Mozy- Feature rich but be wary of price plan changes
Overall Satisfaction with Mozy Pro
Our organization utilizes Mozy for cloud backup and DR. Mozy is simple to install, easy to set up, use and administer. Storage volume is managed at the organizational level so individual machines can store as much as they require. Backups can be scheduled to run in the background with various options to determine performance implications.
When dealing with Mozy enterprise there are two perspectives, user and administrator. For the user Mozy presents the user a nice console that allows them to access backup sets (your files grouped together, like music or pictures), file system, backup history (stats on each backup including number of files added to the set), and restore.
From the administration perspective Mozy integrates with AD making user provisioning and management fairly simple (for example with integrated login users do not need separate passwords).
Restoration is very easy for the end user. It can be done based on backup sets (e.g. restore all photos) or file system. Additionally files can be restored from their latest version or an older version.
- Performance Settings: Mozy can be configured to run very smoothly in the background with minimal performance degradation. It provides network bandwidth throttling, backup speed, and backing up only when idle option. From my own experience I usually do not notice any performance degradation when Mozy is running. Of course a good network or Internet connection is vital.
- Restore: file restoration is simple and intuitive. The user can restore logical backup sets (e.g. all photos) or file based (select the folder or file you want restored). Files and folders can be restored with the latest version or earlier version. Rename and overwrite options provide further flexibility.
- Sync: with Mozy you can sync file across multiple devices including mobile. Access to your corporate files via smart phone is a secure manner is very useful.
- While overall file restoration is easy to do, obtaining earlier versions is not as user friendly as it could be. You need to enter a date and click search to bring up the latest versions as of the date entered. That’s fine, but what is missing is the ability to see all versions of an individual file. If I am looking for a past file version I want to be able to view the file history as a subset of that file (in other words I should be able to click a + sign and expand to see past versions of the file). Otherwise I am just guessing which dates the file was changed in the past. Sometimes that’s OK, but Mozy needs to build in this enhanced, but necessary feature.
- A couple of years ago, for non enterprise users, Mozy made radical storage and pricing changes forcing myself and many users off their system, as the price for the same storage was going up significantly. So be careful when using Mozy as past experience has shown they are willing to make major changes regardless of the negative impact on their users.
- Mozy has reduced the cost of implementing a DR plan while providing a high quality product that we can count on to perform.