WizzDrive review

Like Carbonite, WizzDrive has been designed with ease of use as a paramount consideration. The interface - which goes big on large, friendly buttons - is incredibly simple to use, and inexperienced users can ask WizzDrive to protect all files of particular types, such as music, photo or video; a task it accomplished reasonably well in tests.

Recovery is just as idiot-proof. Simply select the files or folders you want to recover, choose whether to save to a new location or overwrite existing folders, and you're done.

Despite the consumer look and feel, WizzDrive's security is business-grade. Files are currently stored on a secure server in the US - complete with bullet-proof walls, we're told - but UK users will be using a German datacenter from September.

Ease of use comes at a price, however, with no options to schedule regular backups or throttle bandwidth, for example, meaning you have to rely on WizzDrive to make all your decisions for you. The large buttons also made it easy to add huge files to the backup set without meaning to.

Overall, WizzDrive doesn't feel as transparent or flexible as Carbonite, but it's faster and the live file protection is excellent, with files being backed up within two minutes of any changes being made.

Nonetheless, Carbonite has the edge on the ease of use front, while BullGuard, Mozy and IDrive all offer superior features for less (or in some cases no) cash. That being the case, this new contender on the online backup scene isn't quite good enough, or cheap enough, to take home a prize.

Author: Stuart Andrews