Labs

FlashBackup is the odd man out of the services in this group test. Very much a solution aimed at non-professional users, it includes only two options: 1GB of storage for $49.50 per year, or 5GB for $99.50, making it the cheapest option we saw.

Despite the name, there's nothing flash about the software, which features compression but no on-the-fly encryption (although all data is transmitted securely using SSL). There aren't any fancy rollback features, or multiple file versions, and you can't store anything larger than 5GB - but given the price, it's still excellent value for money.

The main drawback is support: there isn't much beyond web-based and email. If you're looking for a business

ADVERTISEMENT

service that supports mission-critical data with multiple levels of redundancy, this probably isn't the place to look.

It's worth noting that FlashBackup also provides a free service, allowing you to copy files manually to a 50MB partition. This might prove the perfect low-budget option, except for one thing: as the company warns on its web page, it supports the free service 'by occasionally making available offers from our sponsors to holders of the Free Account'. In other words, you can expect to get one or two unsolicited emails to your account, although you shouldn't be flooded with spam. Users who pay for the service don't get the emails.

The Auto Backup software supplied is worthy, but not exactly the world's greatest backup package. You can set up multiple backup sets, so that, for example, certain files are backed up weekly while others are sent monthly - something that might prove useful in certain circumstances.

But overall, what makes FlashBackup attractive is the fantastic price, which is low enough to make online backup a regular part of every user's day. Ultimately, we'd have liked to see a larger option - perhaps 10GB - as this would have made it more useful to users with more data. Nevertheless, the 5GB option is cheap enough to be worthwhile.