A Pricy Off-Site Backup Option: MozyPro for MacA Pricy Off-Site Backup Option: MozyPro for Mac

I'm a big fan of Apple's Time Machine backup/recovery software, which is included with Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" operating system. However, while Time Machine is perfect for individuals, it doesn't offer the centralized control that IT managers expect in a business-class data backup system  and it doesn't offer off-site storage. That's the challenge that MozyPro for Mac offers to solve with its Web-based backup service.The MozyPro service doesn't use local hard drives for data backup  which means that it protects Mac even when mobile users are traveling, or if disaster (or theft) strikes the location where the Macs live. According to the company, MozyPro's features include:

Security

 128-bit SSL encryption  Safely secures your data during transport.  AES/Blowfish encryption  Choose Mozy's encryption key using 448-bit Blowfish encryption or manage your own key using military-grade 256-bit AES encryption to secure your data during storage.  Near Continuous Data Protection  MozyPro automatically detects and backs up new and changed files.

Performance

 Automatic or scheduled backups  Tell MozyPro when to perform your backups. Automatic is the simplest method in which backups are performed while your computer is not in use. Scheduled backups can be performed daily or weekly at a specified time of day.  Block-level incremental backups  Saves bandwidth and ensures future backups are lightning fast.  Bandwidth throttling  You can tell MozyPro to use more or less of your upload bandwidth so other higher priority services can run unimpeded.

Ease of Use

 Version (snapshot) support  Restore file versions up to 30 days in the past.  SQL, Exchange, and network drive support  Back up data residing on virtually any machine.  Windows and Mac support  MozyPro supports Windows (2000, XP, 2003, and Vista, including servers) and Mac OS X (10.4 and 10.5, desktop and server) operating systems.  Open/locked file support  MozyPro backs up all open and locked files, including Outlook PST files.

MozyPro isn't cheap, however. The service is billed at a monthly basis at $3.95 per desktop/notebook, or $6.95 per server  plus 50 cents per gigabyte.

Some quick math: My MacBook Pro has used 129GB of data, out of its 200GB hard drive  that doesn't include my iTunes library, which lives on another machine. For just my MBP, the MozyPro bill would be $3.95 (for the laptop) + $64.50 (for the data) = $68.45/month, or $821.40/year. Multiply that by the number of Macs in your business to get an idea of the total cost.

For a business, that may be an acceptable price to have an off-site data backup service. However, the cost is significant enough that it's worth paying attention to.