Cloud storage on its own tends to be the cheapest of these three options but doesn’t include fancier features like syncing, file sharing, or automated backups. With cloud storage, you have to manually move your files to the cloud drive, and you can access them only through the internet.

Think of it as putting your files on a storage drive at a friend’s house (your friend in this instance is a corporation).

Cloud storage is essentially a remote external storage drive.

Details at a glanceĥ TB (upgradable to 10 TB for $100 per year)ġ TB (can add more at a rate of $0.00599 per GB per month)ģ0 days for free, $2 per month for one year, or $2 per month plus $0.005 per GB per month forever

And if you just need as much space as possible, go with IDrive. If you want to nerd out over every detail of your backups, go with Arq Premium. If you just want software that works and does everything for you, stick to Backblaze. Although Arq appears to be a smaller company than Backblaze or IDrive, support was just as quick to respond to our questions its documentation, however, isn’t as thorough, searchable, or readable without a glossary. But Arq Premium doesn’t support continuous backups, instead relying on scheduled backups, so there’s always a chance it won’t be perfectly up to date. Its restoration process is far less cumbersome than Backblaze’s and speedier than IDrive’s, too. During setup, Arq Premium encourages (but doesn’t require) you to use a private encryption key for a secure backup. The Arq Premium software gives you a lot of control over how your backup works, including options to choose how long to keep files around, to select any external drives, and more. Arq Premium supports up to five computers, and if you need more than the included 1 TB of storage, it’s an additional $0.00599 per gigabyte each month (which amounts to about $6 per terabyte each month, making it more expensive than Backblaze and IDrive for data hoarders). If you like to configure software to meet your specific needs, Arq Premium, available for Windows and Mac, offers far more customization options than Backblaze or IDrive and costs less than both for 1 TB of storage.

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