IBackup wins PC Pro Labs Award as the best Online Backup service - PCPRO

(PCPRO) July 07, 2004 -- Verdict: A flexible service that's competitively priced if you don't need too much storage space.

IBackup is undoubtedly the most flexible service on test, as it not only offers backup for your machine but online storage that's available through the Web, FTP and virtually everything else. You can even access your storage on a Mac, or back up a Linux machine, making this an easy choice for anyone wanting a single online storage solution for multiple platforms. And to cap it all, there's a cut-down backup client - IBLite - that runs on Pocket PC.

There are many options on offer, including some price plans that are backup only, and that don't let you access your storage space via FTP or WebDAV. However, we'd tend to avoid these; the extra flexibility that you get with the ability to use your storage space as a drive as well as for backup is more than worth the small premium you'll pay.

The backup client itself is simple to use and has just about all the features you'd want, although it hardly looks like a piece of high-end design. However, it's functional, and includes a handy little meter showing exactly how much space you have available. Since you're effectively buying storage space as well as backup, you can, of course, back up more than one machine, although this will become expensive if you're backing up more thanÊaÊfew files.

In terms of value for money, the 4GB $149 per year option is the pick of the bunch, cheaper per megabyte than many of the options on offer. Given this is only slightly more than Depositit's 250MB option, yet offers enough storage for all the average user's important documents, it's a good deal. At the high end, the price per gigabyte doesn't compare quite so favourably with other services; in particular, Connected DataProtector's 30GB scheme offers more storage for $200 less per year.

However, the range of options for accessing your data - combined with the platforms that are supported - will still make IBackup a better option for many people.