3 GB of files stored up there. I could definitely reduce that if needed, as I did blanket coverage on a couple of directories just because it was easier to do that. And I think the first backup took about a day or so as it was trying to do things in between my use of the machine.

It's nice, in that each file designated for backup has a little colored circle on the file name/icon. If it's yellow, you know it hasn't been backed up yet. If it's green, it's been moved.

3 - Interesting answer in the FAQ:

Do I really get unlimited storage capacity?
Yes! One license backs up one PC – no matter how much data it holds. However, since even high-speed Internet upload speeds allow about only 2 GB/day, we don’t recommend using Carbonite for initial backups that are going to take more than a few weeks.

And it seems to be OS agnostic. So, your first backup, how long did it take and, if I may, how much data did you push up there?

4 - These off-line storage systems always scarwe me a bit. How do you know they aren't mining your data? I keep both confidential intellectual property and credit card numbers on my machine (albeit, only for short poeriods of time for the latter).