For a while now I've had a nice file server sitting under my desk at home for storing everything in a nice central location. One problem with the solution though is the complete lack of backup on that particular box. I really wanted to run Mozy on the box to get everything backed up off site in a simple and cost effective manner. One problem though: Mozy Personal doesn't support Windows Server which is running on my file server.

In my post Online Backup: Carbonite vs. Mozy I declare Mozy the winner due to a number factors like features, performance, and configurability. What I failed to mention though is the fact that you cannot use Mozy Personal for backing up a Windows Server box. For that you have to spring for a professional plan where you're charged by the gigabyte instead of a flat rate. For me that's not really an option as I've got a look of stuff to back up. For a couple of gigabytes it's probably fine.

Carbonite however allows you to back up a Windows Server box with the personal edition which means that it's a more cost effective solution for the home. Since I did the comparison Carbonite has added the number one feature I felt was missing from the solution: Version history. Mozy had this and Carbonite now does too. One thing hasn't changed though, Carbonite is still pretty slow to the tuned of 100k/s when you back up. Mozy will complete the initial backup approximately four times faster than Carbonite. Not a big deal once you're over the initial backup and into regular running mode with only updated files are transferred but getting over that initial hump does take a long while.

So to sum it up: With Carbonite allowing you to run the client on a server box it's a compelling offer for those of us running home servers wanting offsite backup. For everything else I'd still say that Mozy is superior. Alternatives like Amazon S3, JungleDisk (using S3), etc. are still way more expensive to use since they too charge by the gigabyte.

Mozy allows you to pay by the month allowing you to opt out immediately should you find a better solution. With Carbonite you're locking in for a minimum of a year. Where. Network performance with Mozy is a lot better than what you get with Carbonite, though that might just be me being located far away from the Mozy data center. The Mozy client still offers oodles more configuration options than what you find in the Carbonite ditto.