Consumers using external hard drives often assume the valuable data on their PC is protected, but an external hard drive can leave them vulnerable to catastrophic data loss. Carbonite’s online backup service allows users to store an unlimited amount of data for $49.95 per year. The service works automatically to provide continuous backup whenever the user’s computer is connected to the Internet.

    The problem was evidenced recently when thieves targeted director Francis Ford Coppola’s home, scooping up Coppola’s external hard drive during a raid. Among the items he lost was a script for his latest movie, according to an article in The New York Times. Coppola’s experience is not an uncommon one.

    David Friend, founder and CEO of Carbonite noted that “Most people don’t realize that all hard drives eventually fail. The chances of a hard drive failing are somewhere between 5 percent and 13 percent in any one year period. Those are not good odds when you’re talking about irreplaceable data. At Carbonite, your data is stored on redundant disk arrays. There are three completely separate copies of your data on different disks. The chances of all three failing at the same time are nearly zero. And while house break-ins like Mr. Coppola’s are a sad fact of life, nobody is going to break into a guarded data center and walk off with a 1,400-pound rack of storage servers.”

    While external hard drives can often be great storage devices, consumers should not confuse them with a backup solution. In addition to being susceptible to theft, external hard drives can also malfunction and be destroyed by fire, flooding and other natural disasters. Carbonite believes computer users shouldn’t have to think about backup - its philosophy is to make backup as simple and automatic as possible. Carbonite takes the hassle out of protecting the irreplaceable contents of consumers’ computers.

    The valuable data stored on these devices is gone, leaving consumers with no recourse. Online backup provider Carbonite, Inc., says that the Coppola story highlights the vulnerability of such devices and demonstrates why a good backup solution always entails moving the backup copy to a different location, as most businesses have done since they began using computers. Through painful experiences, consumers are learning to do the same.

    Carbonite’s online backup service starts automatically and works quietly and continuously in the background protecting your data. If you’ve accidentally erased something, don’t worry; we’ve still got a copy. Your data is stored safely at our secure remote backup centers. No one can see your data but you because your files are encrypted before they leave your computer. Carbonite online backup software is always looking for new data on your PC. The moment you add or modify files, Carbonite swings into action to back up your data.