I just read a post on Mozy vs. Carbonite by Dave Greenbaum posted on TheAppleBlog, and I’ve got some big disagreements with what Mr. Greenbaum says.
Round One: Staying Power
Greenbaum makes some good points here, but doesn’t even mention that Mozy is owned by EMC? With a 27.66 billion-dollar market cap, EMC has the finances to keep Mozy alive. Plus, Greenbaum glazes over iJustine as simply the “Mozy gal”
Round Two: Setup and Installation
Greenbaum starts with, Carbonite cleans Mozy’s clock in software design
, but then the next sentence says Carbonite is Intel only.
Well then, doesn’t sound like Carbonite is a clear winner there.
Further, the article states,
Neither program will back up external media. Mozy claims it does, but if you detach it, it forgets the configuration. Carbonite flat-out refuses to back up externals.
So Mozy DOES backup external media, and Carbonite doesn’t at all. Again, doesn’t sound like Carbonite is cleaning Mozy’s clock.
Round Three: Restoration
Greenbaum says nobody wins here, but the restore actually WORKED with Mozy, whereas Carbonite failed via the web, and backups froze when they did a restore using the client software. And sure, Mozy’s DVD option isn’t cheap, but at least they offer it as an option.
Round Four: Support
I agree with Greenbaum’s statement, Neither company wins this round and both deserve an upper cut for lousy tech support.
Sorry… you get what you pay for.
Round Five: Security
Maybe Carbonite beats Mozy here, in their imaginary scenario. But if your email account is compromised, you have bigger problems. Not to mention you can create your own private key, and the encrypted data can’t be accessed by anyone without the key. In addition, with everyone on Facebook & sharing their lives on Twitter, answering Carbonite’s “security questions” isn’t a challenge.
Round Six: Cost
Carbonite is less expensive, but Mozy does offer the free version. We’ll score this round a draw.
Again, I have to disagree. If you purchase a 2-year agreement, Carbonite is $3.20 cheaper (after using 20% off discount codes on both Mozy and Carbonite). But since Mozy offers a monthly agreement, I would say it’s more affordable, as not everyone can drop $80 today, but most people can afford $4.95 / month.
With a 4-1/2 star rating, it’s obvious we prefer Mozy.
Thanks for your detailed reply to my blog post at http://theappleblog.com/2009/07/16/mozy-vs-carbonite-mac-backup-smackdown. Unfortunately we disagree on some of the facts of the review
1) Mozy is not owned by EMC as stated in their FAQ
“Q: What is Decho and what does it mean for Mozy?
A: In November 2008, EMC announced that Mozy and Pi Corporation, another EMC acquisition, have combined to form Decho Corporation. Decho brings together two Internet services companies acquired by EMC. Making Decho an independent company will help accelerate our growth and increase our focus and ability to meet customer needs. Decho remains wholly owned by EMC and retains access to EMC resources and technology. Mozy is Decho’s flagship product, and the new company continues to invest heavily in Mozy’s online backup and recovery services.”
As far as the Mozy gal, I give her significant credit, though if you are making decisions based on the attractiveness of spokespeople….
2) Software design
Carbonite’s software isn’t a port of their PC version but a redesign. The fact it integrates into the Mac’s System Preferences is more attractive than an app that can be quit and easily modified. It’s a style issue that we disagree on. The Intel only fact doesn’t bother me.
3) External backups
Every time I unplugged my laptop Mozy forgot about it and I had to read it. I think a program that 100% doesn’t backup something up is less risky than a program that only backs it up 50% of the time. Mozy is untrustworthy with external backups and not backing them up 100% of the time.
4) Web restore
While Mozy was able to restore via the web ALL files while carbonite choked on package/bundles, both programs were able to restore all data when you installed the client software on another computer. I didn’t say Carbonite’s restore failed via the web, it only failed on a particular file type.
I was torn which is better: instant access to most files via Carbonite’s web interfact or 100% access to Mozy’s backup, but waiting 30-45 minutes.
In the real world, I’d probably either want instant access via a web interface or I’d simply install the client. Installing the client would take less time than waiting for Mozy’s restore
5) Security
I agree that Carbonite’s questions aren’t full proof, but they are pretty darn esoteric. Not everyone puts their first pet’s name on the web. Unfortunately email accounts are so easily hacked, I’d want another level of security. Most companies are moving to these extra questions and I’m surprised Mozy hasn’t gotten on the bandwagon
6) Cost
Yeah, I didn’t link to any affiliate codes like you did. Your affinity for Mozy is obvious from your front page and you make money off that! Companies are always running specials. I fail to see the logic in spending more money on a monthly backup strategy makes it more affordable. Don’t know where you came up with $80? 4.95x 12 is $59.40 for Mozy and Carbonite is $54.95 so I’m not sure how Mozy is easier on the wallet. Care to explain. Even with your 20% codes you earn money of off, the price difference remains the same.
