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Best in class product for cross-platform continuous backup
March 23, 2016

Best in class product for cross-platform continuous backup

Nathan McQuillen | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with CrashPlan

I've used CrashPlan PROe (private cloud server with standard CrashPlan client) for three years, in multiple small business settings. At my current workplace, we've been using it since November 2015, on all our workstations and servers, to provide continuous backup to a dedicated Debian Linux backup server in a separate building, equipped with a ZFS zraid array.
  • Detailed backup control from a central administrative interface.
  • Continuous backup with granular control of CPU and bandwidth use.
  • True cross-platform support for OS X, Linux and Windows.
  • Architectural flexibility, including endpoint-to-server conversion, transparent server load balancing and redundancy, and simple storage archive import and migration.
  • Trivial installation and setup for both client and server.
  • Private cloud server is no longer available in a license package which supports businesses requiring fewer than 25 licenses.
  • Public cloud option remaining to small business is not a good fit for creative businesses generating gigabytes of new content per day.
  • Web console is not compatible with desktop Safari, and has issues with mobile Safari as well.
  • My current employer doesn't track ROI for software licenses, but I have certainly seen CrashPlan save many times its license cost in recovered data after crashes and drive corruption.
  • Windows Backup, rsync and Time Machine
These were the default ad hoc backup systems used before we implemented CrashPlan. While each can be made somewhat reliable, depending on user habits and practices, none provide true continuous versioned backup, none allow a single administrative overview, and only Time Machine allows easy recovery of lost data by the user.
I would recommend CrashPlan PROe for any size business. It's eminently scalable, but it's also a perfect fit for smaller businesses which generate substantial data files, and those on slower broadband connections making offsite cloud backup a poor fit. (Sadly, it is no longer an option for most small businesses—see my earlier comments about licensing.)

Using CrashPlan

Everything is great except support for desktop and Mobile Safari browsers.
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • Backup
  • Recovery
  • Administration
  • Storage Point Management
  • Migration
  • Installation
  • None.