I do appreciate your detailed response to my review and appreciate the opportunity to clarify facts you may have missed. As I said in the opening line, this is a war between the two companies and the facts seem to be collateral damage in the battle. Ironically, while I said there was no clear winner, of the two products I did say that “However, if you have exclusive control of your email and don’t have multiple people using your Mac, then Mozy might be the better choice since it has the friendlier pricing plans. ” Considering how many people are in that situation, I thought for the average user the winner would be Mozy–however I stand by my opinion that Carbonite’s requiring Admin access to change the settings and requires multiple questions to reset password makes it the more secure product.
Take my review as a call out to either company. Fix these problems and earn you’ll earn the data of your target market.
Hi Dave,
Thanks for your response. It’s not at all unfortunate that we disagree – we just see some things differently. For starters, you’re evaluating the product from a Apple-user standpoint, and have some Apple-specific points, which I’m sure are valid, but I cannot verify (such as multiple users on the same machine). I’ll take your word on those points.
In trying to figure out the EMC / Decho / Mozy relationship, as I understand it, Mozy is a PRODUCT of Decho (“the company’s flagship offering”), and Decho “is an EMC company.” It’s my understanding that Mozy, therefore, has the financial backing of EMC.
You raise a valid point on the external drive issue… hopefully that’s something that we’ll see Mozy change. If it were a desktop, the problem wouldn’t even exist, but it exposes itself when using a laptop.
It’s true that I’ve partnered with many of the companies reviewed on this site, and it’s not something that’s hidden, but as I’ve stated, “Even though the owner(s) of this site receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products.”
As for cost and what’s “affordable”… that’s where we don’t see eye-to-eye. Buying a home with cash is not “affordable” – but paying a mortgage for that same house is. My point is $4.95 / month is sometimes easier to swallow than $54.95 upfront.
Thanks again for the discussion – you bring many good points to light, and as I follow-up on my reviews (as some are nearly a year old now), I’ll take your points into consideration.
I REALLY hope mozy doesn’t get on the “security question bandwagon” as it’s the least secure “security” mechanism I’ve seen yet. Setting your own key is damn near perfect though. Anyone that is worried about security should love that option.
Decho is a separate company, but is a wholly-owned subsidiary of EMC. They have a pattern of doing this with other acquisitions, including VMware and RSA.
Frankly, it worries me when industry observers and analysts point to the size of public companies as an indication of:
– Their staying power,
– Their ability to execute within any marketplace niche, or
– Predicted success of an acquisition outside their current domain of expertise.
History is littered with a graveyard of formerly great companies — Cray, Digital Equipment Corporation, Sun Microsystems, Silicon Graphics, Tandem, etc.
It’s also littered with the detritus of very promising companies that were acquired by giants who were unable to properly exploit the technology or an unfamiliar market:
– AOL (BookLink, eVoice, iAmaze, ImagiNation Network, MapQuest, Moviefone, MusicNow, NaviSoft, Netscape, Nullsoft, Weblogs and Xdrive — oh, and Time Warner)
– Compaq (Digital Equipment Corporation and Tandem)
– Silicon Graphics (Alias, Cray, Intergraph and Wavefront)
– Sun Microsystems (Cray, Cobalt Networks, Gridware, MySQL AB, Q-layer, SeeBeyond, StorageTek, Tarantella, Thinking Machines and many others).
– Microsoft (Altamira Software, aQuantive, Caligari, Connectix, Danger, Electric Gravity, eShop, Firefly, Fox Software, Great Plains, Hotmail, Jellyfish.com, LinkExchange, Onfolio, Navision, Rare, Teleo, Vermeer Technologies, WebTV Networks and many others)
– Yahoo (Broadcast.com, Dialpad, GeoCities, Jumpcut.com, Hyperparallels, Meedio, Musicmatch, MyBlogLog, Online Anywhere, Overture, Kelkoo, RocketMail, Whereonearth, Zimbra and many others)
Granted, EMC has done well in their past acquisitions. But overall, history proves that market capitalization is a poor predictor of success.